Erika Sawajiri: Inside the head of Japan's outspoken star
Arts & Culture ( 47 )
TOKYO —
“Restricting talented people is the biggest problem in the entertainment business in Japan,” says 24-year-old Erika Sawajiri. “This is the 21st century and it has to change.”
The sheer frankness of the enigmatic model, actress and singer is certainly an unusual, and I must say refreshing, occurrence in conservative Japan. She has gained a reputation as a difficult, thorny character. But now, in her first ever English-language interview, Sawajiri simply comes across as honest, direct and passionate about changing how Japanese entertainers are treated by their agencies.
She has been a revelation to the orderly, deferential world of Japanese entertainers, causing controversy after controversy ever since her infamous “betsu ni” (“not really”) responses at a press conference in September 2007.
Speaking near-fluent English, and without hesitation—a real rarity in Japan—confidence and self-assurance clearly runs through her veins.
Read more at CNNGo.com.
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47 Comments
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pamelot
Then learn fluent English, and move to the 'States: the land of auditions, call backs, dry spells, and waitress work. Seems to me this "confident and self -assured" girl has not learned what "paying dues" is. But hey, she's talented, she's owed the keys to the city. Live and learn.
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sk4ek
I have a little more respect for her after reading the full article.
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nylex4
does she actually have any talent??
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space_monkey
she has talent....she speaks near fluent English...along with a few hundred million other people. Ground Zero baby.
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Papigiulio
she has a nice butt but so do 10 million other Japanese girls
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paulinusa
Whether she has talent might be irrelevant, what she says about the system might be true.
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proudnippon
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
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hoserfella
pamelot, are you suggesting Japanese entertainers in Japan shouldn't complain about the fact that they are still bound to the studio system a la Hollywood in the 1940s and 50s? I give the woman credit for being one of the few to stand up against it, and I'm sure she's lost tons of income in the past few years for doing so.
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tokyochris
I have to disagree with this comment...
As for Erika, she probably has no interest in changing anything - just wants to cause more controversy because she is an attention seeker that people have stopped talking about recently
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tkoind2
After checking the CNN article, she sounds smart and forward thinking. I hope she has fun shaking things up. As they certainly need to be.
As a performer I can tell you that the system here is medieval at best. The idiotic rules that producers and events planners impose are absurd. Further the ranking and pecking orders in entertainment here are worst that high school. Having to pay respects to people who don't deserve it or have anything to do with you, being unable to work with someone because they are from a competing agency. It is collossal BS. I am surprised more entertainers here don't go off train platforms. At least there are some fighting back. More power to her!
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Gurukun
Betsu ni
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blue_monday
The talent agencies here do have a stranglehold on the business, the degree to which they restrict "talented" people is hard to say. They certainly "look after" their talents to the point of molly coddling them. Perhaps what Ms Sawajiri is really miffed about is the amount of money they take before they pay the "talent" their salary. Having said that if she goes up against Johnny's and kicks that old lech into the bleachers she has my vote.
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Richard_III
She probably doesn't have much talent, but kudos to her for kicking up a fuss with these management types. I kind of respect her for that.
Of course, it will all fail. Too many vested interests, outmoded way's of thinking about "this how we've always done it", and many young starlets waiting in line for their next turn who can easily replace Ms Sawajiri.
Sadly we just have to resign ourselves to the fact that this crap that passes for entertainment on the TV is going to be with us for generations. It'll probably get worse too, if that's possible.
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KaptainKichigai
Its good she shook things up but it sounds like nothing really changed in the system. She sounds like a typical 24 year old that got lucky and rich. She made some good choices and some bad ones. Just a kid. Good luck. Future s definately brighter with her English skills. Its too bad more people cant afford to run off to England and then Barcelona for a "break" of studying and hanging out in pubs and cafes.
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fishy
space monkey-
um.. i've heard her speak english on tv once... she speaks broken english.. well, can still communicate, but made me wonder what kind of people she was hanging out while staying in europe and going to language school.. hmm.
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tranel
Well, I'll let all the misers on here have their own opinions. To my mind, she deserves respect for daring to upset the status quo—this country has such great potential for innovation, but is languishing in the doldrums simply because of ludicrously conservative attitudes. Hats off to young people who think for themselves, follow their own dreams and refuse to become clones of Japan.inc.
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tkoind2
tranel. Well said.
One thing about Japan that drives me nuts is the overpowering need people seem to have to put things into tiny little boxes. Producers and agencies like churning out generic copies of proven formulas and fail utterly to encourage new and interesting talent. Thus the endless boring formula movies, J-pop, events, publications and mindless TV shows that define the entertainment world in Japan. Everything in neat little, staggeringly dull boxes.
Yet if you get outside the commercial world, the youth of Japan are vibrant and talented, creating wonderfully inventive stuff and showing off their real potential.
Sadly by the time any of this reaches mainstream, it has been crushed and conformed by the industry idiots who have only beige taste.
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Japlan
Another nail to hammer down. Gombate.
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KaptainKichigai
The commercial world is pretty much the same everywhere. Carbon copies produced every year exploited for sales. Entertainers slaves to their contracts. Its not much different in the West. Maybe just more diverse in expression but the situation and exploitation is the same. Being in the right place at the right time, having the right look, a splash of nepotism, money...its all formulaic.
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fishy
does anyone know if she speaks french?? her mom's french, just wondering if erika speaks french (i'm 1/2 french)..
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gameover
Ummm I fail to see how anything she has ever done has in anyway contributed to "changing the system".
All she seems to do is avoid responsibility and act like a 5 year old and then try and pass of her immature behavior as some kind of "statement." It isn't and it won't change a thing.
The Japanese talent management system is so entrenched that if she really wanted to change it she would need to get the co-operation of the really "big" stars in Japan, the SMAPs and the Sanma's etc and have them all take action at once. Needless to say this is Japan and will never happen.
Actually the system in Japan is very much like early Hollywood when actors were contracted to movie studios and earned a salary. At some point the stars (or agents most likely) realized it was the stars that sold the movie and this they had the power over the studio. This led to a shift to the agent system that is used today.
The problem is in Japan that 99% of the "stars" are completely replaceable. So they actually have very little leverage to change the system. They (including Erika) are commodities with no power.
Actually many years ago "Kimutaku" when he was at the zenith of his popularity tried to break free from his management company as they took the lions share of the revenue he was generating. Needless to say he is still with SMAP and still signed to Johnnys and still earns a "salary" albeit a pretty bloody good one I expect.
So if probably the closest thing Japan has ever had to a a Britt Pitt-type star failed to change the system I don't know how Erika hopes to.
Also organized crime is embedded in the Japanese entertainment industry so any serious attempt to "change the system" would piss off a lot of shady characters. Whoever attempted this would to be very courageous and risk personal injury. Remember what happened to Junzo Itami. Would Erika do this? Not bloody likely!
....anyway I expect her career to slowly decline until she releases a book of racy photos in one last desperate cash grab.
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tkoind2
gameover. Negativity in masse.
Look, everything changes. Even in Japan. Change is inevitable. Like her or not, she represents growing feelings in Japan that producers and agents are wrecking talent here. We have already seen more and more actors breaking the rules for everything from marriage to their extramarital behaviors. Look how fast Smap boy was forgiven.
Things will change if enough people start demanding so. Young talent here are starting to question and that is a sign of forthcoming change.
As for the Yaks. How much control of front line entertainment do they have really? I think much of this is now the product of mythology. Companies, even those with Yak funding, behave like companies and would not risk the exposure overt criminal activity would bring. This has already changed.
Like her or not, she does represent the thinking of a lot of people. And if being a pain in the behind is what is necessary to bring attention to the need for change, more power to her.
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stevecpfc
She can speak English, she has been tainted. Send her to Coventry!!! Unclean, Unclean.
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pamelot
@ hoserfella: "Bound" is the operative word. A contract. You sign it freely, no? She uses them, they use her. You get paid, you learn. You're tired of it, opt out. Start over, elsewhere. Start your own agency, with your own clients. Get an agent. But learn first, instead of complaining about the way things are. Things is sh*tty all over, hunnypie.
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hoserfella
@pamelot: What you don't comprehend is that like most industries in Japan, Talent agencies are run by a monopoly. It's cute that you would think she could just start up her own agency and not be immediately blackballed if she were even granted a licence (which is doubtful- see, the gov. gets something called kickbacks. Ill explain more on that later) But bully for her for having the guts to say what almost all Japanese entertainers don't have the cojones to; It has to change. Or, she could just take your advice and cower.
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Potsu
Star of what ?
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rizaric
@gameover
Kimutaku is definitely not the norm... the reason he threatened to break free was due to the agency's unhappiness with his marriage. The business practice of not reporting romantic relations in the media is commonplace, which makes the tabloids all the more sensationalist and inquisitive.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20061210pb.html - interesting article a while back about Kimutaku and the 'agency'
There are very few talents like Kimutaku that come around... and it is true that a lot of the celebrities are replaceable. Unless one is extremely talented, they're unable to dictate their contracts or rules and go it alone.. so they have to go through the system.
As for Sawajiri, from the article, it is possible to see how she's gotten this 'rebel' attitude, with her family problems and all. While I don't think that her rudeness to the media should be condoned, I appreciate that she's pushing the envelope and trying to strike out on her own.
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apecNetworks
Pamelot is very close to what is in Japan. There is a system, and if it is mastered, things are good. For Erika Sawajiri, she will have to come up w/ hit after hit after hit, so that she will not be denied. SMAP and others are big, but they realize they benefit more working in the system. The system exists b/c it works, and many people benefit. Changing the system would be alot of work, and would take someone like "Hibari".
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Judderman
Didnt she recently say that the tearful apology she gave after that stupid
betsu nicomment was fake and that she really couldnt give a crap.is this what makes someone outspoken and controversial!What a rebel.0
Torgo
her gripe is about talented people, how does this involve her? I managed to miss the whole "betsu ni" thing the first time around, but saw a short clip of it this week. In two words (plus the sullen pouting and overtly hostile body language), someone I've never met made me dislike them intensely. Talent? They showed her 'singing' and 'dancing' on the next clip, and lord, she made Paris Hilton's album sound like a shining example of quality music.
Clearly, the system stinks, but lord, I hope she's not the poster child for change. That would just make sure the system retrenches. Get someone with actual talent to take a stand, please.
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dotherightthing
just like all the others...
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JayJayE
Right message. Wrong messenger. Good looking though.
As someone has has actually been involved with the music industry here, I would have to 100% agree with past posts that Japan is basically the West in the 50's or 60's. Being that everything is controlled by agencies, labels, big companies and VERY few artists of any kind break through on their own talent and hard work alone yet alone originality.. That includes, humm, Ms Sawajiri.
There are good actors and musicians in Japan but you won't think it looking at the mainstream. Again, as posted before, it's all about what has worked in the past and reusing the formula and making sure everything is in neat little boxes to sell.
What she says is true, but I can think of a lot of Japanese people with more right to complain than her. Still if they complained, no one would listen. Erika Sawajiri is a "controversial star". So maybe I should be glad she said it, I guess.
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catiano
Right on, Erika-san. But this is not just about the entertainment business, but everything in this country.
And one more thing: She's too skinny... She has to eat a lot more.
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gyouza
She comes across quite well in the CNN inteview, I recommend people to read it. HOWEVER, the fact that she thinks an apology wasn't necessary for the childish sullen behaviour at the press interview would suggest that she thinks it is OK to behave like that. I believe she is wrong!
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GW
gyouza,
so your saying she shud just lie like everyone else on the idiot box here, sounds like she learned something from her mom, good on her!
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Seamus78
I really hope more people like her step up and voice their opinions about the manufactured trash thats produced in Japan. The endless boy bands clones and girl bands like AKB48 are a disgrace to the Japanese culture and encourages Otaku and child molesters alike to reign forth in Japans society. What country promotes your 15 year old daughters to where thongs and bend over for greasy otaku salarymen to droll over on public transport. Its not just music and film that needs attention but the whole twisted brain washing, money spinning media as a whole. You ask most people in Japan, what music do you like? - they'll answer "J-pop or Enka"....come one, there are so many talented artists that people could be proud of in Japan that don't get any attention what's so ever.
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smithinjapan
"The sheer frankness of the enigmatic model, actress and singer is certainly an unusual, and I must say refreshing, occurrence in conservative Japan."
Refreshing?? What comes to mind more than anything when I picture this snotty young woman (well, okay, maybe less her butt hanging out of her short-shorts in her last live appearance to promote her new 'song') is her on stage for a promotion event, pouting and refusing to answer questions except ("hai", or, "Iya") and storming off the stage at the end.
I agree that she has some valid things to say about the system in Japan (entertainment industry rules and what not), but it sounds more like regurgitated things that others (prominently foreigners) have pointed out. It's GOOD she's saying it, but while she may come across in the English interview as 'honest' and what have you, she's still a whiny brat who takes all the advantages she can from said system and the controversy she/it creates.
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hoserfella
smithinjapan - If she didn't complain about the totally inept and outdated industry, she'd be much more wealthy. What you see as "bratty" I see as a disregard for Jsongs put together in 5 minutes and Jmovies that demand the same 3 facial expressions from its actors.
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hoserfella
and I find it amazing that some foreigners have been brain-washed into the "Nail that sticks out" mentality.
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Sarge
You wouldn't know it by looking at this photo, but she is ridiculously hot.
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enricopallazzio
I've got a pretty good imagination, but, yeah, she needs garanimals.
I though overexposure was the biggest problem in Japan's entertainment business.
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Cos
"Speaking near-fluent English, and without hesitation—a real rarity in Japan— "
I know at least 10 000 real rarities in Osaka. Even if 90% of Japanese can't speak English, there are still many people that can talk like her. My dentist is bilingual, but besides, he is a competent dentist. And 10% of Japanese teen girls could replace Erika as a singing doll and lolita model. The only requirement is having parents willing to pimp them and invest in surgery on you at an age when normal parents tells their daughters they are too young to paint their nails.
"Restricting talented "
Not at all. They manage the absence of artistic talents. She reproaches them their failure in making her acquire talent. They are not magicians. They can't implant talent like they implant silicone boobs.
We didn't wait for Erika-chan to notice that all the geino crowd had only two talents : a friendly girl/box next door look and their acceptance to be Sakae-san middle class role-models 24/24. She is not friendly, she doesn't do the role model. She is useless.
I read the full article and she says she was forced to sing crap songs as "that was pop", while she has a talent for good music which would be "dance music". In that case what is she doing in Tokyo ? Erika, go to show your talent in London, if you have anything to show except your little legs dancing in a fancy club.
One of my relatives is in the music activity. He did it sincerely. When he finished his studies, he found that his amateur group would never have any success in my country, where the industry was about pretty local singers interpreting-slaughtering translations of American/English hits. Like Japan now. He moved to London, spent the mid-60's and 70's there, where the action was. He worked as a musician 5 years. He was not such a good performer, but he was good in the studios. He went back home and during 20 years, he was an exec, then the CEO, in a major company, he made them change their ways and promote alternative musics, young artists, old indi stage artists that were never given a chance to record their music in the previous system. Now, as he has the age to retire but he still has a passion for music, he has his own label to promote anti-Erikas : young artists with music, lyrics, voices, and that don't count on their sexy bums to sell stuff. I'm sure that Japanese artists with talent can find ways to succeed outside the Wonderful World of Johnny's. Fashion stylists like Yamamoto, Kenzo, Miyake, etc, did it. The chefs and bakers went to succeed abroad too. But musicians and actors don't seem to have the mentality to try.
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rizaric
A lot of harsh words and negativity all around? The near fluent English is a rarity in the entertainment industry, which this article is about.
From the CNNgo article
Doesn't sound like her youth has been the exact walk in the park... cut her some slack.
Who is to say she's not doing her work 'sincerely'? And that the other artists aren't? I don't think it is fair to judge her career as she is a whopping 24 years old... or anyone's for that matter. People make mistakes... and life goes on.
@Cos...your relative has had a whole career to do his work, and I admire that. However, the unfortunate thing is that it isn't that easy to make it (correct me if I'm wrong but I'd say his success in the minority rather than the majority, and he must have had amazing talent at his work as well). At the age of 24 she still has a lot to learn about the world... most actors, actresses, singers, etc. don't come into their own until they've grown up a bit. The fact is that in any country, 'pop' style music is directed towards a specific audience, and it sells... that's not going to change in the near future. It's not necessarily good, but it's a fact... and is it really that bad? No one is forcing anyone to listen to it.
In anycase, there are a lot of talented actors and musicians who have 'made' it outside of the box. Ken Watanabe, Rinko Kikuichi, Rie Miyazawa, Seiji Ozawa, Sakamoto Ryuichi, Utada Hikaru, to name a few.
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ubikwit
she works for a "talent agency", and her material is largely prepackaged, like the spice girls, and other western forms of anti-culture. what is irksome about the mode of presentation here is that she is depicted as a rugged individualist of sorts, someone who actually has something to say that is relevant to a significant swath of the population. though she may not be as complacent as most "idols", it would seem that on the one hand she is being presented as a creative force who pushes the envelope of people's intelligence and probing the bounds of their intelligibility, when in fact her image is used to market a fashionable anti-conformism.
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gyouza
@GW -
gyouza,
so your saying she shud just lie like everyone else on the idiot box here, sounds like she learned something from her mom, good on her!
Where on earth do I suggest that? She behaved like a brat, didn't apologise for behaving like a brat, then got told to do apologise. What many people fail to realise is that she does all of this to generate publicity. Even the CNN article, as refreshing as it may sound, is already out of date as it appears she is signing up with the AVEX group. Hardly the pinnacle of envelope pushing freedom! She is playing the system very well, but don't be fooled by her please!
("your" should have been "you're")
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bobbafett
90% of Japanese mainstream entertainment is God awful. She should join an Indi movement with international financial backing, If it exists here. Such a movement could unveil some real talent and produce some real quality. The problem will be finding some souls who are not willing to sell themselves. I saw a SMAP drink in the supermarket yesterday. I almost puked. I am sure it was not like a Paul Newman dressing that all went to charity. the SMAP drink was most likely a cash cow for agencies.
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ikkochan
Like all celebrities she will say or do anything to get attention. All I can say is べつに。
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