A thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board turned nostalgic for the early days of Hello! Project back in the Showa era. Posters recalled that smoking at concert venues was simply the norm at the time, with ashtrays built right into the seats, while others dug into the backstory of Naoki Yamazaki — founder of parent company Up-Front Group — who rose through the ranks at talent agency Young Japan before climbing from managing director to president of Up-Front Agency, alongside his personal ties to the idol duo Wink. The thread ended up catching fire along two tracks: the smoking culture of the era, and the industry history behind it.
What people said
1AnonymousSep 14, 2026 14:58
Did everyone actually buy records back then?
6AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:04
Yeah, people used to smoke right there at the venue.
10AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:08
One of the members had been on Petit Tomato (a kids' variety show).
11AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:09
Showa, lol.
So we're talking the Alice/Banba Hiroshi era?
13AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:09
There was a month-long show at Nichigeki once a year —
back in the "Kyūto" run you could smoke up on the 3rd floor and above, lol
15AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:11
Bet there are Hello Project otaku in here who used to listen to Tanimura Shinji and Banba Hiroshi's Seishun Campus radio show, lol
17AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:11
There was a hit song that ended with everyone singing "rai-ra-rai" in the outro
18AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:12
Re: #17
So "Moremi Amore" carried that tradition on, huh
20AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:14
There were spring and autumn tours to entertain the troops at the front lines
22AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:21
Wait, even "Watashi ga Obasan ni Nattemo" turns out to be a Heisei-era song?
23AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:22
One of the members came up through School Mates.
24AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:23
The call-and-response chants were so complicated, they were a pain to memorize.
25AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:24
So where did it actually start?
I don't get how they managed to break away from Burning Productions.
Yamazaki doesn't strike me as that high-up a guy.
27AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:27
Re: #25
Yamazaki rose through the ranks at Young Japan and was made managing director of Up-Front Agency.
34AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:54
Re: #25
Young Japan wasn't originally part of the Burning group, it was an outsider —
Burning only cooperated because there was no overlap in talent.
Young Japan succeeded, Yamazaki was made managing director of the newly formed Up-Front Agency, he eventually became president, and because he was so capable, Up-Front grew right along with him.
28AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:29
At the end of the day, the most exciting event was Yantan Tokyo —
a live public broadcast from Akasaka's TBS Hall late on Saturday nights.
29AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:30
Re: #27
This is where today's Up-Front got its start.
If Naoki Yamazaki hadn't been so capable, there'd be no Up-Front — and no Chisato Moritaka or Morning Musume either.
30AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:38
This is a thread where you can actually hear the precious voices of the old guys who show up in those bar-event videos.
31AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:40
Wasn't Wink something different?
33AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:46
Re: #31
Wink was run by a company founded by one of Yamazaki's former subordinates.
After they disbanded, Aida came over to Up-Front.
50AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:15
Re: #33
Oh, is that what Upright Music was?
32AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:41
Before they hit it big, Wink did a ton of local promo gigs in Kansai too — very Young Japan of them.
Their producer was a former member of Jacks, after all.
35AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:55
Looking back now, that Celebrity Swimming Tournament was a wild concept, lol
36AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:58
Concert venues used to be filled with cigarette smoke.
37AnonymousSep 14, 2026 15:59
It was totally normal for people in the audience to heckle "Hey, ugly!"
38AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:02
The guy's got enough clout in the industry that the moment Downtown's Hamada realized, "Oh, you're with that chairman's (Yamazaki's) agency?" his whole attitude shifted a bit.
39AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:03
Most of the fans wore happi coats or special outfits, right? (happi = a traditional short festival coat)
41AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:04
Which Hello Project member was it again who got into a fight with Hibari Misora?
44AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:08
They probably wanted to lean on TV exposure.
But they had a falling-out with Dentsu and got frozen out of the TV world.
46AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:11
Re: #44
The Moremi boom blew that whole theory out of the water though.
45AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:09
Seats came with ashtrays built in, so you could smoke.
48AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:12
They kept getting picked as the leading lady in Otoko wa Tsurai yo, didn't they?
49AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:13
Re: #46
What are you even talking about?
That was 20 years ago.
Gramps, does time just not move for you?
Dentsu's power has weakened
↑
We are here
52AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:17
The Showa-born old-timers just never graduate and keep hanging around, which is exactly why the Ōkami fandom (a nickname for the Morning Musume fanbase) keeps declining.
53AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:18
Re: #50
That's right.
Upright Music was founded by one of Naoki Yamazaki's former subordinates.
That's why the names are similar.
54AnonymousSep 14, 2026 16:18
Re: #51
Time for an update, gramps.
Background and Talking Points
Hello! Project’s parent company, Up-Front Group, traces its roots to Up-Front Agency, where Naoki Yamazaki — who came up through the talent agency Young Japan — served first as managing director and later as president. The thread featured plenty of posts pointing out that Wink’s agency shared the same Young Japan lineage, as well as testimonials capturing the era’s casual attitude toward smoking at concert venues. It’s worth noting these accounts are drawn from fans’ memories and secondhand stories rather than documented, official records. Toward the end, some posts also tied the idea of “management not dependent on TV exposure” to Morning Musume’s more recent struggles, and opinions were divided on just how well those old success factors still apply today.
Leave a Reply