Japan’s high male expertise company Johnny & Associates Inc. has acknowledged that its late founder Johnny Kitagawa sexually abused aspiring teenage pop singers for many years. But the query stays: how was he in a position to get away with it for thus lengthy?
While an overconcentration of energy throughout the company’s founding household has been cited as a significant component within the long-term coverup of the abuse, Japanese mainstream media additionally lengthy turned a blind eye.
A 3rd-party physique arrange by the company to analyze the scandal stated in a report in August that it believed Japanese media avoided reporting the allegations out of concern they might now not be capable to safe appearances by expertise represented by Johnny’s, because the agency is broadly identified.
In 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission had warned Johnny’s over suspicions that it had pressured media networks to not function former members of idol group SMAP who left the company following the band’s dissolution.
Kitagawa, who based the company in 1962, was one of many Japanese leisure trade’s strongest figures, propelling quite a few teams comparable to SMAP and Arashi to stardom earlier than his loss of life in 2019.
Junya Hiramoto, 57, was one of many first skills as soon as represented by the company to show sexual abuse by Kitagawa, publishing a ebook in 1996 that detailed his experiences of being touched and compelled to have interaction in intercourse acts with the pop mogul.
The Japanese weekly journal Shukan Bunshun in 1999 later revealed a collection detailing accusations that a number of boys had been abused and sexually exploited. Kitagawa, who was by no means charged with any crimes on the premise of the allegations, sued the Shukan Bunshun and was awarded damages.
But even in 2003, when the judgment was partially overturned after the Tokyo High Court dominated the journal had adequate purpose to publish the allegations, mainstream media remained largely silent.
Such allegations solely garnered huge public consideration after the BBC aired a documentary in March this yr that included interviews with victims.
The company in May issued a video and written public apology from its present president Julie Keiko Fujishima, but it surely was solely on Sept. 7 when it held its first press convention on the difficulty.
Noriyuki Higashiyama, a veteran TV character lengthy represented by the company, took over the helm after Fujishima, Kitagawa’s niece, acknowledged the scandal and stepped down as president.
“I think Mr. Kitagawa and the agency as a whole were in the wrong,” stated Higashiyama, 56, when requested on the press convention about self-censorship by the Japanese media over the sexual abuse instances.
Yoshihiko Inohara, president of the company’s subsidiary Johnnys’ Island, who additionally attended the press convention, referred to as for a change in media attitudes, saying, “Self-censorship is rampant in Japan. It is really tough to eliminate, and it is a problem that we need to work on together.”
But some have questioned whether or not the appointment of Higashiyama as the brand new president constitutes the form of inside organizational reform really helpful by the agency’s exterior probe, additionally partly as a result of he himself faces allegations of sexual abuse, revealed in a tell-all ebook by a former company member years in the past.
Higashiyama denied the allegations once they have been raised on the press convention.
Asahi Omori, a public relations and disaster administration guide, stated a brand new president ought to have been chosen from exterior the agency.
Despite acknowledging the scandal, the company has determined to retain its identify “Johnny & Associates.”
A collection of main firms starting from beverage corporations and an airline to an automaker has since began to distance themselves from the company.
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., Kirin Holdings Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have introduced they won’t use skills from Johnny’s in future promotional materials, whereas Japan Airlines Co. has stated it is going to chorus from utilizing Johnny’s skills in promotional materials till applicable measures are taken.
Tokyo Shoko Research stated Wednesday that 226 corporations do enterprise with the company and its group firms, of which greater than 10 p.c are listed. It has warned that corporations will seemingly assessment the usage of Johnny’s expertise for compliance causes for concern of being seen as tolerating sexual misconduct.
Takeshi Niinami, president of Suntory Holdings Ltd., which has determined to not seal any new contracts with Johnny’s skills, took a important view of the best way Johnny’s has dealt with the difficulty.
“Using the agency’s talent would mean we are tolerating child abuse,” Niinami, who’s chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, a significant enterprise foyer, stated at a press convention.
Johnny’s has stated that as a part of efforts to take accountability for the scandal, it is not going to search administration charges from advertisers, TV networks and different shoppers for a yr, permitting its skills to gather all of the funds for his or her use.
The transfer comes as Johnny’s has been seeing rising variety of skills stop the company even from earlier than the scandal broke within the media. Competition from boy teams from different businesses, in the meantime, stays fierce.
Nevertheless, for some applications, there nonetheless stays a “wall” for performers aside from these from Johnny’s, an trade supply stated.
“It would be great if this becomes an opportunity to drastically change the structure of the entertainment industry. In a way, it’s a chance,” the supply stated.
Takahiko Kageyama, a professor of media research at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, stated self-censorship by the media may happen in dealings with any social gathering within the leisure trade.
“Every network needs to create investigative programs and thoroughly reflect on the situation. Only then will the relationship between the entertainment industry and TV stations become healthier,” Kageyama stated.
The focus is now shifting to the difficulty of compensation for victims and the company’s future survival.
Nearly every week after its press convention, Johnny’s introduced it has arrange an unbiased sufferer aid panel made up of three former judges who will decide the quantity of compensation to be paid because it assesses the claims of alleged victims.
© KYODO