The Scandal Surrounding Johnny Kitagawa’s Sexual Abuse and Pedophilia
In May 2021, Julie Fujishima, who now rules Johnny & Associates talent agency, apologized on mainstream Japanese television for the nearly 60-year-old allegations of sexual abuse and pedophilia in open secrecy regarding his late uncle, Johnny Kitagawa – the enigmatic svengali, pioneer of the Asian boy band genre and founder of one of the largest Japanese groups, powerful talent agencies for young male artists. However, Fujishima’s apology lacked any form of regret, reflection, or responsibility.
Victims’ Accounts Paint a Horrifying Picture
The alleged victims, who are now adult men, have begun to break decades of silence, with three of them doing so in a BBC documentary in 2021 that aimed to challenge the agency’s omertà. The company says it cannot verify the claims since Kitagawa is dead. The collective picture painted by the accounts of the victims is horrifying, and the question is whether Japan will be collectively horrified enough to decide that nothing like this should ever happen again to men or women of any age.
The Crisis of Power and Governance
For all the gravity of Kitagawa’s sexual predation, the fundamental, far-reaching – and perhaps fixable – the crisis is that of power and governance. There are plenty of other powerful talent agencies, plenty of teenagers yearning for stardom, and a terrifying failure to care how that yearning is routinely treated as a license to abuse. The continued centrality of the Kitagawa empire to Japan’s entertainment and media industries is hard to overestimate. The same goes for the social waiver granted to Kitagawa even as the allegations swirl. His company, Johnny & Associates, has been and remains a prodigious generator of stars and hits. Consequently, it’s a preeminent source of the high-energy silage that the Japanese media—the dozens of variety shows, dramas, and commercials in which Johnny stars abound—grazes insatiably.
Japan on the Brink of a Similar Deluge of Truth and Twist
After the BBC documentary on Kitagawa aired in March, parallels were drawn with Britain’s painful accounting of the crimes of artist Jimmy Savile. Here, too, was a catalog of sexual abuse committed by a vile eccentric wielding extraordinary power for decades and hiding, with media collusion, in plain sight. Here, too, was an assailant around whom allegations swirled for years, but whose reward, though explosive, made a hollow posthumous boom.
The Way of Approaching the Issue
There is a way of approaching this that treats the issue as a cautionary tale and emphasizes the broader crisis: that of good corporate governance and the blatant concentration of power that its absence allows. The divine status conferred on Kitagawa as a pioneering industrial founder reverberates throughout Japanese business. There is a deep reluctance to let higher governance standards limit these numbers, but increasingly there is also grudging recognition that this may be the only way to reduce the potential for abuse.
The Essential Difference between Savile and Kitagawa
The essential difference between Savile and Kitagawa is that the latter was the president and founder of a large company, and the relationships that protected him were corporate. J&A’s clients are the major media groups that dominate Japanese television and the hundreds of companies that use it – and other agencies – to promote their products. These companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate better governance and to question many things that have gone unchallenged for years. If higher governance standards can push management to take responsibility for wrongdoing in their supply chains, this should include the human supply chains they rely on for ads, brand ambassadors, and endless hours of airtime.
A Broader Crisis: Good Corporate Governance
Better governance is often messy, and Kitagawa’s talent was to deliver as neatly as possible what Japanese companies needed: perfectly packaged talent, ready to sing, dance, and pose to order. But better governance is often messy, and companies knew there was a high price for this cleanliness, and it’s time to admit they shouldn’t have paid it.
The article paints a harrowing picture that centers on allegations of sexual abuse and pedophilia involving Johnny Kitagawa, the founder of Japan’s largest talent agencies. It highlights the broader crisis of power and governance in Japan’s entertainment and media industries, where a concentration of power often leads to abuse. With several parallels drawn to Britain’s Jimmy Savile case, there is a growing need to demonstrate better governance and question things that have gone unchallenged for years. This would include the human supply chains relied on by companies for ads, brand ambassadors, and airtime. It is time to admit that there is a high price for this cleanliness that needs to be addressed and not paid anymore.
—————————————————-
| Article | Link |
|---|---|
| UK Artful Impressions | Premiere Etsy Store |
| Sponsored Content | View |
| 90’s Rock Band Review | View |
| Ted Lasso’s MacBook Guide | View |
| Nature’s Secret to More Energy | View |
| Ancient Recipe for Weight Loss | View |
| MacBook Air i3 vs i5 | View |
| You Need a VPN in 2023 – Liberty Shield | View |
In mid-May, mainstream Japanese television stations aired a one-minute apology from Julie Fujishima. Four sentences. Four bows. And a tremendous absence of anything resembling regret, reflection or responsibility.
It was a terse, but rather necessary, response to the nearly 60-year-old allegations of sexual abuse and pedophilia in open secrecy regarding his late uncle, Johnny Kitagawa – enigmatic svengali, pioneer of the Asian boy band genre and founder of one of the largest Japanese groups. powerful talent agencies for young male artists.
His alleged victims, believed to number up to 100 now adult men, have begun to break decades of silence. Three of them did so in a BBC documentary this year that aimed to challenge the agency’s omertà. Fujishima’s apology was mainly for the social mess that this exhibition caused. The company says it cannot verify the claims since Kitagawa is dead.
The collective picture painted by the accounts of the victims is horrifying. The question is whether Japan will be collectively horrified enough to decide that nothing like this should ever happen again, to men or women of any age.
There are plenty of other powerful talent agencies, plenty of teenagers yearning for stardom, and a terrifying failure to care how that yearning is routinely treated as a license to abuse. For all the gravity of Kitagawa’s sexual predation, the fundamental, far-reaching – and perhaps fixable – crisis is that of power and governance.
The continued centrality of the Kitagawa (now ruled by Fujishima) empire to Japan’s entertainment and media industries is hard to overestimate. The same goes for the social waiver granted to Kitagawa even as the allegations swirl. His company, Johnny & Associates, has been and remains a prodigious generator of stars and hits. Consequently, it’s a preeminent source of the high-energy silage that the Japanese media—the dozens of variety shows, dramas, and commercials in which Johnny stars abound—graze insatiably.
This essential service status granted Kitagawa, with the exception of a tell-all magazine article in 1999 and a related civil case that reached the Tokyo High Court in 2004, near total protection from serious scrutiny, which lasted until his death in 2019.
After the BBC documentary on Kitagawa aired in March, parallels were drawn with Britain’s painful accounting of the crimes of artist Jimmy Savile. Here, too, was a catalog of sexual abuse committed by a vile eccentric wielding extraordinary power for decades and hiding, with media collusion, in plain sight. Here, too, was an assailant around whom allegations swirled for years, but whose reward, though explosive, made a hollow posthumous boom.
And while it’s tempting to suggest that Japan is on the brink of a similar deluge of truth and twist, chances are the media will decide it simply has too much to lose. At worst, he won’t investigate; at best he will, but can firmly conclude that Kitagawa was the exception and not the rule.
There is, however, a way of approaching this that treats the issue as a cautionary tale and emphasizes the broader crisis: that of good corporate governance and the blatant concentration of power that its absence allows. .
The divine status conferred on Kitagawa as a pioneering industrial founder reverberates throughout Japanese business. There is a deep reluctance to let higher governance standards limit these numbers, but increasingly there is also grudging recognition that this may be the only way to reduce the potential for abuse.
The essential difference between Savile and Kitagawa is that the latter was the president and founder of a large company, and the relationships that protected him were corporate. J&A’s clients are the major media groups that dominate Japanese television and the hundreds of companies that use it – and other agencies – to promote their products.
These companies are under increasing pressure to demonstrate better governance and to question many things that have gone unchallenged for years. If higher governance standards can push management to take responsibility for wrongdoing in their supply chains, this should include the human supply chains they rely on for ads, brand ambassadors and endless hours of airtime.
It’s easier said than done. Kitagawa’s talent was to deliver as neatly as possible what Japanese companies needed: perfectly packaged talent, ready to sing, dance and pose to order. But better governance is often messy. Companies knew there was a high price for this cleanliness, and it’s time to admit they shouldn’t have paid it.
https://www.ft.com/content/35680d30-a445-4106-a299-11af106415ad
—————————————————-