For decades, Johnny Kitagawa sexually abused young recruits to the Japanese music scene. This Thursday, the president of the largest Japanese boy band agency acknowledged these attacks and announced her resignation. “The agency and I personally recognize the sexual abuse committed by Johnny Kitagawa,” Julie Fujishima, niece of the deposed pope of J-pop who died in 2019, said at a press conference.
“I apologize from the bottom of my heart to his victims,” she added. His resignation comes a week after the publication of the results of an investigation highlighting the sexual assaults committed by Johnny Kitagawa against many young talents since the 1950s. Died in 2019 at the age of 87, he had founded in 1962 the Johnny & Associates agency, which has reigned over the Japanese entertainment industry for decades and launched famous “idol” groups such as Smap, Arashi and Tokio.
The “Johnny’s” could keep their name
The local media had already mentioned accusations of abuse and sexual exploitation of minors concerning him during his lifetime. In 1999, the weekly Shukan Bunshun had thus published a series of articles presenting the accusations of several young men against him. But Johnny Kitagawa was awarded damages for defamation as a result of these articles, although the decision was partially overturned on appeal.
Julie Fujishima has appointed singer and actor Noriyuki Higashiyama, a veteran of the agency, to replace her. “It will take a long time before we can regain people’s trust,” said Noriyuki Higashiyama, adding, “I will dedicate the rest of my life to solving this problem.” However, he said he was reluctant to change the name of the agency, whose talents it produces are called “Johnny’s”. Julie Fujishima explained that she would remain within the management team, in order to help “compensate” the victims.
Hundreds of victims
At a separate press conference on Thursday, alleged victims of Johnny Kitagawa reacted positively to the agency’s announcements, but said they weren’t enough. “The scars left on my heart will never completely fade,” said Yukihiro Oshima, who had been a “Johnny’s” in the late 1990s. Junya Hiramoto, another former member of a boy band at the agency, said wish that “the company does everything in its power to save” the victims.
The controversy over Johnny Kitagawa had resurfaced after the broadcast at the beginning of the year of a documentary by the British public television channel BBC and the open accusations of one of his alleged victims. Julie Fujishima then apologized but denied having knowledge of the actions of her predecessor. A commission commissioned by Johnny & Associates to investigate the matter estimated that at least “several hundred” young men had been sexually assaulted. Its investigative report released in late August, based on interviews with 41 alleged victims and agency executives, contains explicit accounts of sexual abuse.