The president of entertainment behemoth Johnny & Associates Inc. has issued a formal apology over sexual assault claims against its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, as former music personalities and others come forward over alleged incidents.
On Sunday, Julie Keiko Fujishima, the talent agency’s president and niece of the former president, issued an apology in a video and written statement on the company’s website in response to the allegations. The apology comes a month after Kauan Okamoto, a Japanese Brazilian singer and songwriter, claimed that Kitagawa sexually abused him as a teen.
Allegations — made by former male entertainers from the talent agency and others against the founder, who died four years ago — have made headlines both in domestic media and internationally, especially after the BBC aired a documentary on the issue in March.