Johnny’s takes steps toward overdue reckoning with its past

Japanese leisure company Johnny & Associates has drastically modified since founder Johnny Kitagawa died in 2019. This previous weekend, the expertise powerhouse made its greatest shift but when it addressed the recurring allegations of sexual assault levelled at Kitagawa by former male entertainers from the company.

Kitagawa’s niece and present Johnny’s president, Julie Keiko Fujishima, launched a written and video assertion on the corporate’s official web site Sunday night time. The message walks a tightrope, providing apologies to the alleged victims whereas additionally refraining from verifying their claims. Nonetheless, there’s nonetheless a sense of remorse that runs via the assertion, with Fujishima emphasizing efforts to launch an inside investigation and alter how the company features transferring ahead.

The true affect of the assertion is in it current in any respect. Allegations of sexual assault linked to Kitagawa first emerged in 1988, after former Johnny’s expertise Koji Kita wrote a e book that included particulars concerning the abuse he suffered by the hands of Kitagawa. The e book offered effectively and was later cited as a purpose for a decline in gross sales for Johnny’s teams, however Kita’s claims had been largely ignored by the mainstream media. Within the following years, extra victims got here ahead. Home publications such because the tabloid Shukan Bunshun and international retailers comparable to The New York Instances and The Guardian wrote concerning the allegations; but, mainstream Japanese media continued to keep away from reporting on the subject. A lot of those that adopted the story advised this was as a result of expertise company’s formidable place within the leisure trade: If an outlet talked about a touch of scandal, they supposed, Johnny’s would possibly retaliate by barring its widespread performers from showing on the station’s different TV applications or within the writer’s different publications.