STARTO ENTERTAINMENT has announced that it will not hold a year end countdown with all of its talents as was hoped by fans of the company.
Under its previous incarnation as Johnny & Associates, the annual “Johnnys’ Countdown” gathered the company’s numerous talents for a Tokyo Dome concert on New Year’s Eve going into New Year’s Day, with part of it airing live on Fuji TV. The last concert was held in 2022, right before the scandal that was the Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal that caused the company to take on its new form as STARTO ENTERTAINMENT.
In lieu of a countdown last year, the company’s various talent held their own livestream online. With the formal creation of STARTO ENTERTAINMENT this past spring, there was the thought that there would be a new countdown, a sign that things were returning to normal. However, this is not the case.
Instead of holding a concert for all of the STARTO talents, Tokyo Dome will instead host just one on New Year’s Eve: Hey! Say! JUMP. From December 29 through January 1, the group will be holding “Hey! Say! JUMP Special Live ~JUMParty 2024-2025~” at the venue.
In the statement, STARTO called on fans to continue to support the company and its talents as they continue to work hard with the hope that they can hold a new type of countdown concert next year.
