The president of Japan’s largest boy band agency acknowledged Thursday the sexual abuse committed over decades by her predecessor on young recruits in the country’s music scene, and at the same time announced her resignation. “The agency and I personally recognize the sexual abuse committed by Johnny Kitagawa,” Julie Fujishima, niece of the fallen pope of J-pop who died in 2019, said at a press conference. “I apologize for the 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 numerous young talents since the 1950s. Died in 2019 at the age of 87, he had founded the Johnny agency in 1962
Local media had already mentioned accusations of abuse and sexual exploitation of minors against this all-powerful boss. In 1999, the weekly Shukan Bunshun published a series of articles presenting the accusations of several boys against him. But Johnny Kitagawa was awarded damages for defamation following these publications, even if 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 very long time before we can regain the trust” of people, he said, adding that he would “dedicate the rest of his life to solving this problem.”
The controversy over Johnny Kitagawa 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 the victims, which led to an apology from the president of the talent agency.
A commission commissioned by Johnny and Associates to investigate in turn estimated that at least “several hundred” young men had been assaulted by Johnny Kitagawa. Its investigative report released at the end of August, based on interviews with 41 alleged victims and agency executives, contains explicit accounts of sexual abuse. He recommended Julie Fujishima’s resignation, arguing that she had known about the accusations for a long time but had “failed to investigate.”
According to the report’s authors, the president’s attitude had fostered a mindset that gave company officials the impression that they could “handle Kitagawa’s sexual abuse very well as if it had never happened.” “.