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Japan talent agent Johnny Kitagawa sexually assaulted hundreds of teens, investigation finds

arifnsn September 2, 2023

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A team investigating sexual assault allegations by the late founder of a powerful talent agency for boy bands in Japan has found the charges credible, calling for compensation for the victims and the resignation of the current chief executive.

The investigative panel said Johnny & Associates must apologise, strengthen compliance measures and educate its ranks about human rights. Julie Keiko Fujishima, the agency’s chief executive officer, must resign for not taking action over the years, according to the special team. Kitagawa died in 2019 and was never charged.

Makoto Hayashi (centre), investigative team leader into sex abuse at Johnny & Associates Inc., speaks at a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday. Photo: Kyodo

“The company’s cover-up led to the sexual abuse continuing unchecked for so long,” investigative team leader Makoto Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “There were many opportunities to take action.”

Critics say what happened at Johnny’s, as the Tokyo-based company is known, highlights Japan’s lagging awareness about rape, sexual harassment and human rights. Public opinion has often been unsympathetic towards people who say they were targeted by sexual predators.

In the Johnny’s case, about a dozen men have come forward in recent months to allege sexual abuse by Kitagawa, the agency’s founder, while performing as teens. More people are expected to come forward, the report said.

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Fujishima has so far only apologised in a brief online video for “disappointment and worries” over the case. It is unclear whether she will resign.

Serious questions resurfaced this year after BBC News produced a special segment focused on several people who claimed to be Kitagawa’s victims.

Another turning point came earlier this month when the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights urged the Japanese government to take action. The group also accused Japan’s mainstream media of what it called “a cover-up”.

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According to the allegations, Kitagawa asked fledgling singers and dancers, many of them children, to stay at his luxury home. When he told one of them to go to bed early, everyone knew it was “your turn”, those who have spoken up told the panel.

The boys were raped by Kitagawa when they were 14 or 15 and given 10,000 yen (US$100) afterwards, the report said. It added that the victims feared they would be penalised if they refused.

It recommends more people come forward, promises that their privacy will be protected and that no material evidence of a sexual attack will be required.

Those who have spoken out say they have been painfully traumatised, unable to tell anyone, even family, and still suffer flashbacks and depression, the report said.

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