This Morning when I woke up, I received an email from Florence from Montreal, Canada! She wanted me to answer a bunch of questions for her and I thought that It would be good to share here as well! So I will call this entry “Ask Nihonchique #1!” The theme of this one is Johnnys questions! Now, before I start this I want to say I am no expert and these answers are based off of my experience being a fan and being in the Johnnys fan clubs and also talking with other fans. So with that, lets just jump right into it!
1- Do Kanjani8 live in Tokyo or Osaka? I can’t imagine that they stay at hotels when they have work in Tokyo.
This is a question I had wondered for a while too! I asked many fandom friends about this and from what I know most members of Kanjani8 have homes both in Osaka and Tokyo because they have work in most places. They are Kansai Johnnys, but when they got more popular they officially moved to Tokyo because a lot of work was there, but they still have homes in Osaka too and their families are in Kansai area as well.
2- Where do Janiben is film? Osaka?
Yes! Janiben films 1 or 2 times a month in Osaka on Mondays or Tuesdays! If you are in the fan club, you can ballot to be in the Audience so I know this because I get the Fanclub emails on when the filming of Janiben will be each time. Fanclub members only can go to a Janiben filming. It isn’t a live show, they prerecord it ahead of time. I have never been to a Janiben filming because I have always had class for graduate school on those days unfortunately. One day I would love to go!
3- They have a lot of weekly tv show, especially Murakami S. (maybe 5 + 1 radio show) if I’m right! They have such a busy schedule, hosting, recording songs, practice dances choreo., photo shoots, acting, promotions…. concert tours. I have just thought about Sakurai S. How can they do all that?
Ahh this is another good questions. Johnnys juggles these talents schedules impeccably. From my speculation, some of the Radio shows aren’t live and some TV shows aren’t live, so I believe that Johnny’s has the power to negotiate with the TV shows and radio shows on when they can be filmed/ recorded. Because Murakami and Sho are very popular (as are Kanjan8 and Arashi in general) I am pretty sure that the TV shows and radio shows would cater to their schedules, except it its a live broadcast. I also expect that the talents themselves don’t get much sleep or days off sometimes either.
4- Do you know someone who has already met one of them (any Johnny’s) on the streets, restaurants, clubs… I know the agency is really strict with their idols’ image, no blogs, facebook…… but how can it be possible that there is no pictures of their whereabouts when everybody as a camera on their cell phone today. I came to the conclusion that the Japaneses are really respectful.
I have had a friend who meet Koyama Keiichiro from NEWS when he went to New York for News Every for coverage for the 10 year anniversary of September 11th and I have a Japanese friend (who isn’t a Johnnys fan) who has meet Taguchi Junnousuke from KAT-TUN at a place where you play billiards and Jin Akanishi at a school festival, because her school was an international school that was sister schools with an all boys international school that Jin Akanishi had many friends who went there. Also, there are sightings all the time of Johnnys by Japanese fans. For example, this past summer Tegoshi Yuya from NEWS was seen many times out in public and had his picture taken (not by his own will I believe though). I think it’s rare for Kanjani8 and Arashi though because they are so busy with their insane schedule. They probably don’t have much time to go out and have free time. Japanese fans in general are polite I think and they know the rules of no photos and for the most part they respect it, so thats why there aren’t many fan taken pictures. Even if the Johnnys talent is asked for a picture or a sign most of the time they wouldn’t do it, so a handshake at most is what fans ask for.
5- I think it’s about time that at least one member of Arashi and Kanjani8 get married. Don’t you think? I think their popularity goes beyond Johnny’s rules. It works for Takuya K. Can we consider SMAP and Arashi on the same level?
Hmmm, Marriage and Johnnys is complicated. Kimura Takuya still had to go through fans committing suicide over the fact he got married initially, but he had been with his girlfriend for a long time and I believe that Kimura Takuya went through the right channels with the agency so that the agency could prepare for the announcement way ahead of time. On the other hand, Jin Akanishi broke all the rules when he got married and was punished by the agency for it for a while for a shotgun wedding. Only one member of SMAP is married in the end now. Marriage is a hard topic for Johnnys and its a sad truth. Everyone thinks that Yokoyama will be the first to get Married in Kanjani8 because its rumored that he has an older girlfriend who lives with him, but I don’t want my blog to be about gossip, but to discuss things happening in Johnnys , so I will leave it at that. I am not in the Arashi fandom really, so I don’t know much rumors about dating for them except from the bit from friends who do know. All in all, I am sure that if they love someone and they want to get married to that person, that it will have to be a long process before they can get married. If you want more thoughts about Johnnys and dating, I have a blog post here about Johnnys and Marriage and Dating that I did a while back!
That’s it! I hope you enjoyed this first edition of “Ask Nihonchique”! If you have questions that you would like answered about Johnnys, life in Japan, me, or anything, please feel free to email me at nihonchique@gmail.com or tweet me at @nihonchique with your questions!
nihonchique 