Save Our Idols!
Save Our Idols!

Mousey on Wank Report led me here for some lulz. It’s an old forum thread that keeps getting temporarily resurrected every couple weeks or so.

Mousey wrote:
In a forum thread at D-addicts, ryobreak asks:
Is it true that Johnny Kitamura (the owner of Johnnies) has a tendency to assault, abuse, or attempts erotic relationships with Johnnies members?

To sum up JE for those not into Japanese pop entertainment: Johnny's Entertainment makes boy bands like there's no tomorrow and members go on to rule pop culture in concerts, tv, radio, etc. From my understanding, as a non JE fan, it's hard to throw a rock without hitting one of these guys. (caito says: Yeah, you really can’t. They’re everywhere.) Furthermore, apparently auditions consist of parents submitting pictures to the agency.(caito says: That’s actually pretty standard for getting any job in Japan. I just teach high school here, and I had to submit a picture with my application. It’s just a done thing, apparently.)

A few confirm that they've heard this rumor as well and there seems to be pretty sound "evidence" in the tell all book of a former member.

The OP wants to know what can be done about this great injustice:
Is there something we can do to increase awareness? What pains me even more is that only one person from JE has spoken out and taken a stand. It pains me to think that other JE members could be enduring the same and unable to seek help.

Oh...those poor poor idols.

LT.COL.KAZUYA KANESHIRO comes to the call with some logic...faulty logic, but at least some reasoning pattern that this is probably just a long standing rumor:
ok if this shit was true the cops would have had him arressted,and he would be serving a 60year prision sentance,and after his release he would be a registerd sex offender,plus he would loose his company.
or am i just quoting americas laws?

But then the Lt. changes his mind - Johnny is in fact guilty and enlists the US Military:
1.johnny is an american citizen and 2 he served in our military hah,
Johnny’s Jimusho (literally Johnny’s Office) was started by California-born Japanese-American Johnny Kitagawa in 1963...so there you go the united states military and government has the right to get into internal affairs of another country when it envolves any of its citizens or employees,in this case johnny is both,so i got the bastard dead to rights at this time i am forwarding the order to sector commmand,to retrieve johnnys military files and requesting an order to sieze johnny kitagawa and johnny entertainment,as of now the u.s.a has full juristiction on this matter.

The US Military? Awesome. Apparently they'll stop what they're doing to punish an old Japanese guy who has been rumored to make advances on his own talent. Go US Military, Go!

Troll? Perhaps. But if not, then his insistence on involving the US military is pretty funny.

Meanwhile, a few people say - um, hello, wikipedia can't be trusted. But for the most part, people are arguing about how they can combat this evil:
(some choice bits - the entire thread's short and worth a read)

hamstaball: what we can only do is basically boycott, which would kill JE's business but then the JE members would also suffer from this sort of thing

himekohimura: Johnny's is a big company who can silence whoever they like...And the entirety of Japan knows about this...it's not because their ignorant, they just don't think that it'll happen to their kids. Gotta remember, Japanese culture is different. We might think "OMG WTH." when they're like "Oh, whatever."

chocodreamer: i agree with cluelesslyf...it would be so sad to imagine my fave je artists going through all those horrible things...and even more sad is them not leaving je after everything...i mean getting abused is bad enough, but letting it happen to you is worse...

The rest of the thread varies between how little power Johnny actually has now, how crossing Johnny has proven to RUIN YOUR LIFE, and whether or not we should sympathize with these guys as they apparently seem to be okay with taking the abuse.

Kinda small - but I'm totally amused by people trying to Save the Idols! as if they were sweat shop kids.
Bonus points for someone telling the posters to stay on topic...[/mousey]

caito says: I especially like when Lt. Kazuya Kaneshiro starts posting with a screencap of beat-up Kame and Jin from Gokusen 2.

But it’s sad to see that not all JE wank turns out this cute.