The later founder of a J-pop agency, Johnny Kitagawa, committed extensive sexual abuse, and the new manager of that agency has also been charged with sexual assaulting young boys.
According to Noriyuki Higashiyama, he was unable to recall any noted functions that, in his opinion, may or may not have taken place.
After Julie Fujishima resigned due to her friend’s transgressions, he was named the new director of Johnny and Associates.
He will be in charge of the organization’s efforts to make up and account victims.
However, he was also questioned about his own alleged abuse at a press conference on Thursday that announced Ms. Fujishima’s leaving and visit.
Reporters questioned him about the veracity of claims made in a book that he massaged boys’ groins, exposed his genitalia, and instructed them to” take my sausage.”
He retorted,” I don’t recollect very well. It might have happened or it might not have. I find it difficult to recall.
He continued by saying that it was probable that he had been more strict with younger players and that, as a teen or in his 20s, there may have been things that were inappropriate for him to do.
One of the first abilities Johnny and Associates hired was Mr. Higashiyama, a well-known figure in Japan. Many website users have criticized his interview, pointing out that he has worked for the company for a very long time.
I’m putting my life in danger for this work because it will take time to gain back trust, he said.
He continued by saying that despite being aware of the rumors, he had always experienced Kitagawa’s abuse.
He acknowledged at the press event that he was powerless to do anything about it.
In the Japanese leisure sector, Kitagawa was probably the most powerful and influential person. For some young people over the years, his company served as the entryway to fame.
The music king abused lots of boys and young men over the course of six decades, including while serving as the boyband agency’s head, according to an independent investigation next week.
He passed away in 2019 at the age of 87, not having been charged and consistently denying wrong. The passing of Kitigawa was a major national function, and even the then-prime minister sent his sympathies.
Despite the fact that information of his abuse were widely known in the industry, the claims went unreported by the popular Japanese media for many years.
On Thursday, outgoing chief administrative Ms. Fujishima made her first admission of Kitagawa’s misuse.
She claimed that because the music mogul had been so strong, several employees of the agency, including herself, had remained silent.
