TOKYO (AP) – A team investigating sexual assault allegations by the late founder of a powerful talent agency for boy bands has found the charges credible, calling on Tuesday for compensation for the victims and the resignation of the current chief executive.
The three-month probe, which included speaking with 23 victims, concluded that Johnny Kitagawa sexually assaulted and abused boys as far back as the 1950s and targeted at least several hundred people.
The investigative panel said Johnny & Associates must apologize, strengthen compliance measures and educate its ranks about human rights. Chief Executive Julie Keiko Fujishima must resign for not taking action over the years, according to the special team. Kitagawa died in 2019 and was never charged.
“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 said 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 toward people who said 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.
Fujishima has so far only apologized in a brief online video for “disappointment and worries” over the case. It is unclear whether she will resign.
The company in a statement reiterated its earlier apology and promise to hold a news conference, once it had studied the team’s report.
While rumours of abuse at Johnny’s circulated over the years and several tell-all books have been published, Japan’s mainstream media remained silent.
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 United Nations 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.”
