( ) is a major Japanese
entertainment conglomerate, with its headquarters based in Osaka. It was founded in 1912 as a traditional theatre, and has since grown to be one of the most influential companies in Japan, employing most of Japan's popular owarai (comedy) talent, producing and promoting the shows they appear in, and even maintaining its own amusement park.
Yoshimoto is said to be almost single-handedly responsible for the
development of Japanese
manzai after
World War II and, in fact, the
kanji that are now used for the word
manzai
were introduced by Yoshimoto in 1933, spelling a new era for the
comedy style. Although pure
manzai is no longer the
dominant form of entertainment in Japan, Yoshimoto's influence
remains and the spirit of
manzai lives on in modern
Japanese comedy, as can be seen by the prevalence of the
Kansai dialect in many
owarai
productions.
The current director of Yoshimoto is
Isao
Yoshino, who replaced the long-standing ex-senior director
Masao Kimura in January 2005. Kimura had been part of the company
since entering in 1969, and in the 35 plus years that Kimura worked
with Yoshimoto, it expanded greatly and its reputation as a
successful company grew enormously. Fresh out of university,
Yoshimoto is still the goal for many young comedians, and many of
them hope to be accepted into the 'New Star Creation' school in
Osaka, or one of others across Japan.
Yoshimoto now boasts more than 650 entertainers, possibly the most
famous being the
owarai kombi (duo)
Downtown, successors of the
manzai duo
Yasu-Kiyo in the
1980s. As in much of Japanese culture, there exists a strong bond
between
sempai (senior) and
kōhai (junior) members of the entertainment
industry. Many lower level employees of Yoshimoto do not receive
full salaries but rather benefit from the advice and guidance of
senior members of the company.
Some other popular acts under Yoshimoto's direction are:
Solo
Duo
Yoshimoto has been expanding its business in recent years, due to
the so called '
warai boom'. They now have their own comedy
theme park in
Otaru, Hokkaido and
have begun signing the likes of
musicians,
producer,
athlete and
singers
alongside business with the Japanese
owarai
industry.
Property
Yoshimoto Kogyo is the owner of a number of corporate offices and
stages, most situated in the downtown areas of Osaka and Tokyo. The
company has two headquarters, Osaka HQ (大阪本部) and Tokyo HQ (東京本部)
and a number of stages, namely
Lumine the Yoshimoto (ルミネtheよしもと), base
Yoshimoto (baseよしもと), Nanba Grand Kagetsu (なんばグランド花月), and a new
stage in the popular
Shibuya district
of Tokyo,
Yoshimoto Mugendai
Hall (ヨシモト∞ホール). Yoshimoto also has an amusement park in
downtown Osaka called
Yoshimoto
Shōtengai (吉本笑店街).
References
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