2023-09-14 18:20:50
Kauan Okamoto was just 16 years old when his big dream seemed to come true. He wanted to be a pop star, he wanted to sing and dance in one of those boy bands that primarily Japanese girls, but also many people in the rest of the world, fall at their feet. In 2012, the most important doorman at the entrance to the colorful, glittering world of Japanese pop music, Johnny Kitagawa, took him into his talent factory “Johnny’s Juniors”. But the supposed dream soon turned into a nightmare, as the now 27-year-old has now publicly reported.
Tim Canning
Correspondent for economics and politics in Japan based in Tokyo.
Kitagawa was one of the pioneers of J-pop – Japanese pop music, which is the second largest music market in the world after American pop. From the 1960s until his death in 2019, Kitagawa was one of the most important masterminds in the business. He helped shape the concept of boy bands and not only cast and built up a number of such formations with his agency Johnny & Associates, but also produced and marketed their albums and referred the bands to television shows and advertising partners. SMAP and Arashi are among his best-known groups, which also enjoy success abroad.
But reports like those of Kauan Okamoto and several other men paint Kitagawa as a man who shamelessly exploited his great power. The pop mogul is said to have sexually abused him and hundreds of other young people who had hoped to get into show business from Kitagawa. “He first massaged my feet, then he took off my underwear and then performed oral sex on me,” Okamoto said at a recent press conference in Tokyo about his time at “Johnny’s Juniors.”
There were similar allegations in the 1960s
The allegations cast a frightening light not only on Kitagawa himself and his agency, but on the entire Japanese show and media industry. Because Okamoto and his current colleagues are far from the first to accuse Kitagawa of sexual assault. Such allegations had already been made in the 1960s, shortly after Johnny & Associates was founded.
In the 1990s, two of the pop manager’s former protégés published books in which they wrote down their experiences. And in 2003 there was even a trial in which the judges considered the allegations of sexual abuse to be proven. But Kitagawa got away with a manageable fine – and was able to continue.
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Only a documentary published by the BBC this spring has led to a major public outcry in Japan for the first time. Apparently, during his lifetime, Kitagawa had repeatedly managed to keep the allegations against him down through his influence in the Japanese media industry.
Victims of abuse remained silent for a long time out of fear
Abuse victim Okamoto also says he didn’t dare go to the police at the time. He was afraid that he would be called a liar because he couldn’t prove what he had experienced. He was also certain that his career would be over if he made public allegations against Kitagawa.
The agency Johnny & Associates has now commissioned its own external investigation into the allegations of abuse against its founder, with shocking findings: Kitagawa is said to have abused “hundreds” of boys and the agency has repeatedly covered it up.
The pop mogul’s niece, Julie Keiko Fujishima, who had denied the allegations until the end, tearfully resigned as president of the agency after the results were announced last week. As her successor, she presented the singer and actor Noriyuki Higashiyama, who has been under contract with the agency since the 1970s.
Successor wants to regain trust in the agency
Higashiyama said when he took office that he would spend the rest of his life restoring the agency’s reputation. On Thursday he added: The agency did not want to take any royalties for the television appearances and advertising engagements of its stars for a year. “We want to do everything we can to regain the trust we have lost,” the agency wrote in its announcement.
But are discounts and expressions of pity enough to restore the agency’s reputation? Several companies such as the car manufacturer Nissan, McDonald’s Japan and the beverage manufacturers Kirin and Asahi have now announced that they no longer want to work with artists from Johnny’s & Associates. The airline Japan Airlines has also cut its ties with the Johnny stars. And fast food chain Mos Burger made it clear: “Any issues with sexual assault are contrary to our fundamental human rights policy.”
Niinami Takeshi, the chairman of a Japanese business association, said at a press conference that if companies were to book stars from the agency, it would be tantamount to advocating sexual abuse. He feels sorry for the entertainers who would be punished as a result, but they could look for another agency.
The abuse victims don’t think the new beginning at Johnny’s is credible. Junya Hiramoto, who founded an association for Kitagawa victims and is threatening to sue the agency in America, says he is not convinced that Higashiyama is now taking over the agency. After all, there have already been allegations of sexual assault against younger colleagues.
#Abuse #scandal #rocks #Jpop