Nogizaka 46 Contract Co., Ltd., referred to as Nogizaka LLC, is a joint venture between SME and North River.
Needless to say, SME is the core of Japan's Sony Music Group, a subsidiary of Sony. The latter, North River, was a company established in May last year that was separated from the imaging department of AKS, the operating company of AKB48, and is an affiliate of AKS.
Kenji Kitagawa, who runs North River, has a lot of connections with SME. He is the son of Naoki Kitagawa, the current chairman and CEO of SME.
The background of the management can be seen from the staff composition of Nogizaka LLC. In the producer column, under chief producer Yasumoto Akimoto, there are also representatives from various companies. For example, Toshiro Muramatsu, chairman of SMR (sony music records, affiliated with SME), Yasushi Kubota, president of AKS, Kumiko Isono of Ota pro, Kazuhiko Abiru and Hiroyuki Fujita of Dentsu, etc.
Under the influence of Sony and Akimoto Yasushi, various forces gathered together to establish Nogizaka. Their purpose was not only to get a share of the booming female idol market.
In order to expand the popularity of Nogizaka, based on the relationship with AKS, the operation promoted the second major promotional event, which was the confrontation between Nogizaka46 and Sashihara Rino, and continued to use AKB's name to attract fans.
The morning meeting was to discuss specific promotion matters, including the linkage of personal PVs, Nogizaka members appearing in AKB's variety shows, traveling to Oita, etc.
After the meeting, Yoshio Konno returned to his office to sort out information. It was the first time he was in charge of the operation of a large-scale women's group, and he was under tremendous pressure.
A crisp knock on the door sounded.
"Please come in." Konno was still flipping through the bound documents in his hands without raising his head.
"Konano-san, something happened!" Yu Kikuchi said anxiously as he pulled Nango Yui through the door.
"What's the matter?" Konno frowned and looked at the two of them in confusion. He instinctively recalled the bad memories. The last time he saw someone knocking on his door in such a panic was when the Yumi Wakazuki photoshoot incident happened. .
"It's a good thing!" Nan Xiang's only expression was excited.
"Amamiya Sugawara has been admitted to Tokyo University!" Kikuchi Yu didn't show any concern and directly placed the photo of Amamiya Sugabe in the chat history in front of Konno.
"Amamiya Shiori? Todai?" Yoshio Konno never thought that these two words could be connected together.
But the black and white words in the photo were written clearly, so Amamiya Shiori couldn't just sit around and make such a joke to the management.
In just ten seconds, Konno Yoshio had a lot of thoughts. If this is true, it is indeed a good thing, and it is a huge good thing.
"Are you sure?" Konno confirmed to Kikuchi Yu again and again.
"I can't guarantee this 100%," Kikuchi Yu didn't finish what he said. "You can contact Amamiya directly. She is currently at Tokyo University. The NHK reporter wanted to interview her, so she called me and informed me of this matter. thing."
Konno Yoshio stared at Kikuchi Yu's eyes, and after thinking about it, Amamiya Shiori was not the person who could pull off such boring pranks. Lying would not do her any good.
"I'll ask her." In front of them, Yoshio Konno dialed Amamiya Shiori's mobile phone.
At this moment, Amamiya Shiori on the campus of Tokyo University was bored and admiring the various things in the world.
In addition to the normal excitement and chest-beating, the candidates also behaved in some abnormal ways.
Some took off their shirts and trousers after passing the test, and ran around naked in the school wearing only their underwear; some kept giggling at others, as if they were demented; and some put their hands straight behind their backs, imitating Naruto and running in Konoha, which was simply a giant Fan Jin passed the exam.
Finally, we waited for a call from the operation. When the call was connected, the voice that came through was vaguely identifiable as Yoshio Konno's.
"Amamiya, I am Konno." Konno Yoshio said straight to the point.
"Hi, Konno-san, are there any results?"
"Let's not mention this for now," Konno gestured to Nanxiang to close the office door and continued, "Can you guarantee that what you said is true? There are no mistakes?"
"I can guarantee it." Amamiya Soi replied in a firm tone.
"Okay," Yoshio Konno took a deep breath, "Have you told anyone else about this?"
"I just sent a line to my guardian and Mai Yang, Mai Shiraishi."
"Yeah, okay." Yoshio Konno nodded. "Regarding the interview with the NHK reporter, you don't need to completely reveal your identity. Just tell her your last name," Konno suggested. "At the same time, you should also pay attention to being modest and polite in your words."
"Understood." Amemiya nodded.
"We will cooperate with the publicity after the operation, but we will not issue a press release immediately, because attentive fans will have a great chance of seeing the report. We will not come out to admit it until the news spreads among fans. In short, we must make a calm decision It’s not a deliberate gesture.”
"Fully understand."
"I will ask Nanxiang to pick you up at Dongda University. After the interview, come directly to the SME building." Konno instructed, "Let's discuss the specific matters in person."
"I got it." Amamiya Soi replied nonstop.
"I will hold an operations meeting to discuss your matter shortly."
"Sorry to trouble you." Amamiya also knew that his sudden revelation of this matter would definitely disrupt their schedule.
"That's all."
"You have worked hard."
"By the way," Yoshio Konno remembered something, "I haven't told you yet, congratulations, Amamiya!"
"Thank you! Konno-san."
After making the call, Konno leaned on his office chair and thought for a while, still feeling a little unreal.
Just now, we were discussing the issue of increasing Nogizaka's reputation, and now Amamiya Shiori suddenly sent a big gift package.
His previous positioning of Amamiya was as a member with the qualifications to become a front row god of good fortune, but due to academic reasons, he deducted a few points in his mind. If Amamiya was admitted to an ordinary university, it wouldn't matter; if he was admitted to a prestigious university like Hayao and Kei, it might deduct more points in his eyes. But the key thing is that Amamiya was admitted to the highest institution of education in the eyes of Japanese people, the University of Tokyo.
The University of Tokyo enrolls more than 3,000 undergraduate students every year, of which only 20% are female. It is more difficult for girls to get admitted than for boys.
Out of the more than a hundred candidates that he stayed up late to select, he randomly selected a Dongda student? Konno felt incredible at his luck.
The name of the unprecedented Tokyo University Idol will definitely be a powerful help in increasing Nogizaka’s popularity. We must make good use of this opportunity to show the world the difference between Nogizaka46 and AKB48.
"Nanxiang, you go pick up Amamiya now. Kikuchi, go and call everyone to the conference room for a meeting. Producers will be notified if they can. If there are no other work arrangements, try to be there." Konno ordered.
"Understood!" The two nodded.
"Then go quickly."
Nango Yui and Kikuchi Yu closed the door of the office and went their separate ways.
Konno rubbed his temples, and an unintentional feeling emerged from the bottom of his heart.
