Former SMAP member Takuya Kimura is one of Japan’s biggest and most recognised celebrities. He recently graced the the 29th August issue of Magazine House’s an an magazine. Like most magazines, this issue featured both physical and digital copies. However, there’s one huge problem with the digital version… it doesn’t have any of Kimura’s photos. Why? Well, Kimura’s talent agency, Johnny and Associates, doesn’t allow its talents to appear in online photos.

The story was shared by twitter user, @A_chanmama, who doesn’t reside in Japan. She’s a huge fan of Kimura, and bought the digital version because she’d have a tough time getting the physical version. However, when she downloaded the magazine, she realised Kimura’s photos were all blank.

Johnny and Associates is quite infamous in Japan. They usually don’t allow photos of their talents to be posted online, and of course, this has hurt fans. They did promise to lift a few restrictions though, and several media outlets can now post photos of their artistes. However, this doesn’t apply to all sorts of media, and they’re still pretty strict with those restrictions.

This has left many fans disappointed in not seeing their favorite stars in magazine covers and online film posters. Even until now, fans are still trying to make the agency lift all its bans, as they don’t really make their stars shine with such restrictions.

source: Hachimakikou