Japanese singer and songwriter Okamoto Kauan — a former client of the Johnny & Associates agency — has alleged that agency founder and long-time head Johnny Kitagawa committed numerous acts of sexual abuse against him and others.
Kitagawa, who died at 87 in July 2019, trained, launched and promoted many of Japan’s biggest male idol groups, beginning in the 1960s. Some of his main stars include SMAP, Arashi and Kinki Kids. His agency remains one of the country’s most powerful, with the ability to boost ratings and box office takings through its national and international talent roster.
Okamoto levelled the allegations during a Tokyo press conference on Wednesday. Speaking to reporters at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan, he said that Kitagawa abused him “15 to 20 times” during his four-year stint at the agency, beginning in 2012 when Okamoto was 15. At the time, he was a member of Johnny’s Jr., a group of mainly teenaged trainees who had yet to make their official show business debuts.
Okamoto said Kitagawa would invite boys to spend the night at his Tokyo penthouse. He estimated that during his time at Johnny & Associates, between 100 to 200 boys were Kitagawa’s houseguests and few allegedly escaped his sexual advances. Okamoto described his own first stay in detail, saying that Kitagawa performed oral sex on him while he pretended to be asleep.
A day later, Johnny & Associates issued a statement, that did not directly address Okamoto’s allegations, but explained the lengths it is going to put its house in order.
“In line with the change in management following the death of our former CEO in 2019, we have prioritized the development of a highly transparent organizational structures and systems that can be trusted by society, in line with the times and new conditions,” the Japanese-language statement reads. “As we announced in January of this year, we will continue to make company-wide efforts to ensure compliance by management and employees without exception, and to strengthen our governance system with the help of unbiased and neutral experts.”
Rumors and allegations of abuse have followed Kitagawa for decades. They were laid bare in a 1999 multi-part exposé by leading Japanese tabloid Shukan Bunshun, based on interviews with former agency talent. Kitagawa, however, was never charged with a crime and, after his death, dozens of present and former agency talents sang his praises. Japanese media remained mostly silent about the darker side of his past.
A recent documentary by the BBC, titled “Predator,” delved into abuse charges against Kitagawa and revived the interest of local and foreign media in his alleged predations.
