
The head of a significant Japanese boys-group talent company has produced a YouTube video apologizing for the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by her predecessor and promised to avert a recurrence.

Allegations versus Johnny Kitagawa, a powerful determine in Japanese enjoyment and the founder of Johnny & Associates, have been tossed all around for additional than 20 yrs, even though he was under no circumstances billed with crimes. He died in 2019.

The allegations resurfaced as a scorching topic of scrutiny just after BBC Information did a unique previously this year, focusing on many people today who stated they were being sexually abused.

“Additional than something, I apologize quite deeply to the victims,” reported a solemn Julie Keiko Fujishima, bowing 4 occasions during a one-moment video clip unveiled late Sunday.

The scandal has served as a wake-up connect with for Japan’s lagging struggle versus sexual harassment. A purchaser boycott has begun from Johnny’s, as the company is also known, generating for an in depth record, as dozens of the “tarento,” or “talent,” surface in several commercials. A petition travel expressing outrage has collected hundreds of signatures.

Fujishima apologized for the “disappointment and anxieties” admirers need to be feeling. In an additional prepared assertion, she stressed she had not acknowledged of any wrongdoing, despite the fact that acknowledging that was no excuse. Compliance groups and counseling have been set up, she explained, while halting brief of lining up an outside third-social gathering investigation.

In accordance to the allegations, Kitagawa requested fledgling singers and dancers, several of them small children, to continue to be at his luxury property. When he advised 1 of them to go to bed early, absolutely everyone knew “it was your flip.”

That sort of testimony from musician Kauan Okamoto, showing at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo last month, lifted the degree of criticism in opposition to Johnny’s. Okamoto was the first accuser who appeared prior to reporters beneath his actual identify to share his tale and be photographed.

He experienced been part of the backup team Johnny’s Jr., which also worked as a expertise pool for Johnny & Associates. The organization has beneath its wing some of Japan’s top actors.

Fujishima a short while ago fulfilled with Okamoto.

She could not say with certainty regardless of whether his allegations were correct or not. But she sees folks are alleging abuse, and these a matter “should really in no way occur yet again.”

“We are barely acquiring started out, but he has offered us an prospect to alter,” she mentioned.

Okamoto’s response to his initial meeting with Fujishima, whom he identified as “Julie san,” was overwhelmingly optimistic. It was like conversing to a mother, he additional. He understood she was truly sorry but had privacy and lawful concerns.

Some critics claimed Fujishima’s apology was not sufficient, the firm really should keep a information meeting, and she really should resign to choose obligation.

Many others have slammed mainstream Japanese media for extensive currently being silent, suggesting they feared retaliation and shedding accessibility to the talent pool. Shukan Bunshun, a weekly journal, has been an exception, aggressively masking the Johnny’s scandal from the begin.

Japanese entertainers have been dealing with major competitors from neighboring South Korea, exactly where teams like BTS have fulfilled much increased global achievements. Some Johnny’s stars have been leaving the corporation over the many years, which includes Okamoto.

“Absolutely everyone should arrive forward and notify the fact,” Okamoto mentioned in his newest YouTube online video.

He had been worried of remaining rejected by Japanese modern society, when he had simply just needed love, as a man or woman and a musician.

“It really is not quick to produce goals however entertainment and to really move people today,” Okamoto stated.