Japan’s entertainment world, which encompasses all actors, singers, anime voice actors, bikini idols and everyone else in the public eye, is large and complex and unlike anything seen in the U.S. First and foremost, Japan’s show business industry is extremely professional, with virtually every aspect of a given star’s career carefully managed by talent agencies with names like Big Apple, Keep Smiling, Queen’s Factory and Abiru Agency, including what stars will appear on which TV shows, what “guarantee” will be paid, and even what kind of bento they’ll be served while working. There are similar model agencies and management companies in the U.S., of course, but one big difference is that here, everyone is quite aware that the irresistibly cute model Yoko Kumada works with Artist House Pyramid while this year’s red-hot “talent” Suzanne is managed by K-Dash Stage. I’ve even seen game shows where popular idols were divided into teams according to their management companies and asked to answer trivia questions in competition with each other. It’s common for stars associated with the same company to sometimes appear together. For example, director/comedian Takeshi Kitano runs a successful talent agency called Office Kitano which discovers and manages young comedians and other “talents,” and any show he produces will often feature members of his “Takeshi family” of performers. Japan’s talent management companies often become so influential they can leave a lasting impression on popular culture. For example, the Yellow Cab Agency created a boom in busty swimsuit idols which defined the early part of this decade. And the current popularity of ikemen (extremely cute guys) in dramas, music and variety shows is all made possible by Johnny’s Entertainment, which has been setting the standard for boy-idols for decades. I’ve known a lot of Americans who were turned off by the apparent “fakeness” of Japan’s entertainment industry, but personally I think having everything out in the open, including which companies are managing which stars, is actually refreshingly honest.
