In Japan, omerta after the revelations of sexual abuse committed within the Johnny’s boy band agency

2023-08-16 20:30:51
Seven men speak about sexual abuse at the Johnny & Associates agency during the visit of the United Nations Business and Human Rights Working Group to Tokyo, Japan on August 4 2023. YURI KAGEYAMA / AP

The sexual abuse scandal within the powerful Japanese boy band agency Johnny & Associates, nicknamed Johnny’s, could be part of the epic of Japanese rugby players at the World Cup organized in France from September 8 to October 28. The Brave Blossoms, whose composition was unveiled on Tuesday August 15 at an event in front of Tokyo station, will be the subject of extensive Japanese media coverage, in particular by the voice of Sho Sakurai, star of the boy band Arashi, formed in the late 1990s by the Johnny’s agency, but also a star presenter of programs on the Nippon TV channel.

Without being suspected of complicity in the abuses committed by Johnny Kitagawa (1931-2019), the founder, in 1962, of the agency formerly nicknamed “the factory of charming men”, Mr. Sakurai never expressed any real support for the victims of this man since revelations of the scandal in March by the BBC. He simply asked at the beginning of June to “to ensure that this kind of scandal never happens again”. The question arises, however, of the knowledge he had of the abuses denounced by certain former residents of the agency, including Akimasa Nihongi, with whom he formed the group Tsubasa Shogumi when they were teenagers, as part of the Johnny’s Junior program.

The absence of questions, such as the maintenance of the activities of Johnny’s boy bands, gives the impression of a “business as usual” of the Japanese media towards the agency, which would tend to confirm the impressions made on August 4 by two experts of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Damilola Olawuyi and Pichamon Yeophantong investigated the Johnny’s scandal and the world of entertainment and media for two weeks at the request of the Japanese government.

Their investigations revealed allegations “deeply alarming” of sexual exploitation and abuse involving hundreds of young Johnny’s boys. They even refer to a campaign of large-scale sexual exploitation and abuse. The two experts also criticized the Japanese media which remained silent on this subject while several ex-members of Johnny’s sought to expose the abuses as early as the 1980s.

“Perceived government inaction”

Mrs. Yeophantong also denounced “the perceived inaction of the government and companies involved” in responding to victims, which “highlights the need for the government, as the first responsible, to guarantee the transparency of investigations”, but also to help the victims. The UN experts are indeed issuing “persisting doubts about the transparency and legitimacy of the special team set up by the Johnny’s agency” to investigate abuse.

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