Tokyo: My obsession with China led me to become the king of Japanese entertainment.

Two days later, at Johnny's, in the top-floor conference room.

Although its revenue is comparable to the combined revenue of the three major K-pop companies, Johnny's is not a publicly traded company and does not issue shares. The company's operation is entirely controlled by the Kitagawa family and their confidants.

Johnny Kitagawa had a keen eye for talent, Mary Kitagawa was in charge of finances, Keiko Fujishima oversaw all affairs, and Hideaki Takizawa mentored the next generation.

These four people combined are almost able to take over almost all the decision-making power of Johnny & Associates after Iijima Michi left.

Right now, these four people are sitting in a dark little conference room, watching a man in a black shirt, overalls, and a middle parting dribble "fancy".

"Hello everyone, I'm an individual trainee with two and a half years of training experience..." Except for the clumsy dribbling that was removed, it was almost exactly the same as Jun Sakurada's performance during his interview.

Even Kun Ge's mistake of having a crooked suspender strap was perfectly replicated by Sakurada Jun that day.

The two old people stared blankly at the screen, their small eyes filled with big question marks.

"This... is the original work that Sakurada-kun performed?" Jenny Kitagawa raised his dim old eyes, momentarily confused as to why Takizawa Hideaki had solemnly called them over.

"It's pretty bad. The dancers' skills are passable, but the song and choreography are really mediocre." He tried to argue from a professional perspective.

"That's not the problem, Mr. Kitagawa," Hideaki Takizawa said with a wry smile.

He knew very well that what he was about to say might completely overturn the perceptions of the people in front of him.

Because he had been turned upside down by his sister in the same way before.

"The man in the video is named Kun, a Chinese idol. At the beginning of this year, he was officially announced as the NBA's Chinese New Year ambassador. However, because he is not a basketball player and his image and athletic ability are insufficient, he has caused great controversy and resentment in China."

"Chinese netizens found a clip of his dribbling performance from an early talent show, which is the clip that Sakurada-kun copied. They made it into a meme and spread it. It is currently very popular on the Chinese internet."

He opened a pre-prepared spreadsheet: "Currently, various derivative works related to the song 'Because You're Too Beautiful' have already generated several videos with tens of millions of views on major social media platforms in China."

"The number of those in the millions and hundreds of thousands is countless."

"And among these videos with tens of millions of views, there is one that belongs to a well-known gaming blogger in China—"

"Jun, which is Sakurada Jun."

An eerie atmosphere descended upon them, and apart from Hideaki Takizawa, the other three felt as if they had been struck by a sudden enlightenment.

Nobody's a fool. It's obvious whether Jun Sakurada is genuinely reckless and cowardly, or if he has ulterior motives.

"Heh, stupid." Mary's sneer was almost squeezed out from between her teeth.

"To abandon a promising and bright future for a moment of popularity is nothing but despicable petty cleverness."

Despite the ravages of time and age, she skillfully suppressed her anger, concealing it within a stern expression.

"Takizawa, you can contact the various media outlets."

The deeper meaning of this statement is clear: to impose a comprehensive ban on Jun Sakurada.

Mary Kitagawa held supreme authority within Johnny's Entertainment. Not long ago, Masahiko Kondo, who had tormented Akina Nakamori to the point of despair, was the one who orchestrated the infamous Golden Screen Incident under Kitagawa's full protection.

When she says this in person, it's generally equivalent to someone's career being over.

This time, however, Hideaki Takizawa didn't move. Instead, he smiled wryly and said, "Marie-san, calm down."

"Hmm?" Mary raised an eyebrow in displeasure. "Is my word no longer valid?"

Takizawa quickly waved his hand: "Absolutely not!"

"However... Jun Sakurada is not so easy to blacklist. In fact, you could say he is completely outside our influence."

"No matter how much we dislike him... we probably can't get rid of him."

Before Mary could reply, he quickly and succinctly explained: "Simply put, the internet, overseas, and games."

"Sakurada-kun is a blogger, but he does not have an account on the Japanese internet. Instead, he chooses to operate on several platforms in China."

"Currently, the only Chinese internet platform that has an official partnership with us is Weibo. I helped Kimura-senpai open a Weibo account at the end of last year, and it has a considerable influence."

"As for Sakurada-kun... he only has a Weibo account, not a Weibo account." He couldn't help but smile wryly as he said this.

Johnny's Entertainment's method of blacklisting is very simple and domineering: they call all television stations and traditional media in the industry and demand that they not report any content about the blacklisted person, and even more so, not allow the blacklisted person to appear on their shows.

This approach works extremely well within the Japanese entertainment industry and the broader Japanese archipelago.

Around the turn of the millennium, Japan had a phenomenal idol group called w-inds, but they were blacklisted by Johnny & Associates and eventually faded into obscurity.

However, once they leave the four islands of Japan or the comfort zone of traditional media, Johnny's influence begins to plummet.

On the Japanese internet, they can still rely on their massive fan base to launch attacks and create controversy, achieving a soft ban effect.

But once you leave Japan... who will recognize Johnny's?

Jun Sakurada neither relies on traditional media to stir up trouble, nor does he operate any local Japanese accounts, and his main job has absolutely nothing to do with the entertainment industry.

Even if Johnny's Entertainment used all their blacklisting tactics on Jun Sakurada, he probably wouldn't even notice.

Mary's face looked rather grim.

The Japanese are known for their conservative approach and slow version updates. In 2019, while streaming media in other countries had reached such a level of development, Japan's streaming era was, in a sense, just beginning.

As for Johnny's, a local power with deep roots and a conservative among conservatives, to date, not a single song has ever been featured on a streaming platform, and they have never implemented any decent internet strategy.

Correspondingly, there is a lack of means to deal with people like Jun Sakurada, who are pure internet natives.

"If that's the case, why can't we contact the online platforms he's on and jointly implement a soft ban? Does Johnny's Entertainment have no respect for him at all?"

For this reserved old man to utter the word "ban," it's clear that Jun Sakurada is quite adept at breaking down people's defenses.

Instead of answering the question directly, Hideaki Takizawa asked in return, "Can you all guess how much direct revenue Jun Sakurada has generated this year?"

"How much? Twenty million? Thirty million?" Clearly, the ninety-year-old man had a severe lack of understanding of the revenue-generating potential of the Internet.

Hideaki Takizawa shook his head, his tone also carrying a slight hint of shock:

"Currently, Jun Sakurada's independently developed game, 'Yokai Survivor,' has sold nearly a million copies."

"Sales figures... roughly estimated at over 300 million yen, and still skyrocketing!"