A Look at Former Johnny's Entertainment Members in the Entertainment Industry

It's more or less accepted that Johnny's Entertainment controls pretty much the entire entertainment industry in Japan. Anything that's released with the Johnny's name on it instantly going straight to number one on the charts, virtually every male lead in any currently airing drama is bound to be a Johnny's, and if Johnny's views any particular artist as a threat they can literally get them banned from all of the popular music programmes with just a request. Basically, no matter how hard you try to hide from JE as a Japanese entertainment fan you're still probably going to be assaulted by them from all angles.

With all of this media coverage and an almost cult-like following of dedicated and loyal fans, it's no surprise that JE doesn't have any real competition. Non-JE Jpop boy groups certainly do exist (hence this entire blog, haha) and do have their place but none of them have even gotten close to JE's legacy. That begs the question; what happens if a boy decides to leave Johnny's, realizing it's not for him (*cough* or gets kicked out *cough*) but still wants to be an idol? Would he still be able to find success? Is any other agency besides JE inevitably a down-grade? Let's find out by taking a look at a few of the more notable instances of ex-Johnny's going on to join other idol (or some non-idol) groups.

The first I'll mention is now Bullet Train (Choutokkyuu) member, Funatsu Ryoga. Ryoga was a member of Johnny's Jr. around 2006. After leaving the agency, he later in 2012 debuted as a member of Bullet Train and is now the leader of the group. Bullet Train has gone on to become one of EBiDAN's most popular groups and seems to be one of the most popular non-Johnny's boy groups overall. It should be noted that EBiDAN as a whole seems to be developing quite a legacy although on a smaller scale than Johnny's of course.

Lead singer of the ever-popular rock band ONE OK ROCK, Takahiro Moriuchi -- or Taka, as he is known professionally -- was the first member to leave JE group NEWS in 2003, having left even before they released their debut single. Taka is an example of a former Johnny's boy finding a huge amount of success -- what with ONE OK ROCK's large fanbase both in Japan and overseas -- yet maybe that has something to with him abandoning the 'idol' path for something a bit less restricting.

Morimoto Ryutaro -- once a member of JE group Hey! Say! JUMP but in 2011 was "let go" due to an underage smoking scandal -- made his return to the entertainment industry in 2016 as a member and the producer of male idol group ZERO. Almost two years later there's still no sign of the group releasing any CDs but they seem to be fairly active on social media and doing live performances.

Oh SMAP! | Former SMAP Members Throw Shade at JE with New Project

If you're a Johnny's Enterainment fan, or even just a Jpop fan in general you're probably aware of the fact that SMAP disbanded last year. SMAP was probably JE's best known group, having been in the entertainment industry for about 25 years. Their single, "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" is in the Oricon charts literally every week still despite being 15 years old. So of course it was met with great shock and sadness when such an influential group disbanded and departed from the agency.