Artists from management agency Johnny & Associates are known to get along well with one another and often spend time together at work and in private. Of all the Johnny’s groups, goo (NTT Docomo) polled its users to ask which group they think are the closest to one another.

Voting was held from 2012 6/2 – 6/15 and a total of 25,701 people voted.

Check out the results below! In addition, which do you think are the most closely-knitted Johnny’s groups?

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<Which Johnny’s groups get along the best with one another?>

01. Arashi – 15897 votes

02. Kanjani8 – 3799 votes

03. TOKIO – 2310 votes

04. SMAP – 897 votes

05. KinKi Kids – 504 votes

06. Hey! Say! JUMP – 443 votes

07. Kis-My-Ft2 – 425 votes

08. V6 – 365 votes

09. Tackey & Tsubasa – 352 votes

10. KAT-TUN – 348 votes

==

Source: GOO

Johnny & Associates, Inc. has announced that they will be holding a fundraising event at the Tokyo Dome on March 11th, exactly a year since the 2011 Tohoku earthquake.

Johnny & Associates, Inc. established their disaster relief project called “Marching J” right after the earthquake.  They started the project with a big-scaled fundraising event held in front of the First Gymnasium at the Yoyogi National Stadium, which pulled total 389,000 people in 3 days (during April 1st ~ 3rd 2011). They have also held many other supportive activities before, such as holding several charity events, donating daily necessities to the disaster areas, setting a donation box at the concert venues, and holding sales of charity goods, etc.

This upcoming fundraising event will be like the previous one, in which many of Johnny & Associates’ talents will participate in the event, and call for donations.  (The talents who won’t be able to participate, due to their schedule, will send video messages, which will be shown on the monitors set at the venue.)  The event will be held through 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. (the admission will be closed at 5:00 p.m.), and the entrance fee will be free.

It was also announced that this will be their last fundraising event, and all the money will be donated to the fund that supports children.

Source & Image: Sanspo + Johnny’s net

Previously, we reported that the new group from Johnny & Associates, Inc., named Sexy Zone, consisting of five members (Nakajima Kento (17), Kikuchi Fuma (16), Sato Shori (14),Matsushima So (13) and Marius Yo (11)) would be making their debut with a self-titled single, ‘Sexy Zone‘.  Recently, it was revealed their debut single is set to be released on November 16th.

The debut single will have four different limited editions and regular edition.  Check out the details of the single below!

<Limited Edition A>
[CD]
1. Sexy Zone
2. With you
[DVD]
• “Sexy Zone” Music Clip

<Limited Edition B>
[CD]
1. Sexy Zone
2. With you
[DVD]
• “Sexy Zone” Music Clip~Close-up ver.

<Limited Edition C>
[CD]
1. Sexy Zone
2. With you
[DVD]
• “Sexy Zone” Off Shot & Interview Movie

<Limited Edition D>
[CD only]
1. Sexy Zone
2. With you
3. Unknown title A
★20 pages of special photo booklet included

<Regular Edition>
[CD only]
1. Sexy Zone
2. With you
3. Unknown title B
4. Sexy Zone (Original Karaoke)
5. With you (Original Karaoke)
6. Unknown title B (Original Karaoke)

Source & Image: Sexy Zone official site

On June 28th, Johnny & Associates announced their official message on their homepage regarding the incident with the youngest Hey! Say! JUMP member, Morimoto Ryutarou (16).

Although the agency did not report Morimoto’s name or the validity of his actions, they posted a formal apology to the fans by stating, “We are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and the worry we have caused.”

As a response, the agency added three more dates for Hey! Say! JUMP’s entertainment show, ‘SUMMARY 2011’, with one Osaka Dome performance (September 18th) and two Tokyo Dome performances (24th and 25th). This show was originally scheduled to occur from August 7th to September 11th.

In response to Morimoto’s indefinite suspension, his appearance may be omitted from various pre-recorded shows. For example, it has been revealed that his appearance on Hey! Say! JUMP’s regular show, “Yan Yan JUMP”, has been deleted from the recorded footage.

Johnny & Associates commented on their actions, stating, “We will air the episode after replacing all the cutout scenes with other members of the group.”

It is still undecided if his appearances in TV programs such as “HEY! HEY! HEY!” and new CMs such as the ones for Lotte will be omitted, but it is currently under review.

With this, the rest of the members of Hey! Say! JUMP pledged that, “We will do our very best so please do continue to support us from now on.”

Source: Sanspo & Daily Sports

It’s been reported that  former Kansai Johnny’s Jr. member, Nakata Daichi, was arrested for stealing a wallet at an Internet cafe in Osaka.  According to the Sonezaki police department, he admitted it, saying he was desperate for cash.

Nakata stole the wallet (with about 37,000 yen in it) of a male customer who was sleeping at a private space in the net cafe, and when an employee of the net cafe who was suspicious of Nakata’s behavior called to him, Nakata ran way. Therefore the employee chased after him and caught him outside of the cafe.

Nakata joined Kansai Johnny’s Jr. in 2002, however, according to Johnny & Associates, they have been out of contact with him since March in 2011, and he was resigned from the agency at the end of the month.

Source: Sanspo

“Marching J“, which is a disaster relief project of Johnny & Associates, will be holding a charity baseball game at Tokyo Dome on May 29th.

As we reported previously, they held a fundraising event for three days in April, and the president of Johnny & Associates, Johnny Kitagawa, stated that he was planning to hold a charity event every month, with a part of the profit donated to disaster relief.

Below are the participants for the baseball game for now, as the list is subject to change:

• V6 (Sakamoto Masayuki, Nagano Hiroshi)
• KinKi Kids (Domoto Koichi)
• Tackey & Tsubasa (Takizawa Hideaki, Imai Tsubasa)
• NEWS (Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa, Tegoshi Yuya)
• KAT-TUN (Kamenashi Kazuya, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya, Nakamaru Yuichi)
• Kis-My-Ft2
• A.B.C-Z
• B.I.Shadow
• Morimoto Shintaro
• Hip Hop JUMP
• Sanada Yuma, Nozawa Yuki, Johnny’s Jr.
• Uchi Hiroki
• Nakayama Yuma
• B.A.D
• Shigeoka Daiki, Kansai Johnny’s Jr.

Source & Image: Johnny’s Net

Many fans gathered outside the fundraiser for the March 11th earthquake, on the afternoon of April 3rd.

As we previously reported, Johnny & Associates held a 3-day fundraiser at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium, as part of their earthquake relief project, “Marching J“.

All of the artists  of the agency, including SMAP, TOKIO, Arashi, KAT-TUN, NEWS, and Kanjani8, helped with the fundraiser, and over the course of the 3 days, around 389,000 people came out to support the cause (we reported the first day total of 101,000).

On April 3rd, the final day, SMAP’s Kimura Takuya thanked fans, saying, “Thank you to all of you for lending us your help, two days ago, yesterday, and today.”

Fellow member Katori Shingo commented, “I believe these thoughts will definitely reach many people.”

SMAP also performed an a cappella version of their hit songs “Sekai de Hitotsu Dake no Hana” and “Yozora no Mukou“.

The “Marching J” relief project will be continuing its support of relief efforts even after the event.

Source + Photo: Sanspo /Kyodo News via excite

Yesterday we reported the results of the first day of the “Marching J” fundraiser held by talent agency Johnny & Associates on April 1st. Today marked the second day of the event.

On April 2nd, popular group SMAP participated in the charity event held outside of Yoyogi Gym 1 in Tokyo. The event is raising money to support disaster relief in Japan. A total of 127,000 people visited the event on its second day, exceeding the 101,000 visitors of the first day. SMAP’s Katori Shingo (34) commented, “I was reminded of how amazing Johnny’s is”. Kimura Takuya (38) was moved by the event, saying, “I’m happy that everyone came, and that they are smiling”.

Currently staying in the United States to prepare for his American debut, Akanishi Jin (26) delivered a video message projected on a giant screen on the stage. “I’m disappointed that I can’t be there with you guys. My family lives in Tokyo, and I hate that I can’t be with them right now”, he said, frowning. Then he issued a call to the crowd, saying, “Let’s come together to support our own”.

Akanishi also mentioned the event on his Twitter: “By the way thank u 2 all the ppl who attended Johnny’s charity event n japan.My apologies for only being able to be there as a video message“.

Also in Tokyo on April 2nd, for the first day of a theater production, was V6’s Inohara Yoshihiko (34), who rushed to the event before the performance to voice his support.

Source: Sanspo, Akanishi Jin’s Twitter

Hey! Say! JUMP member Yaotome Hikaru attended the “Marching J” charity event held by Johnny & Associates on April 1st. The fund raising event was very special to Hikaru since he’s originally from the Miyagi prefecture.

Hikaru said that right now his family is living in the evacuation shelters, and also mentioned that his older brother is staying at the company workplace. He wants his brother to see how hard he’s working. He also admitted that that his family actually lives in the mountain side of Miyagi-ken but communication is cut-off so he worries a lot.

The apartment, where his older brother and wife live, in Tagajo-shi was damaged by tsunami and earthquake. The first floor is flooded and they have no gas or water. His sister-in-law took refuge in his parents house along with her child, while the brother is residing in the company house. Though, Hikaru is particularly concerned for his 4-year old niece and 6-year old nephew.

Hikaru hasn’t been able to reach any of his friends and wants to go back there as soon as possible. He really wants to do something for them all and is thankful for the “Marching J” project.

Source: Sanspo

Previously, we reported that Johnny & Associates created the earthquake relief project “Marching J“, which included participation from all their talents. On April 1st, they held their first fundraising event in front of the First Gymnasium at the Yoyogi National Stadium. It started at 10:00 am, and 101,000 people stopped by over the 6 hours-and-30 minutes run-time.

On the first day, Kondo Masahiko, Nishikiori Kazukiyo, Uchiumi Koji, TOKIO, KinKi Kids, Arashi, Tackey & Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, KAT-TUN, Hey!Say!JUMP, Nakayama Yuma, Yonehana Tsuyoshi, Machida Shingo, A.B.C-Z, and B.I.Shadow made their appearance.

Kondo said, “We are planning to continue the activity of ‘Marching J’ every month, at least for a year.  I would like to keep sending messages to the Tohoku region until Japan becomes strong and kind.”

The first activity of “Marching J” will continue until April 3rd.

Source & Photo: Oricon