Two men who say they were sexually abused as teenagers by a Japanese entertainment mogul were interviewed Monday by a special team set up by the talent agency to look into the allegations.
Junya Hiramoto and Shimon Ishimaru, both former members of a boys’ dance-and-song group called Johnny’s Junior, said they still want an apology and compensation from Johnny & Associates.
“They haven’t admitted anything, and they haven’t apologized,” Hiramoto told reporters after the interviews.
“We desire a peaceful resolution. There is no point in taking the bloody, contentious route of fighting it out with hatred.”
The two are among about a dozen men who have alleged sexual abuse by the agency’s founder, Johnny Kitagawa. They say they were abused at his Tokyo luxury mansion as well as at other places, such as his car and overseas hotels, while performing as teens.
Kitagawa, who died in 2019, was never charged.
Earlier this month, the U.N. Working Group on Business and Human Rights urged the Japanese government to take action on the abuse at Johnny & Associates, noting the victims numbered at least several hundred, and accusing Japan's mainstream media of what it called “a cover-up” by staying silent. A full report is to be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council next June.
The separate team conducting the interviews Monday was set up by Johnny & Associates. It is to give its findings to the company later this month. Johnny & Associates has only commented in online statements, and how it will respond to the team’s findings remains to be seen.
In response to a request for comment by The Associated Press, Johnny & Associates said all matters are being dealt with by the investigative team. The company has promised a statement on the investigation later this month.
The Associated Press does not usually identify people who say they were sexually assaulted, but Kitagawa’s recent accusers decided to be named publicly in news accounts.
After a BBC documentary about Kitagawa aired this year, musician Kauan Okamoto spoke in April at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Tokyo, the first person in decades to make such allegations using his real name.
A new accuser, Yukihiro Oshima, a Johnny’s Junior member for two years starting in 1998, spoke out on Monday.
“For 23 years, I have tried my best to live life with a deep scar in my heart,” he said.
Oshima and other victims said they did not understand what was happening at first. They said they just want to put a stop to such crimes, not only in the entertainment industry but in Japanese society as a whole.
Japan lags other developed nations in protecting the rights of children as well as people targeted by sexual predators. Public opinion also tends to be unsympathetic, and men who have spoken up against Johnny & Associates have been ridiculed and harassed online.
“We hope the company will come to the table to talk together about compensation. We are prepared to persevere,” Ishimaru said.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
18 Comments
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diagonalslip
ummm..... against the agency. （⌒▽⌒） nice!
TrevorPeace
Seems a bit odd, if not a complete cover-up, that the company has put its own 'investigators' on the case. Reeks of (I can't say it, here).
Jay
Johnny's: "A special independent panel will investigate these sexual abuse allegations."
Also Johnny's: "The special independent panel has been hand-picked by Johnny's Inc."
Prime comedy if it weren't so despicable.
dagon
Imagine if Weinstein or Epstein were allowed to have their organizations to set up "special teams" to investigate the charges against them instead of, you know, the legal and judicial authorities.
Comeuppance always seems to come too late.
Dango bong
This is what guilty people say. Like Russia accusing Ukraine of not wanting to talk peace now after bombing their civilians for 2 years
Moonraker
Disgusting.
u_s__reamer
"Appearance" is all what the culture demands. "Power" ensures they can get away with all the rest. It's "tradition", innit?
Mark
Big Mistake, should have never met them, remember who they work for and what their objectives are! and it is not helping you.
Have your attorney meet them or meet them with your attorney by your side.
Mark
"“They haven’t admitted anything, and they haven’t apologized,” Hiramoto told reporters after the interviews.""
Of Course, that is the point. Their job is to Look for cracks and hole to discredit your allegations and not to support them.
Hope your learned your lesson.
Hercolobus
Where are the police investigators?
Zoroto
Don't tell me Johnny & Associates are a bunch of groomers. Who would thunk?
Yubaru
This is Japan. If they did either, they would be admitted fault and opening themselves up to further lawsuits and problems.
It's an investigation, not an apology session!
tamanegi
I'll repeat this again as it should be stressed it took an outsider, Mobeen Azhar, to investigate and bring this story to prominence.
This is a follow up to Azhar's documentary.
https://www.youtube.com/live/t2SisAVaS-w?feature=share
La vie douce
Disgusting."
Absolutely.
"The special independent panel has been hand-picked by Johnny's Inc." - Prime comedy if it weren't so despicable.
Exactly right.
opheliajadefeldt
These power groomers exist worldwide, and 95%+ get away with it mainly because the law is not interested or it takes too much time to gather evidence and prove it. I have been reading about this obnoxious groomer, Kitagawa, for some time, but he has money and power and is connected. And who is to say many of the power men he knew were also not involved with him. Just look at Epstein in the USA, he had 2 men at the very top of USA society on his books, and hundreds more who's names are being covered up. It will not matter what country ones goes to, these abusers are every where.
Jonathan Prin
One cannot be Judge and Party by principal in order to deliver an unbiased result.
Third-party is a concept totally foreign to Japan because you know if one loses faces, one has to erase oneself in such mind...
I know that perfectly because I have worked in second's world third party in Japan as technical, quality and risk manager for the industry, certification, building and verification fields...
In addition, the wa harmony shall not be disturbed, like if there was a Jedi force floating in Japan. On the contrary, it is full of Sith lords to be purged of. I mean Japan is no longer a medieval world in its judicial system, isn'it.. ?
Prayer for the victims and criminals or anyone involved in such crimes shall pay not a price but the price for their deeds.
And obtaining apologies and compensation make of you rather a prostitute than a victim, no ? Kitagawa was a criminal and shall be judged as so.
Imagine Epstein fiends saying "sorry" we thought you were liking it, we apologize and give you some money to shut up. Next !
Redemption
The art of pretending to do something while doing nothing.
Kniknaknokkaer
Well, the money part certainly did happen in that case didn't it.