Johnny Kitagawa sexual abuse scandal
Considered one of the most powerful figures in the Japanese entertainment industry, Kitagawa held a virtual monopoly on the creation of boy bands in Japan for more than forty years.
Between 1988 and 2000, Kitagawa was the subject of numerous allegations that he had taken advantage of his position to engage in improper sexual relationships with adolescent boys under contract to Johnny & Associates.
[4][5] The report came after abuse claims against Kitagawa had received renewed attention following the release of the documentary Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop and further allegations made by musician and former Johnny's Jr. member Kauan Okamoto earlier in the year.
[7] Kita wrote that Johnny Kitagawa had used his position of influence over the group to make unwanted sexual advances towards the boys under contract to him.
[9] Sakaue said that as a result of the media coverage, and in response to a request from a constituent, he wanted to examine whether government officials had properly investigated complaints about Kitagawa.
[12] After protracted litigation, in 2002 the Tokyo District Court awarded Kitagawa an ¥8.8 million judgment against Shūkan Bunshun, finding that the articles defamed him.
The court found that the Shūkan Bunshun had sufficient reason to accept as trustworthy, and publish, the sexual allegations by Kitagawa's former clients.
[9][7][2][3] Once Shūkan Bunshun began publication of the series, Johnny & Associates denied the magazine and the other media owned by its parent organization, access to any of its performers.
[11] Following the lawsuit, in 2005, Shogo Kiyama, a former Johnny Jr., published a book criticizing how broadcasters never reported Kitagawa's case and he was never punished in spite of the allegations.
[18][19] In March 2023, the BBC released a documentary centered on the sexual abuse claims against Kitagawa, Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop, presented by Mobeen Azhar.
[20] In April 2023, musician and former Johnny's Jr. member Kauan Okamoto told a press conference held at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan that he had been subjected to sexual abuse by Kitagawa on a number of occasions between 2012 and 2016, and called on the management to acknowledge the misconduct.
[22][23] In response to Okamoto's press conference, Johnny & Associates released a statement saying that it would "continue its unified effort to thoroughly ensure compliance without exception, and tackle strengthening of a system of governance," but the company did not directly address the allegations at the time.
[30][31] An independent probe established by Johnny & Associates reported the findings of their investigation on August 29, 2023, saying that Kitagawa repeatedly committed sexual abuse from the early 1970s until the mid-2010s.
[36] In December 2024, two former members of the talent agency, Kyohei Iida and Junya Tanaka, filed a lawsuit in Nevada claiming $300 million in damages for alleged abuse perpetrated by Kitagawa in Las Vegas.
[37] On 6 September 2023, Guinness World Records decided to remove Kitagawa's achievement of producing the most top songs on the pop music chart from its official website.
The FCCJ likened this scandal to the assassination of Shinzo Abe, citing media silence on the systemic abuses by organizations close to powerful figures.
[48][49][50] SMILE UP will continue to exist under the ownership of Fujishima and will eventually close down once all sexual abuse compensation requests, which numbered 325 at the time of the announcement, have been processed.
[52] It was revealed on December 8, 2023, that the new artist management company would be called Starto Entertainment, a name fusing the word "star" and the hiragana と (to), with the meaning for the latter to be "toward the future".
[54] The program included exclusive interviews with Smile-Up's new President, Higashiyama, Akimasa Nihongi, a former agency talent, and the widow of one of the victims.
The lawsuit filed in Clark County, Nevada by plaintiffs Junya Tanaka and Kyōhei Iida alleged that Kitagawa sexually abused them in a Las Vegas hotel when they were teenagers in March 1997 and August 2002, respectively.
The lawsuit also alleged that Julie Keiko Fujishima (Kitagawa's niece) and other former company executives were aware of the abuse, but failed to take appropriate action.
[63] Smile-Up said in response to the lawsuit that they would consult with lawyers in the United States, adding their belief that a U.S. court should not have jurisdiction over the matter because the plaintiffs lived in Japan at the time.
[64][65] An American lawyer representing Tanaka and Iida told NHK that the case is not subject to any statute of limitations in the state of Nevada.
At the news conference, Tanaka emphasized that Smile-Up’s lawsuit was filed shortly after it became clear that the company had been sued in the United States.
A representative of Smile-Up told The Asahi Shimbun that the company intends to proceed with compensation payments in accordance with decisions of the victims relief committee.
In November 2024, the company sued Shimon Ishimaru, 57, former deputy chief of the Johnny’s Sexual Assault Victims Association, dissolved in September 2024.
The company is seeking confirmation that it does not have to pay more than 18 million yen in damages to Ishimaru, the figure proposed by the victims relief committee.
The sister of Ryo Nakatani, one of the first group of claimants, a former "Johnnys" member who died in 2021, asked on the show for the agency to extend an apology, and for Noriyuki Higashiyama, as the representative, to do it.
He met twice with the compensation officer and corporate lawyer of Smile-Up, but the man, named as "Mr. X", was unable to explain the location of the toilet, its layout, and the procedure for entering the Broadcasting Center.
