Nikkei TOP 100 entertainers 2009

[Uemarasan]

The lack of women is very telling. I'd be more interested in how they came up with this list, however. Why is Ichiro on the list? Isn't he an athlete first and foremost? Why aren't there more athletes then?

Is Becky really the highest-ranked female? Does she really wield that kind of power in the industry? I would think she'd rank high because of popularity or visibility and not because she exercises any form of real power in the industry. I would think Miwa Yoshida would be a better candidate, or Sayuri Yoshinaga. Or maybe her media identity can never really be distinguished apart from DCT?

I dislike lists that don't reveal their processes. It's always a guessing game when it comes to their accuracy. But if I am to hazard a guess, I'd say that this is a list that more or less portrays what it's like in the Japanese entertainment industry, in spite of lack of transparency. For instance there are very few female comedians, and even fewer that are as popular as their male counterparts.

It's still a man's world, after all.