Pop group Arashi member breaks silence on Johnny's sex scandal

How about a full-scale police investigation?

It seems like Saukurai Sho is trying to tap dance around the problem. Let's talk about it, but don't investigate too deeply or really talk to those who were affected as they have started a new life. What the hell does that even mean? A full and thorough investigation is necessary, but the powers that be will not let that happen. Even from the grave Johnny controls Japanese media!

The agency's president Julie Keiko Fujishima made a public apology last month in connection with the scandal, while stopping short of confirming the claims by former members. 

The only person who can unequivocally "confirm" the claims is dead. Yet the rumors have been around for decades, predating SMAP, and continually "alleged" but kept getting swept under the carpet, because of the agency and the arse who ran it!

No one will be held accountable, criminally or civilly as the person who did it is dead, and the statute of limitations has long passed since the (cough cough) alleged rapes took place! It isnt just abuse, but rape, as these guys were teenagers when the acts happened, underage teens!

The media is 100% to blame too for covering it up!

While his statement says absolutely nothing, the fact that someone as big as Sakurai said anything at all is a big crack in the dam.

This scandal brings shame to Japan's entertainment industry specially that it hits the Japan "idol" culture that is why the media tried to avoid it as much as possible.

You don't see the media cover this too much as if they have gag order. They do not do the usual panel analysis with matching props and timeline dissection on any big news.

They spend more time talking about two-way player Ohtani's past homerun and pitching everyday!

This is the most famous music producer in the world I don’t think that anyone will be arrested. They money should be spent on something useful

It often looks to me like the main purpose of the industry, with Johnny at the forefront, was/is to provide access to naive and manipulable victims. Satisfying such predilections has influenced the trajectory of music in Japan.

Class Action Suite anyone?

Smap, arashi etc....nobody want to admit they were abused too. Remember, tatemae is the bedt way to hide the true.

I have to agree with him. Every sexual assault victim should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they want to press charges, sue, speak to the police, or be left entirely alone. It's a private matter for each and every one of them., and their personal healing takes precedence. Though I really do wish things could be different, Johnny is dead and it's doubtful any court case could go ahead.

I was in the UK visiting family when the BBC documentary was shown. It was powerful and shocking how over the years so much effect was taken to cover this up. A TV company here need to have the courage to show it. If they do, showing as is, no talking heads or cut backs to the studio panel.

This is the most famous music producer in the world 

Huh? When did this agency suddenly become No 1? Doesn't even make the top 10!

https://www.insure4music.co.uk/blog/best-music-producers

When a top tier member of Arashi or SMAP or whomever, comes out and says “I was forced to have sex with Johnny while I was underage. It was the price of success.” THEN, there will be a reckoning.

And it won’t stop with Johnny’s being burned to the ground via compensation claims. It must also account for the fact that the shows booking these acts and the companies employing them, the producers of the shows and industry “journalists” HAD to have known what was going on but chose to remain silent.

And if SMAP and Arashi don’t speak up that makes them complicit as well. There is no way that they did not know what was going on.

Kpop has its own version of this type of thing.

JapantimeToday  08:11 am JST

This is the most famous music producer in the world

Well, he's a bit more famous now after that BBC documentary has exposed the disgusting way he carried on.

I don’t think that anyone will be arrested.

Why, because everyone who turned a blind eye is important and successful?

They money should be spent on something useful

Oh, have you put a price on protecting kids from loathsome old sexual predators, and decided it's not worth paying?

What would be more "useful" then?

Yubaru

Today 07:37 am JST

The media is 100% to blame too for covering it up!

So are the TV networks, the advertising agencies and the companies that had Johnny's acts advertising their products.

Well he's still on the payroll so he's not going to rock the boat. The police need to be involved and an investigation as to why broadcasters and companies like NHK worked closely with Johnny's despite the known accusations and court case that upheld the validity of the sexual abuse claims.

The Foreign Correspondents Club presentation and discussion with the makers of the BBC documentary is worth a look.

https://www.youtube.com/live/t2SisAVaS-w?feature=share

The real issue here is not just the sexual abuse. The "alleged" sexual perpetrator is already dead. The REAL issue here is how Japanese media can be bought in order to hide this kind of stuff so they can protect powerful people with money.

The problem is it is like cleaning something that doesn’t initially seem dirty but once one section is cleaned the whole thing needs to be cleaned. The Japanese entertainment industry is built on sexual exploitation of minors both female and male and if they start with this they will have to clean up dirt that most in positions of power don’t want exposed!

Wow! And this abuse is happening where?

Wow! Wow!I thought cleanliness is next to godliness in Japan!

And it isn't?

Wow! Wow!

Moonraker: “How about a full-scale police investigation?”

in most countries, that would make sense and would be done, but not here. They’ll say what a shame it is and that they take it seriously, but that Johnny is dead and so there’s nothing they can do. “Shouganai, ne!”

How about they start by changing the name of the company. Or are they still stuck in denial mode and are basically OK with being named after a guy known mainly for being a serial child rapist?

People knew and did nothing. It's possible some of them still work there.

A small but needed step of a high-profile ex-Johnny's star to publicly mention it.

The vital thing to note here is the harm done by what Johnny did. He didn't just falsify his tax records, file dodgy expenses, or cheat on a partner, the usual content of scandals involving famous people. Sexual abuse of children scars them for life.

This was all common knowledge 30 years ago...

This would be a very deep investigation. Because there are many of those agencies (modeling, acting,music) who force these yourg men and women to do things they don't want to be doing, but the manipulators would "wave fame" in front of these innocent people.

The days of Johnny & Associates dominating Japan's idol industry is over.

Japanese female fans have already moved onto K-Pop, and Japan's new prospective male idol talents are choosing Korean agencies over Japanese agencies like Johnny's.

Mr KiplingToday  11:34 am JST

This was all common knowledge 30 years ago...

Are you suggesting we forget it because it was 30 years ago? if it was common knowledge, that makes it even worse because "EVERYONE" was complicit in his use of power to sexually abuse young boys. The TV stations, fellow stars, and maybe even the victim's parents themselves. ( still don't know why you'd allow a grown man to sleep with your son in your own house in the boys bedroom. The police can only act when someone makes an accusation. According to BBC there was a civil case, but the victims didn't go to the police. Kind of reminds me of how stars can get away with abuse... so long as jobs, money, and power are in involved. Scared to stand up to him in case, he didn't let you debut, and companies were scared in case Johnies denied them access to the stars. Reminds me of Jimmy Saville, Rolf Harris, and Philip Schofield.

When the BBC went to their offices, they basically ignored the BBC.

NHK had a very lame Close Up Gendai (Far Away Gendai actually because, at the end of these programs it looks like you are looking at everything through the wrong end of a telescope) a few weeks ago in which there was some vague acknowledgement of the complicity of the media across the years and some wishy-washy "let's try to do things differently next time." But they didn't apologise for totally ignoring their role in whitewashing this whole business nor really enlighten the folks watching as to how and why media has been complicit and the commercial and other pressures involved. It really looked like they just felt like they had to do the minimum possible since the Kitagawa story had escaped into the ether via the BBC but be damned if they were going to really put the cat among the pigeons. Hopefully it would all blow over.

Moonraker: “How about a full-scale police investigation?”

Ok, who is going to get a Japanese prosecutor to charge a dead man. Oh and who of the guys are going to go and make a formal complaint with the police for what happened, maybe 20 plus years ago?

How are you going to get the police even start an investigation based upon no evidence other than accusations and rumors?

I would have loved to see these guy make these charges and accusations while he was alive, and get the cops involved, but their livelihoods and the fear of loosing it all were more important at the time. It's a totally screwed up situation, and the guys need professional mental health experts to get them over this, IF they can. One major step is identifying who and moving forward from there!

Along the lines of Operation Yewtree in the UK, Yubaru, after the death of Jimmy Savile.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Yewtree

NHK had a very lame Close Up Gendai (Far Away Gendai actually because, at the end of these programs it looks like you are looking at everything through the wrong end of a telescope) a few weeks ago in which there was some vague acknowledgement of the complicity of the media across the years and some wishy-washy "let's try to do things differently next time." But they didn't apologise for totally ignoring their role in whitewashing this whole business nor really enlighten the folks watching as to how and why media has been complicit and the commercial and other pressures involved. It really looked like they just felt like they had to do the minimum possible since the Kitagawa story had escaped into the ether via the BBC but be damned if they were going to really put the cat among the pigeons. Hopefully it would all blow over.

BBC Insider Says Japanese Not ‘Willing’ to Air Exposé on Prolific Pop Pedophile

https://www.yahoo.com/news/bbc-insider-says-japanese-not-000429052.html

A BBC insider told The Daily Beast that no company in Japan was prepared to make it available on their streaming platform. “It is a huge shame that we had to stop offering the film in Japan. As you can imagine, there was no media platform willing to offer the film,” the source said.

> As a result, BBC sources told The Daily Beast that they are preparing a Japanese-subtitled version of the show to host on the BBC News Japan YouTube account where it can be seen by anyone.

Japan is still attempting to hide its shame. BBC will still release the story on Youtube, so the whole word will know. I will refer the link to everyone!

"I want the agency to probe exactly what happened because Johnny touched me here and here," Sho Sakurai said, speaking as an anchor during the TV program "news zero."

ABE234...

Are you suggesting we forget it because it was 30 years ago?

No, I am simply pointing out that this was common gossip 30 years ago. Well, more than gossip, people I knew at a "well known comedy" agency had knowledge of Johnny's nocturnal activities.

Sho Sakurai, idol-turned-news host, not only avoided making any comments while this news program was first reporting the scandal, but he literately went disappeared from the stage throughout the segment. It really shows why the media is an accomplice of the crime. They never investigate and report if there is a conflict of interest with the subject. This is what Japanese call 'sontaku".

Sakurai also asked the public to be mindful that talking about or handling the issue based on groundless information could hurt some, including those who are now "living new lives" outside the entertainment industry.

"We must avoid having such people get drawn into the allegations

Sakurai has a lot of nerve making a statement like that! Is he trying to 'victim shame' or shove it all under the rug, or maybe bully other victims from speaking out, keeping them intimidated?

That's what too many people do. The truth is that 99.99% of rapes/sex assault cases are REAL. No one should feel they have to 'keep it inside'.

Rape/sex abuse/pedo is in every institution and it needs to be addressed directly and the perpetrators punished. Weinstein, Cosby, R Kelly, Epstein, trump. All of them must pay for the crimes, nobody is above the law no matter how big of a position they are in. Nobody,

Japantime

This is the most famous music producer in the world

No. He wasn't. Japan, yes. But, not the world.

I don’t think that anyone will be arrested.

Sadly, that is probably true.

They money should be spent on something useful

Exposing these crimes, and the stranglehold that Johnny's and other agencies have over the media and government agencies, is money well-spent.

Simon Foston

Yubaru -"*The media is 100% to blame too for covering it up!"*

So are the TV networks, the advertising agencies and the companies that had Johnny's acts advertising their products.

In other words...the media.