JYJ Plays Anyway

Korean boy band JYJ ignored threats by its Japanese agency and went ahead with a planned charity concert June 7, though at a different venue than originally planned.

JYJ is made up of the three members of TVXQ who quit the group over disagreements with its Korean management company.

Later, the three signed an agreement with Avex Entertainment to represent them in Japan, where TVXQ was extremely popular.

However, after the remaining two members of TVXQ decided to continue under the old name as a duo, Avex decided it would rather represent them in Japan and put plans for JYJ’s activities on ice. In the meantime, JYJ formed a management agreement with C-JeS Entertainment in Korea, which “terminated” JYJ’s contract with Avex since the Japanese company was doing nothing to promote the group’s activities in Japan.

Following the March 11 earthquake, JYJ announced it would perform a series of charity concerts at the Saitama Super Arena, but Avex effectively stopped it by convincing the venue to back out.

Avex claims JYJ is still under contract to Avex and thus cannot perform in Japan without its permission.

Through C-JeS, JYJ filed a suit in Tokyo court to issue an injunction to prevent Avex from stopping the concert, but the agency withdrew the suit June 3 because the trio found a venue that agreed to host the charity concert: the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, which is the main arena for sumo tournaments.

The Japan Sumo Association has been rocked by a series of scandals in the past year that has resulted in the cancellation of at least one tournament, and obviously it sees the JYJ charity event as a good PR move. In any event, Avex has no power over the Kokugikan because it never holds concerts there.