Shin Watanabe

**Shin Watanabe** (渡辺晋, *Watanabe Shin*, March 2, 1927 - January 31, 1987) is a Japanese entertainment entrepreneur and promoter. He is also a former musician and bass guitarist. Shin is also the founder of Watanabe Productions (commonly known as Navepro), a pioneer of Japanese entertainment agencies. HIs wife, Misa Watanabe, served as representative of Watanabe Productions Group and honorary president of Watanabe Productions. Miki Watanabe, President of Watanabe Entertainment and President of Watanabe Productions, is his eldest daughter.

Mayumi Watanabe, President and CEO of Top Coat, is the second daughter. Masaki Yoshida, president of Fuji TV & producer of Watanabeenta, is Miki's husband. His birth name is **Susumu Watanabe** (渡邉晋, *Watanabe Susumu*).

## Shin Watanabe

### Birth date

March 2, 1927
Takinogawa, Kita City, Japan

### Death date

January 31, 1987 (age 59)
Tokyo, Japan

### Occupation

Entertainment promoter
Bassist

## Career

Shin Watanabe grew up in Takinogawa, Tokyo City (currently Kita City, Tokyo) in 1927, but other claims that he was born in the Fukuoka Prefecture. The Watanabe family came from the city of Fukuoka and lived in the Watanabedori area. Shin moved from Tokyo (Daini Enzan Primary School, now Shinagawa Ward Daini Enzan Primary School) to Monji (Kiyomi Jinjo Primary School), Matsumoto (Genji Jinjo Primary School) and Tokyo due to the relocation of his father who worked at the Bank of Japan.

After finishing up his classes at the Rissho Junior High School (now Rissho University High School), he entered the Law Department at the Waseda University in 1944. In 1951, while still a student at school, he formed his jazz band, "Shin Watanabe and Six Joes", with Hidehiko Matsumoto (tenor sax), Hachidai Nakamura (piano), Hiroshi Minami (drums), and others. Watanabe himself was an early music fan, but his father, who worked at the Bank of Japan, was banished from public office and was unable to pay tuition. Although he was in charge of the bass as a leader and gained popularity, he finally dropped out of college in 1948 because he couldn't afford tuition and get credits.

Over time, he began to think about production management because he witnessed the instability of jazz musicians' incomes, the rigidity of work and the thinness of welfare programs, and in April 1955 he founded Watanabe Productions with his wife, Misa and businessman Haruo Matsushita. At that time, the animators from each area stood control of the local animators' performances, and there were many uncertainties about the payment of the money. Watanabe sought to secure all entertainment benefits and rights by having the talented production participate in all entertainment.

In talent management, they brought together with singers, lyricists and songwriters who previously had an exclusive contract with a record company as an "exclusive holding" of a record company as a related rights with Watanabe Productions, and the first monthly salary system in the world of entertainment as it was presented by them. By accessing the rights related to commercial music and making the "master record production" that was done at the publisher's record company Watanabe Music Publishing, it became possible to own the "master record right", which is one of the related rights.

To reformed the production format so that it is not only a box office but also part of the copyright and can generate royalty income, it has become possible to make huge budget for the company. Watanabe Productions, which grew huge in this way and was called Navepro, Watanabe and his wife are known as the "duo of the entertainment world." Having a strong connection to the political and business world, it became taboo for the media to criticize Navepro.

Known for their good care, Mie Nakao and Michiyo Azusa used to live in the Watanabe house, and the office also paid for student talent tuition and house construction costs. On the other hand, he is known to be extremely strict about his work, often asking strict questions about how to sell talent, the meaning of lyrics and song titles, the tone of songs, and the concept at board meetings. In addition, he has excellent foresight, and not only his own origin of jazz, but also rockabilly, soul music, gospel, etc., which were considered heretical at the time, were highly evaluated from the beginning, and they have all it has just been sung by its young singers and popularized. Instead, it laid the foundation for long-term retention.

His own theory was that "company talent should be more popular than music and art", and company singers and idols also said, "Always stretch your spine and smile on stage." Sprinkle ".Also, with the idea that "talents must be idols", when Hitoshi Ueki, who was at his peak as a comedy actor at the time, was offered to appear on a show in front of his teacher, Ueki's serious ground came out. . He said he made a decision because the image of an irresponsible man collapsed.

Also, unlike today, the loves of some female idols are not revealed, and Mari Amachi and Candies emphasized that they were virgins in magazine dialogue projects and kept their image pure. However, the rise of Horipro by the audition program "Star Tanjo!" started in the NTV series, Johnny & Associates, Inc. office that had been affiliated for several years by other entertainment companies, Yoshimoto Kogyo and Burning Production. Many talented singers like Yukari Ito, Shinichi Mori, Nana Kinomi, and Akira Fuse also joined the production in the second half of the 1970s. The influence of the Navepro began to appear gradually.

In addition to the deterioration of his own physical condition (described below), the one-man system has been prolonged and cannot keep up with the changing times, and Yokichi Osato (later founded Amuse Inc.) and Matsushita clashed due to a discrepancy in the management policy, which upon leaving was gradually isolated due to conflicts in personnel matters within the company. In 1970, Shin suffered skin cancer on his left cheek. He seemed to have been cured once, but reappeared in 1974. After that, he was forced to fight cancer until his death. He lost sight of his left eye due to the side effects of the cobalt treatment and suffered a severe headache that Shin himself complained that he could not think of anything. In his later years, Shin was thin and weak, and despite being in his fifties, who originally owned a business, was painfully weakened as an old man.

He died suddenly on January 31, 1987 at the age of 59. At the end of his later life, he begged his daughter Miki, who was studying jazz, to sing "Stardust" by his bedside, and this standard number, which is the ending song of "Shabontama Holiday" and the melody symbolic of Watanabe Productions. It is said that he died while they were humming the theme song. He was asked to go public many times, but decided that "the entertainment market requires a long-term lapse, and it is difficult to establish in a situation where share prices are a concern and shareholders should always receive dividends."

It was not made in public. Believer of the Nichiren section, it used to be customary to conduct training for new employees at the temples. The office has a picture frame consisting of words like "Shin is new ..., new is breakthrough ...", which is said to be an important company motto.

## Related person

* Hajime Hana & The Crazy Cats
* The Peanuts
* The Drifters
* The Tigers
* Candies
* Koichi Sugiyama
* Yukio Aoshima
* Haruo Matsushita
* Hiroshi Miyagawa
* Jun Hamamura
* Shinichi Mori
* Akira Fuse
* Mie Nakao
* Yukari Ito
* Mari Sono
* Rumiko Koyanagi
* Mari Amachi
* Kōji Kikkawa
* Hachidai Nakamura
* Sadao Nagata
* Sanezumi Fujimoto
* Shigeru Okada

## Former subordinates

* Yokichi Osato
* Satoru Ikuno
* Tōru Ogi
* Sumio Matsuzaki
* Yoshiaki Morooka
* Yasushi Wakui
* Kuniji Nakai
* Ken Izawa
* Takao Fujioka

## Collaborate

* Johnny Kitagawa
* Isao Yoshino