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scottishlassI really can't believe that Johnny's Entertainment made Kimura decline the nomination for Best Actor Award for Bushi no Ichibun! They said it is their policy that their talents don't compete in awards. WTF??!! We are talking Japanese Actor Awards here!!! I can understand that some other talents from JE can't compete with normal actors, but Kimura-san??? JE and Kitigawa are CRAZY! They'll loose their one big super star this way.
Now rumours are abound that Kimura might leave JE to join newly formed AVEX Management - if that is true then SMAP will be history as well - unless all of SMAP leave JE. (which I secretly hope as Tsuyoshi and Shingo are serious actors too who wouldn't mind getting nominated for awards or such).
With recent rumours about who is the next SMAP, I think JE has grown tired of their aging boy band SMAP. Hey, JE, SMAP has a lot of fans of ALL ages, not only screaming teeny boppers. But seriously which JE band is able to replace SMAP if it is true?
KAT-TUN? Let's be serious here, they only debuted a year ago and there are already signs of break up with Jin having a rest and Kame about to study acting in the US next year.
NewS? I decline to comment, YamaPi might excell as an actor ten years down the road but so far the band only made news due to drinking.
Arashi? Now, here is potential as their style is similar to SMAP and the voices are very well attuned to each other. Besides they might have a new superstar among them - Matsumoto Jun who has the potential to be a great actor.
I just hope SMAP won't disband, but they should get the hell out of the claws that is Johnny's Entertainment.
Now rumours are abound that Kimura might leave JE to join newly formed AVEX Management - if that is true then SMAP will be history as well - unless all of SMAP leave JE. (which I secretly hope as Tsuyoshi and Shingo are serious actors too who wouldn't mind getting nominated for awards or such).
With recent rumours about who is the next SMAP, I think JE has grown tired of their aging boy band SMAP. Hey, JE, SMAP has a lot of fans of ALL ages, not only screaming teeny boppers. But seriously which JE band is able to replace SMAP if it is true?
KAT-TUN? Let's be serious here, they only debuted a year ago and there are already signs of break up with Jin having a rest and Kame about to study acting in the US next year.
NewS? I decline to comment, YamaPi might excell as an actor ten years down the road but so far the band only made news due to drinking.
Arashi? Now, here is potential as their style is similar to SMAP and the voices are very well attuned to each other. Besides they might have a new superstar among them - Matsumoto Jun who has the potential to be a great actor.
I just hope SMAP won't disband, but they should get the hell out of the claws that is Johnny's Entertainment.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-26 11:43 am (UTC)I'm not familiar with any of the JE bands you mentioned above, but that line was funny dude :D
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Date: 2006-12-26 12:00 pm (UTC)One of them (not Pi or the other guy) was caught drinking under age which created a huge scandal resulting in putting NewS on rest this year. That is why YamaPi was able to do Kurosagi and the Samurai series, otherwise they would have been in the studio.
Let's face it, Yamashita Tomohisa is not a good singer. He might not be as bad as Nakai from SMAP but he is a better actor and can reach Kimura's height when he gets older (and if JE lets him).
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Date: 2006-12-27 03:08 am (UTC)Let's face it, Yamashita Tomohisa is not a good singer.
LOL. On a completely non-related note, have you heard Kang Dong-won singing? In 1% there was a scene of him singing ~ not sure whether or not it was his real voice, but he didn't exactly rock my boat either :D Still, I love him to bits ^^;;
*sheepish grin*
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Date: 2006-12-27 03:26 am (UTC)Re: Kang Dong-won: He was supposed to sing bad in 1% but he did an okay job in Too Beautiful To Lie (though he meddles up the English words) and he had a nice singing voice in a karaoke scene in Temptation of Wolves. He is in fact a good enough singer. And I love his voice, it is very distinctive from other male voices of Korean actors. I especially loved it in Duelist where he deliberately went lower in his voice.
Still, I love him to bits ^^;;
Me too ... even though I have this really passionate obsession with Kimura Takuya, Dong-won is and always will be my #1 toy boy :D
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Date: 2006-12-28 08:31 pm (UTC)btw, does bushi no ichibun got to be screened in the uk?
i really wanna watch it.
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Date: 2006-12-28 09:09 pm (UTC)I don't know about a UK release. If you have local cinemas who specialise in Asian movies, perhaps they will show it. I'm in Germany, and here we have almost no chance to get Asian dramas if they are not big HK block busters.
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Date: 2006-12-29 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 01:38 pm (UTC)I dearly hope that in my country we'll have "Bushi" on screens, at least Yamada's first two samurai films (Twilight Samurai and Hidden Blade) were shown in Russia.
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Date: 2006-12-29 01:42 pm (UTC)thank you for sharing the piece with me.
i am seriously hoping Bushi will be screened here.
please santa, i've been a gud girl all year round.
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Date: 2006-12-26 04:03 pm (UTC)Re: NewS. ROFL.
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Date: 2006-12-26 04:25 pm (UTC)On the plus side, the Japanese Academy for Dramatic Arts did not retract the other nominations for Bushu no Ichibun, so it is still nominated for 12 further categories. But it is really a shame as critics and audience think that Kimura-san portrayed the blind Samurai very well that they believed he was blind.
As for NewS - too bad they put YamaPi into this whole set up - as a solo artist he would be much more free to pursue his acting career. Another thing JE did to restrict their talents.
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Date: 2006-12-27 12:53 am (UTC)I don't know much about JE yet, but what I hear seems to be crazy...
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Date: 2006-12-27 02:36 am (UTC)Johnny's Entertainment is set up very differently from your normal managing agency. Their talents receive a monthly income + clothes and accomodation. Their salaries are about if not smaller than that of a normal salary man. The artists can only make big money if they do CMs but still JE gets a percentage of that, too. Even big names like Nakai Masahiro (who was the highest tax payer in Japan a few years back because he had done so many extra TV shows and CMs) and Kimura Takuya are not highly paid artists like in the Western world, they are all on the JE payroll. Even Korean and Taiwanese actors make about 3 times more than Japanese artists under JE contractment.
If Bushi no Ichibun is nominated at the Oscars or any other Western award, yes, then Kimura - if he is nominated - will have to refuse, too. Same goes for Nino (also a JE actor/singer) who stars in Clintwood's new war movie and is also a hot item for awards.
I agree... :(
Date: 2006-12-27 06:57 pm (UTC)I agree ! The situation with JE forbiding Kimura-san to patricipate in Japan Academy Awards is absolutely scandalous and ridiculous. :( I feel really sorry for this talented actor who worked so hard on his first leading role in cinema, only to be humilated in public by his management in this way. Sad and disgusting story.
As far as I know, JE managing company is very powerful in Japan show bussiness, but at the same time it has a very bad reputation of a "slave factory", strictly regulating even a privat life of its young stars - for example, contractually forbiding them to marry or to have kids.
IMHO, Kumura-san has to leave JE as soon as possible and to find himself other managing company. Or JE will destroy his career.
Lera
Re: I agree... :(
Date: 2006-12-27 09:07 pm (UTC)They were about to leave JE in 2001 but then Goro had this car accident and JE hushed it all up. Otherwise SMAP would have left as a band in 2001 after Kimura's first baby was born.
I can't believe Japanese justice system has been turning a blind eye to all the things that have been happening and to think that some of the boys/men are with JE since their early teens - no wonder some of them are messed up after a time.
Re: I agree... :(
Date: 2006-12-28 11:26 am (UTC)I hope with my whole heart that this time Kimura-san (and may be other SMAP men) will be able to leave JE behind. That those rumours about AVEX company ready to recieve and support Kimura are true, and he will not have to stand alone against JE again, as it was in... in 1999? (When exactly he tried to leave JE for the first time?) 'Couse fighting alone against Johnny seems to be a no-win case, isn't it? As they say: "Your can not get rid of JE, except if they do not need you any more". :( In 1999 Kimura-san lost his battle for independence completely, ne? I read that Johnny very efectively cut all bussiness contacts and ties for him and Kimura for almost a year had nothing to do - no new roles or projects on TV, nothing...
p.s. I apologize for my grammar mistakes, English is not my native language, nor that I use it so often in real life.
Re: I agree... :(
Date: 2006-12-28 11:50 am (UTC)Yeah it was 1999 - it was an overall bad year for Kimura-san - breaking up with his girl-friend and then no work apart from SMAP. I hope he will succeed this time. With the nomination even though he had to decline, Japanese entertainment and TV industry have to recognize him. He is the biggest draw in TV ratings. I hope the others will be joining him.
As for the other talents of JE, I don't see that happening. Possible candidates for breaking off with JE might be Kame and/or Jin (Jin definitely as he is already looking for an out, even if it means he won't be a singer anymore) - YamaPi is also a possibility as for all his dreamy looks and mad hatter personality he seems to have a very shrewd business sense, but the others, I don't see that coming.
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Date: 2006-12-27 07:21 pm (UTC)Hmm, this really made me think, I think I find this type of exploitation abhorring.
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Date: 2006-12-27 08:40 pm (UTC)For me this type of exploitation of young artists is nasty.
You may get some more info about Johnny's Jimusho here:
http://metropolis.co.jp/biginjapanarchive249/243/biginjapaninc.htm
Well, I confess I felt myself a bit sick, when I read about some detailes of the "JE manajing style" for the first time. But in every article about Johnny's Jimusho I've found in the Net, the info was more or less the same, just giving me more nasty detailes and names of involved. Seems those durty scandals of mid 90s are still well remembered in media.
Lera
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Date: 2006-12-27 09:39 pm (UTC)To think that e.g. the SMAP guys or YamaPi, Kame, Jin etc. are under the influence of such a man at such a young age - it gives me the creeps.
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Date: 2006-12-28 11:47 am (UTC)That what makes me particular sad. We can see these talented guys, but what is their future??? What quality of life do they have ** sniff **. And obviously, someone is getting very rich!! I know Asian culture is different, but I would not go as far as write-off exploitation as just "cultural" thing.
It would be great to see if Takuya can break off.
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Date: 2006-12-28 12:16 pm (UTC)It would be particularly cruel for Kimura-san - he is what we call in Germany Rampensau (someone who craves and excells in the spotlight). Like him and the others of SMAP they were born to be entertainers and I hope their Japanese fans will support them no matter what.
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Date: 2006-12-28 01:34 pm (UTC)well, in some way it IS a cultural difference thing, I suppose... We may say, the traditions of Edo Shogunat still live and flourish in big Japan corporations like JE, even though Meji revolution happened already more than 1,5 century ago. :) Kitigava, by the way, has a nick Johnny The Imperor.
But anyway, this IS sad.
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Date: 2006-12-28 01:21 pm (UTC)[i]I can't believe Japanese justice system has been turning a blind eye to all the things that have been happening and [/i]
I've read that in 1996 those sexual harassment/rape scandals in JE was really huge, even police was involved in investigation. But it never reached the trial: the sufferers preferred to keep silence, Johnny bought off - and since that time became more careful.
[i]to think that some of the boys/men are with JE since their early teens - no wonder some of them are messed up after a time.[/i]
Oh, yeah, no wonder. :( I feel myself sick and angry when thinking about the environment all these JE boys has to grow up since their teens. This kind of life could make a very traumatizing impact on young boys psych, damaging their life. IMHO, this is an achievement, that some of JE men, despite all this mess, managed to hold themselves in line and to create a normal life outside the stage.
BTW,I highly respect Kimura-san who managed to hold his own way. I don't know if in JE he had to go through the same rueful experience as poor Goro (well, this is quite possible, but I don't really want to know)... But anyway he managed to create for himself a normal life and a good family - for he was strong enough to hold his ground and to oppose Johnny, insisting on his right to marry the woman he loved and to have kids. While if he paid for his victory with one more hospitalization, ne?
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Date: 2006-12-28 06:08 pm (UTC)I also can't see Nakai being subjected to it, Tsuyoshi and shing on the other hand ... but both are close to Kimura and if he had known he would have said something, he is not the type of guy to take such a behaviour lying low.
no subject
Date: 2006-12-29 03:42 pm (UTC)Anyway, poor Goro. :(
I always asked myself, how boys manage to deal with this kind of psychological trauma? This is so terribly difficult even for us, girls, while we are naturally more psychologically resistant and enduring in this kind of situation - able to rub through this hard experience and leave it behind. But it takes time and usually put its dark influence on your grown-up life for some years after. Alas I know it from my own personal sad experience. :( But boys? For whom the whole situation above all other damages is absolutely unnatural? Oh, my gosh. Terrible. I hate it.