It's been more than 9 months since this column last looked at Johnny's Jimusho, Japan's most powerful talent agency, and in the meantime a lot has happened to the young male charges of reclusive company president Johnny Kitagawa. For one thing, these charges, or at least some of them, are no longer young, which could be seen as a problem for an agency whose mission is to provide Asian females with pulchritudinous boys to gawk at and fantasize over.
In recent years, some of Johnny's most popular stars have reached their mid-30s. For idols of all shapes and genders that would normally mean irrelevancy, but Takuya Kimura (34) is as much of a god as he's ever been, and his colleague in SMAP, Masahiro Nakai (35), may be the busiest person in Johnny's stable. He's currently one of TV's most in-demand emcees.
How much Nakai's job load can be credited to Johnny's marketing efforts and how much to Nakai's skills and charisma is difficult to determine. When it comes to Johnny's, any analysis of normal show-business customs requires adjustment. The company's acts are considered guaranteed ratings-boosters and TV executives are careful lest they offend Kitagawa. Unlike other celebrities, Johnny's artists never talk about their private lives, and the media know better than to ask.