The Top Paid Artists in Japan (taxes, ratings, etc.)

[groink]

Source: Japan's National Tax Agency

The amounts listed is what the people paid in taxes. Because the Japanese are taxed about 33-percent of their total income, you can basically multiply the numbers by three in order to see the amount they "legally" earned in 2004.

Entertainers
1. Mino Monta (TV host) - 200,101,000 yen (about US$2.0 million)
2. Nakai Masahiro (SMAP) - 187,450,000
3. Ishibashi Takaaki (Tunnels) - 152,910,000
4. Kinashi Noritake (Tunnels) - 135,050,000
5. Hamada Masatoshi (Downtown) - 125,280,000
6. Nakamura Tamao (actress) - 107,940,000
7. Matsumoto Hitoshi (Downtown) - 107,380,000
8. Ohta Hikaru (Bakusho Mondai) - 106,390,000
9. Tanaka Yuji (Bakusho Mondai) - 101,760,000
10. Kimura Takuya (SMAP) - 98,030,000

Singers
1. Utada Hikaru - 365,950,000
2. Inaba Koji (B'z) - 175,770,000
3. Yazawa Eikichi - 170,420,000
4. Hamazaki Ayumi - 137,850,000
5. Matsumoto Takahiro (B'z) - 129,130,000
6. Kuwata Keisuke (Southern All Stars) - 119,060,000
7. Sakurai Kazutoshi (Mr. Children) - 114,170,000
8. Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi - 105,840,000
9. Fujii Fumiya - 101,930,000
10. Kitajima Saburo - 94,450,000

[Yukino Miyazawa]

Are you kidding me?! Utada has to pay that much and she's technically not even Japanese, right? Wasn't she born in the USA. So she has to pay both US and Japanese taxes. That sucks. But I knew about Takuya Kimura. I heard he was complaining about how he gets less money now that he has to worry about his wife and girls. Whatever...

I'm happy I'm not in Japan. But I feel really bad for my family. My uncle has five kids. That's not exactly an average number of kids in Japan. But I believe they're tax deductable...(sp)?

[awrittensin]

But that also means Hikki made 10 million dollars in order to have to be taxed for that much, so I wouldn't pity her too much.

[amrayu]

Are you kidding me?! Utada has to pay that much and she's technically not even Japanese, right? Wasn't she born in the USA. So she has to pay both US and Japanese taxes.

I think Hikki has dual citizenship.

[zgnoud]

You cant have dual citerzenship in Japan. Unless Utada is a really really rare case, she an not have a dual citerzenship. The japanese are very scrict about this. The ONLY way for a Westerner to have a Japanese Citerzenship is that they have to marry a Japanese resident or born on Japanese shores. In this case i guess Utada must have a Japanese Citerzenship due to her marriage in 2002...but if thats the case its very likely she lost her American Citerzenship. The Japanese government doesnt allow a person to have a japanese Citerzenship unless the 2ndary Citizernship is surrendered.
i was told this awhile like in 2002 when i went to Japan if i can recall correctly .
Any Japanese People here on the forums want to veritify this for me?

[amrayu]

THE PERIOD WITHIN WHICH YOU MUST CHOOSE YOUR NATIONALITY
As regards the period within which you must choose a nationality, the following time periods apply:

Pointer For Japanese citizens who became dual nationals before January 1, 1985 (i.e., before the change in Nationality Law was enacted):
Pointer If you were less than 20 years old on January 1, 1985, choose by your 22nd birthday;
Pointer If you were 20 years old or older on January 1, 1985, choose by December 31, 1986;
Pointer If you did not choose your nationality within these periods, it is assumed that you chose Japanese nationality.

For Japanese citizens who became dual nationals on or after January 1, 1985 (i.e., after the change in Nationality Law was enacted):
Pointer If you became a dual national before age 20, choose by your 22nd birthday;
Pointer If you became a dual national at age 20 or later, choose within two years of acquiring your foreign nationality .
Pointer If you do not choose a nationality within the time period specified above, the Minister of Justice (Homudaijin) will request you to make a final decision. This process may result in the loss of Japanese nationality.

http://japan.usembassy.gov/e/acs/tacs-7118b.html
You can have dual citizenship, but you have to choose within a specified time when you're old enough.

[veritati]

One thing to point out is that the marital status of the individual has a big effect on their tax obligation. If you are married and/or have children, your tax will be a lot less. For example, the Downtown duo make the same but one paid less in tax - the married one. Similar is Nakai and KimuTaku. Kimutaku pays a lot less since he is married and has children. Nakai could've earned more, but I am just pointing out how a person's marital status affects their tax status. And Utada is 22 this year. Perhaps her status will be different when she files her taxes next year.

[strawhatpirates]

wow. Takuya only paying 98mil? I would have thought he did pay even more.

[naoto]

so you can choose, but in the end you are only allowed to have one nationality. Japan, or no japan? Aw man, and I thought I could become a triple nationality person

-i thought kimura would have been much higher on the list

[12jango]

my country also don't allow dual nationality.

yeah, I did though Kimura would have been higher up on the list from his popularity. He should be earning more than anyone else.

[superbankai]

1. Utada Hikaru - 365,950,000

that's LOTS of taxes

[rozenthemaiden]

from the list. It seems SMAP is earning tons of money and paying tons of taxes. hmmm...

[namithenavigator]

more like only 2 members of SMAP.

[Prince of Moles]

The ONLY way for a Westerner to have a Japanese Citerzenship is that they have to marry a Japanese resident or born on Japanese shores.

Actually this is wrong.

Anyone can become Japanese.

Immigration law states that you need to clear the following requirements
1) you live in japan continuously for 5 years
2) need to be over 20 (an adult in Japanese law)
3) you are in good behaviour (ie not breaking laws)
4) you can make a living, or your relatives can support you
5) you will have only Japanese nationality (will lose any nationality you had before)
6) you are not planning to overthrow the Japanese government


Now if you are married to someone Japanese then
you only need to live in Japan for 3 years

And if you have been married for over 3 years then
you only need to live in Japan for 1 year

also if you are married to someone Japanese you can be under 20 (but that would mean that you got married at 16 to someone Japanese, which is legal under Japanese law for women).

Finally the Japanese parliament can grant a foreigner Japanese nationality, but that has yet to happen. (So I wouldn't rely on this one.)

Many people don't realize this, but Japan is a country of immigrants.

[Shunbaby]

Does anyone have a list of the highest paid actors in Japan? Thanks


Edit: Here is a list of highest paid actresses in Japan:
http://forums.tokyograph.com/showthread.php?t=1218

[SSJSubgeta]

Thats actually a good question, but I only know the 10 top US paid and powerful celebrity's.

1# Oprah Winfrey
2# Tiger Woods
3# Madonna
4# Rolling Stones
5# Brad Pitt
6# Johnny Depp
7# Elton John
8# Tom Cruise
9# Jay-Z
10# Steven Spielberg


***Source Forbes Magazine.

[ninjabunny]

i saw a list somewhere, i can't remember where now.

I believe kimura takuya is the highest paid (millions). none of the JE boys, like yamapi, get pay a lot. i think it's about 100 grand a year or something. but that's because they are salary base. so unless they rid themselves of johnny's strangle hold, they are not gonna make a lot.

[Magicus]

Yeah it's a little tough to figure out due to the salary issue with JE. I'm pretty sure the highest paid JE person right now is Nakai Masahiro(2004 Income: 513,350,000 Yen (approx)). Kimura was around half that much in 2004. This is mainly because Nakai hosts alot of programs like Utaban, Black Variety etc.

I assume actors like Sorimachi Takashi, Koyuki and Matsushima Nanako have to still be way up there as well but again this might be due to there CM's more than there movies and dramas. It would be really interesting to see if someone has an updated list for 2007.

[Shunbaby]

i saw a list somewhere, i can't remember where now.

I believe kimura takuya is the highest paid (millions). none of the JE boys, like yamapi, get pay a lot. i think it's about 100 grand a year or something. but that's because they are salary base. so unless they rid themselves of johnny's strangle hold, they are not gonna make a lot.

wow, too bad for JE boys...it must be frustrating for them to work that hard for so little. Do you remember if Oguri Shun made the list? He's made movies, dramas, commericials and has a radio show...I'm curious if he is a millionaire.

[seirin]

i saw a list somewhere, i can't remember where now.

I believe kimura takuya is the highest paid (millions). none of the JE boys, like yamapi, get pay a lot. i think it's about 100 grand a year or something. but that's because they are salary base. so unless they rid themselves of johnny's strangle hold, they are not gonna make a lot.

wow, too bad for JE boys...it must be frustrating for them to work that hard for so little. Do you remember if Oguri Shun made the list? He's made movies, dramas, commericials and has a radio show...I'm curious if he is a millionaire.

I don't think Shun makes much. I think highest income comes from CFs and Shun hasn't been doing many CFs until lately. If you go to his official website, he only had 1-2 CFs listed until this year. I think he just got a lot more projects this year. Also, most of his roles are minor/supporting roles prior to this year. His radio show is only recently too. (late last year). He wouldn't even make it to the top 20.

[groink]

mods - please merge this topic with the following:

The Top Taxpayers in Japan
http://www.d-addicts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=256681

[techie]

merged Groink.. good call. ;)

[ninjabunny]

man i got totally confused. i was like where is the thread about the highest pay artists...

anyway regarding what I said before, I missed read the list. the list is what people demand per project or something. anyways, don't take the info too seriously. it looks like someone compile the info themselves from newspaper, magazines and such. the names are surnames and in kanji form, and i don't know most of them. I will try to translate the ones i know.



The list is split in 2.

males (all 4 zeros to all figures)
450 masakazu tamura
350 kimura takuya
300 Shingo Katori
250 Domoto brothers, nagase
180 Nino (from Arashi)
160 Kame, Yamapi
140 Jin
120 Narimiya Hiroki (what! he makes more than shun?)
100 Oguri Shun, Takashi (shun's best bud), eita

*keep in mind, I heard that Johnny gets up to 70%!

ladies
450 nanako
300 Yukie
250 ito misaki
200 ueto aya, fukada kyoko, Ryoko Shinohara, koyuki (last samurai lady),
180 Matsu Takako, Kuroki Hitomi, the one who play Takizawa's mom in majou

okay that's all the names i could recognized. of course, i think there are people missing. i think takizawa should be up there too but i guess that's all the info that person could find at that time (2006).

[ninjabunny]

So I found a more complete statistic of the table i posted above. I went ahead and changed all the names to English. The data has like 100 Japanese male actors. The breakdowns include their ability to attract people to watch their dramas and what is the age range of the audience in 2006. The money is listed in the second column. For example, Kimura has 350, which means 3.5 million yen / episode of drama. The 6A, 5A...I think indicated they level of pay. I am not sure. Perhaps 6A is the highest level of pay. This doesn't tell you about the annual income but it tells you their demandability.

Here is one of the list. there are quite a few more lists. I will update this post when I get all the names changed to english. Also I found the female actresses list too, but it only goes up to 20. It is not as comprehensive as the male list.



second list. I don't understand why they are separated. breakdown category is still the same



I am stunned that shun get so little for his dorama and also he doesn't draw a lot of audience, not even in the teen section.!!!! unbelievable. And mocomichi is more popular with the teens than any of the JE boys.

[groink]

This appears to be some sort of a survey. It appears to be something used by advertisers when determining what I would refer to as the artist's "power ranking", i.e. which artists advertisers should invest in when spending money on advertising in TV dramas. Funny enough, my friends and I were discussing this at our weekly Friday night Japanophile roundtable.

潜在視聴率 - Latest audience rating
基本ランク - Basic rating
T - Teens (assuming 19 and under)
M1, F1 - men and women ages 20 to 34
M2, F2 - men and women ages 35-49
M3, F3 - men and women ages 50 and older
万円 - Ten-thousand yen. So 350万円 would be 3.5 million yen

What's interesting is that this data was presented in Summer 2006. At that time, Kimutaku really wan't doing all that much. In 2006, he appeared in one renzoku as a guest prior to this survey. In 2005, Engine averaged 22.4, so more likely that show boosted his power rating to what you see in those statistics. Katori Shingo also didn't do anything in 2005, and appeared in only one renzoku in 2006 (Saiyuki, which averaged 22.8.)

This data does point out a few things I've mentioned in the past:

1. Female demographic is the prime target. They spend more money than males.

2. Remembering an artist is very important. The top-two didn't do hardly anything regarding TV dramas prior to the survey, but still they are the top-two because the females remembered them. It is much like Apple Computer, Mercedes-Benz or any other branding where the name alone is all that is needed for the consumer.

3. TV dramas based on manga and using pretty boys is NOT the direction the geinokai should be heading. Just look at the power ratings among the pretty boys - they SUCK when it comes to the M1/F1 and later stats. Although the teens do have money, they need to spend it on their education, and not in the Japan frivolous market. And when looking at the TV dramas they've appeared in within the last two years, hardly any of them broke the 15-point mark.

--- groink

[ninjabunny]

潜在視聴率 - Latest audience rating
基本ランク - Basic rating
T - Teens (assuming 19 and under)
M1, F1 - men and women ages 20 to 34
M2, F2 - men and women ages 35-49
M3, F3 - men and women ages 50 and older
万円 - Ten-thousand yen. So 350万円 would be 3.5 million yen

Hey Groink,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I know nothing about Japanese TV ratings and surveys. Since I answered the original thread, I thought I'll find some concrete evidence to try to help the OP.

From what you wrote, it seems like that the second column is not the salary that these actors get pay. (I don't read Japanese very well.) I thought that's what they get pay because the numbers looks like the number from the first table I provided. So the second column is actually basic rating? is that correct?

[groink]

潜在視聴率 - Latest audience rating
基本ランク - Basic rating
T - Teens (assuming 19 and under)
M1, F1 - men and women ages 20 to 34
M2, F2 - men and women ages 35-49
M3, F3 - men and women ages 50 and older
万円 - Ten-thousand yen. So 350万円 would be 3.5 million yen

Hey Groink,

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I know nothing about Japanese TV ratings and surveys. Since I answered the original thread, I thought I'll find some concrete evidence to try to help the OP.

From what you wrote, it seems like that the second column is not the salary that these actors get pay. (I don't read Japanese very well.) I thought that's what they get pay because the numbers looks like the number from the first table I provided. So the second column is actually basic rating? is that correct?

I think 基本ランク could still refer to how much they're paid, but I'm not 100-percent sure. I wish I knew what the 6A-2A business is.

[mizune]

second list. I don't understand why they are separated. breakdown category is still the same

The first list is comprised purely of Johnny's group members.
You will need to look closely at both lists before drawing any conclusions.

EDIT: and I love the fact that Enari-kun is at the top of the 2nd list

[groink]

This link is what I was looking at. This has all the numbers.

--- groink

[ninjabunny]

second list. I don't understand why they are separated. breakdown category is still the same

The first list is comprised purely of Johnny's group members.
You will need to look closely at both lists before drawing any conclusions.

At first I thought the first list was just comprise of all JE members. But there were some really old people on that list and there were very little info on the internet about them. I know Johnny's Entertainment has been around for a long time but I can't be sure that they were JE members so I didn't make any conclusion. I simply said "I am not sure".

[Maruichii]

WOW T.T

[mizune]

At first I thought the first list was just comprise of all JE members. But there were some really old people on that list and there were very little info on the internet about them. I know Johnny's Entertainment has been around for a long time but I can't be sure that they were JE members so I didn't make any conclusion. I simply said "I am not sure".

JE has been around since the 60's or 70's. Even though the groups have retired, they typically stay with the same talent agency if they continue in the entertainment industry. So basically, yeah, they have "old" ppl ...

EDIT: I just looked up his age, and if Go Hiromi had stayed with JE, he would probably be the oldest active JE member. He turns 62 this year.

[nophankh]

Sorry to be stupid, but I don't understand yen. Can you put it in dollars or Euro formation.
Put it in list table like for example: so-and-so makes n-dollars a year and is taxed this much.

the only thing I got was that JE boys are being robbed of their earnings by that pedophiler Johnny. I swear, I don't understand why these guys are giving up 70% of their earning. I heard that Johnny gross billions of dollars each year and that is just wrong.

[groink]

Sorry to be stupid, but I don't understand yen. Can you put it in dollars or Euro formation.
Put it in list table like for example: so-and-so makes n-dollars a year and is taxed this much.

the only thing I got was that JE boys are being robbed of their earnings by that pedophiler Johnny. I swear, I don't understand why these guys are giving up 70% of their earning. I heard that Johnny gross billions of dollars each year and that is just wrong.

Just Google one of several on-line currency calculators and do the conversion. Because I'm from the U.S., I basically use the US$1.00 = 115 yen calculation. So 3.5 million yen would be around US$30,000.

As for JE, I've always been arguing on D-Addicts that the talent agency system in Japan is the cause of this. I've always defended the geinojin in that they should receive more money. But I've been told by several D-Addicts members that Japanese artists should be paid low, and that Hollywood pays far too much.

--- groink

[Magicus]

EDIT: and I love the fact that Enari-kun is at the top of the 2nd list

What's even funnier is that reason he is #1 is because of his extreme popularity with the over 50 crowd. I guess that makes sense though, that guy isn't really heartthrob material...

Thanks for the lists, it's especially interesting since it was broken down by age group. I think the most surprising thing to me is how low Yamada Takayuki is on that second list, I always thought he was a big ratings pull for some reason.

[ninjabunny]

last of the male actors list. I don't know what the percentage means, maybe the average rating of all their drams? I got lazy at the end and didn't translate the names at the bottom of the list.

I am surprise Joe Odagiri doesn't get pay much for doramas. I thought his fame through movies would naturally mean he would be one of the higher paid actors in doramas. Ken Wanatabe and Sanada Hiroyuki are not acting in much dramas nowadays.

I am glad that talent and experience in acting still matters. Some of these people might be the hot topic of the past, but they still have that kind of power to demand substantial salary.

[nophankh]

I remember in my world economic class, that hierarchy really matters in Japan's corporate world. When you reached a certain level or stay a company for a long time, you automatically receive a large salary and you don't have to do much. I don't know the trend of this procedure being practiced in the entertainment sector. I just think it's really inefficient. They can be talented and experienced, but if they don't attract viewers what's the point of them giving them so much money.

Groink---huh, several d-addicts members think that JE boys should be paid low??? Come on, what the heck is that all about? I agree that American celebrities are overpaid. Some of us may take acting/ singing as a joke profession, but it is a very intensive craft. Doing a concert or shotting a drama is really labor intensive and requires a lot time. Dramas can shot for 16 hrs daily. For a management company to take all your earnings, that's just exploitation.

[seirin]

3. TV dramas based on manga and using pretty boys is NOT the direction the geinokai should be heading. Just look at the power ratings among the pretty boys - they SUCK when it comes to the M1/F1 and later stats. Although the teens do have money, they need to spend it on their education, and not in the Japan frivolous market. And when looking at the TV dramas they've appeared in within the last two years, hardly any of them broke the 15-point mark.

hmm...I don't know about manga based tv dramas getting low ratings. I think it might be getting fairly good ratings for them to continually and quite often turn mangas to dramas. Otherwise why do it. Hanadan got pretty high ratings and good dvd sales. I think the ratings averaged 19.68. Kurosagi averaged 15.67% (not that I thought it was a good, but anyway..) HanaKimi currently averaging around 16% with potential for higher ratings. Densha Otoko average is 21.04 (I didn't even like it)

[groink]

3. TV dramas based on manga and using pretty boys is NOT the direction the geinokai should be heading. Just look at the power ratings among the pretty boys - they SUCK when it comes to the M1/F1 and later stats. Although the teens do have money, they need to spend it on their education, and not in the Japan frivolous market. And when looking at the TV dramas they've appeared in within the last two years, hardly any of them broke the 15-point mark.

hmm...I don't know about manga based tv dramas getting low ratings. I think it might be getting fairly good ratings for them to continually and quite often turn mangas to dramas. Otherwise why do it. Hanadan got pretty high ratings and good dvd sales. I think the ratings averaged 19.68. Kurosagi averaged 15.67% (not that I thought it was a good, but anyway..) HanaKimi currently averaging around 16% with potential for higher ratings. Densha Otoko average is 21.04 (I didn't even like it)

But when you have government-run TV network like NHK cranking out Dondo Bare or taiga drama like Furin Kazan AND consistently hitting 20-plus points each week, anything below 20 isn't great IMHO. And I think the TV network's goal for a given drama is 20-points for it to be considered a business-like/financial-like success. Again, although they're consistenly targeting the teen demographic, teens don't have money. Believe me - they don't. And based on those figures given earlier, the people who DO have the money don't favor the manga-turned-live stars.

Remember - advertising drives free television. If advertisers aren't seeing sales of their products and services increasing because of their investment in TV shows like Kurosagi and HanaKimi, then the investment is a business failure. Business failures are a lot worse than TV ratings; the thought of paying 1-million yen for a 15-second spot and not getting any sales out of it isn't a sound business investment.

--- groink

[Keiko1981]

Source: Japan's National Tax Agency

The amounts listed is what the people paid in taxes. Because the Japanese are taxed about 33-percent of their total income, you can basically multiply the numbers by three in order to see the amount they "legally" earned in 2004.

Entertainers
1. Mino Monta (TV host) - 200,101,000 yen (about US$2.0 million)
2. Nakai Masahiro (SMAP) - 187,450,000
3. Ishibashi Takaaki (Tunnels) - 152,910,000
4. Kinashi Noritake (Tunnels) - 135,050,000
5. Hamada Masatoshi (Downtown) - 125,280,000
6. Nakamura Tamao (actress) - 107,940,000
7. Matsumoto Hitoshi (Downtown) - 107,380,000
8. Ohta Hikaru (Bakusho Mondai) - 106,390,000
9. Tanaka Yuji (Bakusho Mondai) - 101,760,000
10. Kimura Takuya (SMAP) - 98,030,000

Singers
1. Utada Hikaru - 365,950,000
2. Inaba Koji (B'z) - 175,770,000
3. Yazawa Eikichi - 170,420,000
4. Hamazaki Ayumi - 137,850,000
5. Matsumoto Takahiro (B'z) - 129,130,000
6. Kuwata Keisuke (Southern All Stars) - 119,060,000
7. Sakurai Kazutoshi (Mr. Children) - 114,170,000
8. Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi - 105,840,000
9. Fujii Fumiya - 101,930,000
10. Kitajima Saburo - 94,450,000

Is there a longer list of the singers?

[seirin]

3. TV dramas based on manga and using pretty boys is NOT the direction the geinokai should be heading. Just look at the power ratings among the pretty boys - they SUCK when it comes to the M1/F1 and later stats. Although the teens do have money, they need to spend it on their education, and not in the Japan frivolous market. And when looking at the TV dramas they've appeared in within the last two years, hardly any of them broke the 15-point mark.

hmm...I don't know about manga based tv dramas getting low ratings. I think it might be getting fairly good ratings for them to continually and quite often turn mangas to dramas. Otherwise why do it. Hanadan got pretty high ratings and good dvd sales. I think the ratings averaged 19.68. Kurosagi averaged 15.67% (not that I thought it was a good, but anyway..) HanaKimi currently averaging around 16% with potential for higher ratings. Densha Otoko average is 21.04 (I didn't even like it)

But when you have government-run TV network like NHK cranking out Dondo Bare or taiga drama like Furin Kazan AND consistently hitting 20-plus points each week, anything below 20 isn't great IMHO. And I think the TV network's goal for a given drama is 20-points for it to be considered a business-like/financial-like success. Again, although they're consistenly targeting the teen demographic, teens don't have money. Believe me - they don't. And based on those figures given earlier, the people who DO have the money don't favor the manga-turned-live stars.

Remember - advertising drives free television. If advertisers aren't seeing sales of their products and services increasing because of their investment in TV shows like Kurosagi and HanaKimi, then the investment is a business failure. Business failures are a lot worse than TV ratings; the thought of paying 1-million yen for a 15-second spot and not getting any sales out of it isn't a sound business investment.

--- groink

hmm..I suppose 風林火山 is not so good? Or maybe it's the summer, but ratings for it doesn't seem outstanding if you consider only dramas over 20% average as doing well.
I don't really like Taigas so I haven't watched this one either. Currently it's averaging 19.3%.

You might say those manga adaptations are targeted for teens, but many 20 and 30 yr olds or older also watch I think. Because at the Hanadan finale when they filmed at the Dome, I noticed different ages of people showing up. And on Shun's radio show, people calling in saying they were watching hanakimi ranged from 16-31 yr old out of 3 who called in at 2am in the morning. There are probably older ones too but it's rather late.

[groink]

hmm..I suppose 風林火山 is not so good? Or maybe it's the summer, but ratings for it doesn't seem outstanding if you consider only dramas over 20% average as doing well. I don't really like Taigas so I haven't watched this one either. Currently it's averaging 19.3%.

You might say those manga adaptations are targeted for teens, but many 20 and 30 yr olds or older also watch I think. Because at the Hanadan finale when they filmed at the Dome, I noticed different ages of people showing up. And on Shun's radio show, people calling in saying they were watching hanakimi ranged from 16-31 yr old out of 3 who called in at 2am in the morning. There are probably older ones too but it's rather late.

19.3 is 20-points in my book (and keep in mind that there is ZERO advertising on NHK.) By the time Furin Kazan finishes, it will average over 20-points. Taiga dramas always slow down during the summer because traditionally episode 24 or 25 is a closing episode for the first half (keep in mind that this is where they stuck in Gaguto.) And it takes awhile for eps 26 and forward to build up the storyline once again.

As for who's watching manga dramas, sure every demographic is watching it. But look at the numbers one more time and read what the numbers mean; the main cast members aren't as recognizable. In advertising, having a consumer decide on product A over B based on the person who's promoting it is a way of Japanese life. I can cite hundreds of resources which confirms this style.

So once again, you can score high ratings for a given manga drama. And high ratings IMHO are just numbers for the fandorks to start raving about how their favorite stars are going to rule the planet. But then when pollsters start interviewing consumers out on the streets of Kanto and find out that the high ratings are not turning into higher revenue for consumer products, then sooner or later the advertisers are going to be pressuring the TV networks to start producing works that cater the people who have the money. And those are the shows starring Fukuyama Masaharu, Kimutaku and SMAP, and several others.

It's a business. Remember that.

--- groink

[Shunbaby]

Does anyone have the most recent list of the highest paid actors in Japan?

[heartfuldelights]

I noticed that both Ninomiya and Koyuki were high on one of the lists, and maybe this is partially because they were in a Hollywood movie? That kind of exposure seems to give actors more credibility and a boost in their career in both the US and Japan.