First I want to say I love J-Pop. Typically, it is light, optimistic, cheerful and characterised by great production and arrangements and good, dance rhythms.
The J-Pop is a huge money generator for record companies and agencies and young, teenage girls can become stars and make great money and careers. The majority of agencies are honest and look after girls that work for them.
However, behind the façade sometimes there is a high price that these girls pay. The contracts for young J-Pop idols have clauses in them which limit their personal freedom to an extent that I do not think would be tolerated in the Europe or the USA. The punishments for even trivial actions outside the expectations of the management can be extremely harsh.
There is a system, like a production line almost, and to succeed then you must follow that system. Be a good girl and do what the management says and all is well, however, if you rock the boat then watch out!
In this post I want to share the stories of three girls who have broken the rules and tell you what happened to them.
Ai Kago entered one of the most famous J-Pop idol groups, Morning Musume when she was only 12 years old in the year 2000, and in 2004 left and formed the J-Pop duo W with fellow Morning Musume veteran Nozomi Tsuji. However it all went wrong for her when she was photographed smoking a cigarette in 2006. In Japan you have to be 20 years old to smoke cigarettes, and she was only 18 at the time.
She was suspended from her agency and spent most of 2006 in what she describes as “house arrest” at her parents home, in 2007 she was allowed to return to Tokyo and worked a few months serving tea, answering the phone and performing office duties for her agency from January to March 2007 and it was expect that she would have a come back arranged soon.
However in March 2007 she was seen smoking cigarettes again and was rumoured to be dating an older guy. The agency fired her.
She went on to write a very good book about the pressures of the music business called Kago Ai Live—Miseinen Hakusho where she talks about the difficulty, not just of the music business, but of being a teenager girl today. It is actually a really good book.
Now days she is an actor and does some Jazz singing. Here she is with her version of All Of Me. It is a nice version, even if it is not the greatest. When I hear it I think of her lost dreams, but also that she has survived and is having a good, if modest career as an actor and singer.
All Of Me – Ai Kago
Kikuchi Ayaka is a singer and dancer with AKB 48 which is maybe currently the most popular J-pop act in Japan. This girl was 15 years old, when she took some photos with a boyfriend in a photo both and put them on a private website that only her and close friends had access to. However the site was hacked and the photos, of two teenagers standing next to each other, were published in a tabloid. The result was the poor girl was fired!
In the end she was allowed back a year later, first as a “trainee” and then a full member. Considering all the songs of AKB 48 are about teenage love, it does seem a little harsh that teenage love is OK for every girl except the members of the group!
Kikuchi Ayaka as part of AKB48 (after her return) - Baby! Baby! Baby!
I have saved maybe the hardest example to last.
Suzuki Ami is a singer and actress and she was a really popular act in the late 1990 decade, but at the peak of her career she got into a dispute with her agency which she felt was under reporting her record sales and money from appearances and endorsements. She and her family sued her agency in 2000 and won.
However even though it was proved her agency had been cheating her, no other agency would handle her and she became effectively blacklisted. Sony reached an out of court settlement with her for her copyright royalties on her songs 2003 and it seemed her career was effectively over.
But I am really pleased to say that Suzuki Ami was “no push over” and she started her own record label and began to release her own material. In 2005 she was signed by Avex (one of the really best agencies, who do stand by their artists) and finally returned to the mainstream.
Her and her family’s heroic actions helped clean the J-Pop industry from some very bad business practices, and actually I think she is an example to all who fight for justice in their work place. I really admire her!! Now she is a successful actress, DJ, model and singer.
Suzuki Ami - Eventful
J-Pop is certainly not all bad, but the pressures these young girls live under are sometimes unrealistic for their age. Most of girls and their families know what the business is like before they enter, but decisions you make at 12 or 13 can be unbearable at 15 or 16. I love the music, but I do wonder about the girls. As I said before most really enjoy their time in the spot light, but we need to recognise that some do not.
Excellent, thought-provoking post, Sakura.
Thank you so much Maki!
I am happy you like it!
Yes, thanks for this, Sakura. It sounds like early Hollywood, before United Artists started to improve matters, when the studios dictated how their (i.e. contracted) stars must behave. The difference is maybe that the studios pulled strings with the police and press to keep bad news away from the public (the case of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle being a notable exception); in J-pop’s case, maybe there’s a sense in which another teenage girl star will be along in a minute, so it’s easier to simply drop the one that’s not doing as she’s told.
Other differences, of course, are that the Hollywood era I’m referencing was over 80 years ago and they were at least dealing with adults, rather than minors. It’s a little hard to reconcile such moralistic behaviour on the part of record companies and agencies in a modern society that encourages underage girls to jump about in skimpy outfits as a way of selling product.
I’m sure that, as ever, there’s a Japanese phrase for this situation; in English we’d probably call it disgusting, greed-fuelled hypocrisy.
Thank you for the comment and reading the post.
I think you make a really good point about there always being another teenage girl to come along, and so they can just drop a girl id she breaks a rule, or even if she does not. It is very true. When auditions are held for these groups thousands of girls apply.
Growing up in those circumstances must be very difficult and often no tolerance at all is shown to them.
Thank you Chris!
Great post Sakura. The “rules” do seem to be very harsh and I think you are right that the curtailment of freedom would maybe not be tolerated in other countries.
mdmoloney
Thanks for reading the post, I think the punishments are sometimes much to hard for small things, that normal girls of ages will do in everyday life. If I am lucky enough one day to have a daughter I would never encourage her to enter such an industry, but hopefully one day it will change.
As Maki said, a very thought provoking post Sakura. I knew all the stories except for the last.
The sad thing for me, and I think it’s the same in all countries, is how little it all has to do with MUSIC, which should surely be the main point of pop MUSIC. At least it seems to be completely open in Japan that no-one is under any illusions that this anything other than a business contract and that pop music is an industry like any other.
sad stories though…..
Thank you for reading and commenting. I actually think the story of Ami Suzuki is disgraceful actually, she proved her agency were cheating her and then the rest of the industry blacklisted her for like four years or something!!!
I have a pretty low opinion of the music industry ( and showbiz in general to be honest) there are too may sharks around.
The parents, surely, must bear some responsibility here. Twelve and Thirteen year olds are not, at least here, regarded as being able to make decisions of this nature without adult backing.
Hi Pairubu!
In Japan everyone knows what this industry is like and sadly parents are often the ones that encourage the girls to join this industry at so young an age. Hello Project Agency has a group it uses as a training set up called Hello Project Egg for girls under eleven, the do not record, but appear at concerts and as backing dancers in videos and receive free dance and voice lessons. There 10,000 applicants the last time they advertised for new girls. It really is much too young I think so.
Blimey. We really are swimming in some deep waters this weekend, aren’t we?
Superb post, Sakura, which demands I give it some attention.
The whole thing is utterly alien to me, in several senses, but I will be back tonight, I promise.
Fascinating. More extreme control, but not much different from S.A.W., Boy Bands & Cowell fodder: It’s just a business shifting product & not about the music.
It’ll be interesting to see what comes to light in the future about the experience of being one of Simon Cowell’s acts – I wonder how different it will be to some of the situations Sakura describes?
Shoey and wyngatecarpenter
Unfortunately you are right is is a very competitive business and ,makes a lot of money for the record companies.
Boybands often have no girlfriend clause in the contract. But they tend to be older actually.
Herman’s Hermits had that clause written in when they first broke in the 60s
This is superb.
A career in music journalism awaits!
Thank you so much for your very kind words Mitch!!!
I really must thank Maki and Mitch for reviewing the post for me before I published it. It was very kind of you and I appreciate your help very much!
Aw, shucks, t’was nothing. You did all the hard work!
Likewise. My only input was “This is excellent. Post it!”
Thank you for that, Sakura. Very thought provoking. It sounds so much like a production line. Is there a recognised upper age limit? (i.e. you’re 20 now, off you go!)
My post below was a reply to you Zamanda!
Hi Zalamanda!
Mari Yaguchi from Morning Musume had a career as an idol until 22 years old, and now is having a successful TV career but this is an exception.
But 20 is about when most move on to something else. Some begin acting careers or modelling careers.
But really if they were in a successful group, most can leave at 20 years old with a million of bucks in the bank and marry a rich guy. Surprisingly, many seen to marry comedians…..I do not know why.