Murakami Shingo of Kanjani 8 drew flak for calling Johnny’s network “a culture to be proud of” on NHK World Japan’s program NHK World Japan presents Songs of Tokyo, where he plays host.
In his words, Johnny’s entertainment network of male idols can be said to be Japanese culture and by spreading this culture to the world, there can be endless possibilities.
The program is slated to air in 160 countries, and it is clear Murakami’s comment is largely due to Japan’s hosting of the 2020 Olympics. Johnny Kitagawa had also suggested forming a new idol group named “2020” and it appears that the agency is trying to reach into overseas markets, which I thought they already have. Or should I say “had.”
Murakami’s comments earned the ire of the Japanese public with several saying things like:
People who come for the Olympics are here for the games, please don’t get yourselves involved.
It’s embarrassing to call Johnny’s a Japanese culture, please stop it.
It is a “Japan-only” culture, in a bad way.
People from such a hard-handed agency have no right to talk about Japanese culture.
According to a writer on music and entertainment, “To people overseas, Johnny’s is just a group of middle-aged men who can neither sing nor dance and yet call themselves idols. Idols in Japan are not expected to sing or dance well, but this will not work overseas. To remain in showbiz, it is necessary to have good singing and dancing skills to be able to move audiences. Further, a culture is derived from various factors that goes through years of changes and cultivation to become what it is. For an agency that destroys idols of other agencies through power and pressure, Johnny’s is nothing but a destroyer of cultures. Please don’t call yourself a Japanese culture.”
I’ve always found Japanese choices of singers very unusual, but it’s also why there’s huge opportunity for those dreaming to be stars because you don’t need to be good to be a singer. Take Goriki Ayame’s debut performance on Music Station and you see what I mean. As a fan of X Japan, I can only say to Murakami, there’s a reason why X is successful globally. And it’s less because they are the reason for the birth of visual kei, but more because they are good at what they do, with an engaging yet heart-wrenching story no less. In the words of Gene Simmons of Kiss, one of the most successful rock bands ever, “if (X Japan) sang in English, this could be the biggest band in the world.”
I’m not even sorry for hijacking the story and making it about X in the end.
I would categorised X Japan and Hong Kong ‘s Cantopop legend Beyond together- both influential in their own rights, but how much are they actually influencing the music artistes now- very negligible.
Sad to say, both J-music and Cantonese music have become increasingly “isolated” and non-mainstream. However, did the quality of sound change?
For Cantonese music, yes. Their music as a whole has became more 内敛( can’t find the exact translation).
However, for popular Japanese music as a whole, under the influence of Johnny’s, sounds the same- which equates to dated sounds.
Yea, I agree. Johnny’s (and most idol groups) banks on catchy tunes which linger around C, Am, F, G progression and repeat. Their choreography is also dated and embarrassing. But most importantly, most can neither sing nor dance and count on Johnny’s aggressive marketing and influence in the industry as well as group dynamics (I guess) to gain popularity.
So I’m curious – what gives these middle-aged men idol status then? If they can’t sing or dance, I don’t imagine that they’d be very attractive to fans…
Interestingly, every boyband and girl group here is an idol and surprisingly, they are hugely popular. Japanese have a very unusual culture in that they don’t require you to be good at singing or dancing to be a popular singer. I’m still trying to figure out what exactly it is when fans say these “idols give them something to believe in.”
their charming point is their personality, being entertaining “omoshiroi ko”, “cute, but not out your league” and they might be bad at something, but they work hard – thus make you root for them. music is just an exuse to be in intertament industry. sometimes they do put out decent music atleast. and big ones (johnnys\ldh\momoclo) do best live concerts in terms of entertament
I agree with your points as I do find some of their shows entertaining to watch =)