Starto Entertainment
Starto Entertainment Inc. is a Japanese entertainment company that provides artist management services established on October 17, 2023. The president is Katsuaki Suzuki. Many of the groups and artists formerly affiliated with Johnny & Associates belong to this company. It began full operations in April 2024.
Company formation
After he died in 2019, Johnny & Associates' founder Johnny Kitagawa's sexual abuse was revealed in 2023, on October 2, Julie Keiko Fujishima, Kitagawa's niece and successor, decided to compensate the victims and close the business. The name “Johnny” was erased from the company name because of Fujishima's desire to "erase all traces of Johnny Kitagawa from this world". Johnny & Associates changed its name to Smile-Up and concentrated on compensating the victims. Together with the change of activities of what was now Smile-Up, the establishment of a new company was being sought to ensure the continued activities of celebrities belonging to Johnnys & Associates, and Atsushi Fukuda, president of consulting firm Speedy Inc. was chosen to serve as its CEO.Fukuda previously served as vice president of Sony Pictures in the United States and also as president and CEO of Sony Digital Entertainment, and had been involved in corporate management and the talent agency business since founding Speedy Inc. in 2017. Fukuda was chosen as a candidate for CEO because Smile-Up was interested in promoting "agent contract," a free work style, for its celebrities in the future. Fukuda, said to be well versed in the field of celebrities agent contracts, is known for having re-launched the career of actress Rena Nonen, who had been in a slump after quitting her agency.
The new company name "Starto Entertainment" was announced on December 8, 2023. The company name was chosen after much discussion from among 140,156 entries from fan club members. The name was chosen, because “... it is derived from ‘Star’ and ‘To,’ as in ‘to head toward the future,’”. On its official website, the company says, “We will accompany the current stars and those who will emerge in the future, following their individual personalities and goals. From here, we will start a new legend. This is what we are trying to express”. Fukuda also announced in his comments, that same day, that the artists can choose between a traditional management contract or a more liberal agent contract.
In establishing Starto Entertainment Inc., 10 million yen in investment capital was invested by management and employees, and neither Smile-Up, its affiliated companies, nor Julie Keiko Fujishima, the founding family member and president of the former Johnny & Associates invested in the company. At a press conference on December 9, 2023, CEO Fukuda announced that the company had found a way to obtain a loan from a financial institution for several hundred million yen in working capital for the time being.
Starto announced that it began full-fledged operations on April 10, 2024. As of April, it had 295 performers under contract in 28 groups, and 185 staff members. Many of the staff had previously worked for Johnny & Associates and were not involved in sexual abuse. Starto also said that it had established internal and external reporting channels for early detection of problems.
It is said that, in the past, celebrities from the former Johnny & Associates often did not co-star with celebrities who had left the agency or with competing boy bands. Fukuda mentioned this point as well, explaining that from now on he would make it possible to co-star with anyone, and that while Starto was also looking at overseas activities, nothing would get done if he talked narrowly about co-starring or not in the small world of Minato, Tokyo, where many of Japan's talent agencies have their headquarters. Fukuda said that from now on he will not allow any celebrity to say “I don't want to co-star with that celebrity". On July 6, 2024, on the program The Music Day, both King & Prince remaining members, as well as the members that had left, appeared within one hour of each other. Tomohisa Yamashita, who had left the agency in 2020, also appeared in the same program. Starto artists collaborated with non-Starto artists in music duets.
Fukuda's appointment as CEO
Fukuda stated the circumstances surrounding his appointment at a press conference on December 9, 2023. Initially, he was the most critical of Johnny Kitagawa's problems. Fukuda decried the crimes committed by Johnny Kitagawa, saying that the crimes committed were not at a level that could ever be forgiven in the world.At the time of the October 2 press conference, Noriyuki Higashiyama was to be president of the new company, about a week later, Higashiyama, Julie Keiko Fujishima, and Yoshihiko Inohara had an opportunity to meet with Fukuda to talk to him about an agent contract. Fukuda said he was impressed by Higashiyama's big decision to retire from show business and focus on compensation work for victims at Johnny's, after initially saying he wanted to continue acting until he was 90. As he listened to what the three of them had to say, he came to realize that there was a culture within Johnny & Associates like a “lineage of admiring cool senior,” and that this culture had generated so much content that it now influences Korean popular music, etc. and that it would be a shame to see this disappear in the face of this criticism. Fukuda also said that he thought it would be a loss of Japan if their singing, dancing, and acting content were to fall apart, even though it is a treasure of Japan.
Afterward, Higashiyama then decided against becoming president of the new company, and Inohara honestly told Fukuda that he had become an executive of the company through this process, but that he knew nothing about management and asked Fukuda to be the president. Fukuda initially declined, saying that it was too much of a burden, but he accepted, partly to protect their culture and partly because he wanted to reform the old traditions that persisted in the Japanese entertainment industry. In accepting the presidency, Fukuda said that he understood management but knew nothing about training celebrities, and asked Inohara to teach him that part of the business. When Fukuda took over as president, he first began interviewing 160 of his celebrities. The first person he met was star celebrity Takuya Kimura. Fukuda spoke with Kimura about the future of the company. As a result, Kimura understood and recognized Fukuda and communicated this to his juniors. As a result, Fukuda said, he was able to facilitate smooth interviews with the rest of the celebrities. He offered the celebrities two types of contracts: a new "agent contract" to broker work and negotiate contracts, plus a traditional "management contract" to manage their schedules and follow up on their daily activities. The celebrities could choose between the two types of contracts and were also allowed the freedom to move to another agency. They were also free to leave the company and said they were prepared to accept celebrities who had left the company but wished to return.
Management changes and restructuring
On June 27, 2025, Starto announced the resignation of Atsushi Fukuda as president and CEO, citing the expiration of his term and his own wishes. Katsuaki Suzuki, former President of Television Nishinippon Corporation, assumed the role of CEO.In reports concerning Fukuda's resignation, a representative from the agency stated that Fukuda had originally planned to step down at this time. From the time of his appointment, his goals included the management of music publishing rights and the development of digital distribution services. During his tenure, music from affiliated groups became available on music streaming services, and music programs featuring the agency's artists were launched on services such as Amazon Prime Video and DMM TV. Additionally, with progress made in resolving the compensation issues for victims of sexual abuse related to Johnny Kitagawa through Smile-Up, it is believed that Fukuda decided it was the appropriate time to resign. Fukuda focused on strengthening compliance measures and establishing a robust governance structure. He is credited with laying the groundwork for the new company and taking a strong leadership role in areas such as social media engagement by affiliated artists, measures against ticket scalping, and countering online defamation.
Suzuki, the new president, joined Fuji Television in 1981 and served as the chief producer of the breakfast program Mezamashi TV, which he helped launch. He later held several key positions, including Director of Programming and Production, Executive Vice President, and Board Director at Fuji Media Holdings. In 2017, he became President of Television Nishinippon, a position he held for four years. After stepping down, he served as an advisor to various companies. His move to the regional affiliate was reportedly linked to a growing distance from then-Fuji TV CEO Hisashi Hieda.
On the same day, it was also announced that Yoshihiko Inohara, CMO and board director, as well as Kazuhiro Tatsuki, board director, stepped down from their positions. Inohara is expected to concentrate on his own career in show business.
History
2024
On April 10, the concert We Are! Let's get the party Starto! was held at Tokyo Dome, featuring 13 groups from Starto, a total of 72 artists. The event was directed by Jun Matsumoto and Tadayoshi Okura. This performance was also held on May 29 and 30 at Kyocera Dome Osaka. A portion of the performance on May 29 was streamed live on YouTube, and the performance on May 30 was streamed for a fee. In response to the 2024 Noto earthquake that occurred on January 1, the charity song “We are” was released by Starto artists of 14 groups, 75 people in total. The song was released for digital download on April 10 and on CD on July 24, with all proceeds donated to support earthquake relief efforts.On April 29, the formation of KAMIGATA BOYZ, a collaboration group of four groups from the Kansai region, Super Eight, West, Naniwa Danshi, and Ae! Group, was announced. Their debut single Musekinin de Eejanaika Love was released digitally on May 3, and a video of the song was released on YouTube the same day. On May 15, Ae! Group made their CD debut as the first group since the full launch of Starto.
Jun Matsumoto, member of Arashi, announced his departure from Starto for solo pursuits starting May 30. He continues as part of Arashi through an agent contract.
timelesz started recruiting for new members, and the process began streaming on Netflix under the title timelesz -AUDITION- PROJECT starting September 13. Participation of Starto Junior members as candidates, uncertain as of start of the series. On the other hand, 3 members, Takuto Teranishi, Yoshitaka Hara, and Daichi Imae, nicknamed the "actors unit", joined Timelesz auditions as candidates during the fourth round, after the group and staff had chosen 15 candidates out of 18,922 applicants.