Tarento
Tarento ( タレント) is a Japanese rendering (Wasei-eigo) of the English word "talent" and is used as a catch-all term for Mass media personalities who regularly appear on television. Successful tarento craft unique public personas in order to cater to certain Japanese demographics, just as in every other entertainment culture. However, insofar as Japanese culture demonstrates certain extremes, so, too, tarento reflect these cultural fixations [1].
Japanese television programs often feature these media personalities. Many, sometimes dozens at a time, are called in to take part in these primetime shows. Their participation in these programs varies greatly and includes performing, voicing opinions, mimicking fellow celebrities in a practice called Monomane (物真似), taking part in game shows, joking, or just being present for the entire duration of the show (known as being part of the "gallery").
While it is very common for tarento to appear in a serious Japanese television drama or Japanese movies, they are distinguished from mainstream actors by the fact that, where an actor might go on variety television to advertise their latest venture, tarento often appear on variety shows with no apparent promotional agenda outside of a personal one.
Often, Tarento, whether men or women have notoriously short career spans (around one or two years), and their earning capabilities are not as high as popularly imagined. The vast majority make just enough to maintain a middle-class lifestyle in Tokyo, Japan's media capital. This is because their talent agencies take a majority share of their earnings for the appearances that they make on TV. Part of the money given up by the tarento is to pay for initial support the agencies gave them in terms of free housing, financial stipends, and promotion of that person. These cuts can sometimes be as much as 90%.
That said, their work achieves social prominence (and all the associated benefits), and a successful tarento career can be the launching point for a career as movie actor or even political figure. An example is Takeshi Kitano, a prominent director, who started out as a comedy tarento and still does weekly shows. Female tarento who are unable to leverage their career into something larger sometimes slowly fade away into eventual obscurity.
Important things for tarento include the degree to which their names are publicly known ("chimeido", 知"?度) which is the Japanese equivalent of a Q Rating, the degree they are generally liked by the public ("koukando", 好感度), and the character or personality by which they are known (often just "chara" or "kyara", ャラ). The distinction between the first two terms is an important one, as celebrities such as Egashira 2:50 might be widely disliked by audiences and still make a living; being disliked is a part of their character. Other elements of a tarento's character may include their origins and other/former careers (e.g. author/illustrator Lily Franky), intelligence (e.g. Masaru Hamaguchi, a comedian who once misspelled his own name on a televised test), hobbies and skills (many female celebrities are known for how well or poorly they can cook, from the former members of Pink Lady on the high end of the continuum to race queen Yinling on the low end), or appearance (many non-Japanese talents such as Bobby Ologun use their looks to this effect). The way by which a person becomes tarento can more often than not be categorized.
Gimmicked tarento
These are people on programs that have a "trademarked" phrase, wardrobe, or mannerism that is used to elicit laughs from the audience. Their on-TV characters tend to be very shallow as they milk the comic device that gave them notoriety and hardly ever expands on their character. It is these figures that tend to have the shortest shelf life on TV as they quickly fade into obscurity after the novelty of their act wears off. Recent examples include Yoshio Kojima, Dandy Sakano, and Razor Ramon Hard Gay.
Owarai tarento
'Owarai' is Japanese for the act of laughing. Owarai tarento are generally former comedians, often in manzai, who, after becoming famous, make appearances on various television programs that are comedic in nature.
Nepotic tarento
Sometimes, Tarento is given prominent air time on TV and is promoted heavily due to their association or relationship to an established celebrity or politician, and not because they possess any discernible skills for entertaining audiences. One of the bigger examples of this phenomenon is Kazushige Nagashima, the son of the legendary Yomiuri Giants player and manager, Shigeo Nagashima. After failing to become a successful baseball player, he turned to the entertainment circuit and used his father's name to make inroads. The son of controversial Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, Yoshizumi Ishihara, has also achieved a measure of exposure due to nepotism as well as Kotaro Koizumi, son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.
The beautiful people, a.k.a. "dumb idols"
Additionally, Tarento, both male and female, maybe discovered and be given considerable exposure due to their perceived physical beauty and endowments, but the way they are promoted is different from being strictly a fashion model. This is because they spend time making music CDs, vehiclized movies, and television appearances that capitalize on and make vehicles out of their physical beauty, with little stress put on their actual ability to entertain in these situations and offer very little intellectually or content-wise to the production. These people are referred to as obaka-aidoru or "dumb idols". Many of the men that fall into this category come from Johnny's Jimusho, a male talent agency that is the backbone of the music and television industry. Female examples include Norika Fujiwara, Waka Inoue, and Rei Kikukawa.
Maintaining relevance
Occasionally, people will become tarento as a result of a directional shift in their career. It is especially common for musicians to become tarento. Some examples include Kiriko Isono, who debuted as part of a singing trio and made a name for herself based on a rapid wit and willingness to put herself down for a laugh; Mari Yaguchi, the third leader of Morning Musume who left the group in 2005 due to a scandal but has continued to appear on variety shows and Japanese television drama since leaving; Ai Iijima a former porn starlet, and Yuusuke Santamaria, who fronted several bands before moving into acting and being a tarento. Another entry path is from fashion modeling, with examples like Rinka and Aya Sugimoto.
Foreign tarento
Foreign, often non-Asian, Tarento often exploits stereotypes and caricatures to gain notoriety. Carolyn "Caiya" Kawasaki, a former American model, used the Japanese stereotype of American women being noisy and domineering on her husband, singer Mayo Kawasaki. Bobby Ologun, a Nigerian comedian, uses both stereotypes and caricatures in his act when he flubs lines in Japanese to play off the "foreigners have trouble with the language" stereotype as well as contort his face in the golliwog (a fictional character that appears in children's books) "Sambo" style to gain laughs, even though it can be seen as offensive.
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