Despite renewed attention in recent months on alleged sexual abuse by the late founder of the talent agency Johnny & Associates, a former member of the agency says he fears all the attention will fizzle out within a few months. That’s because he has experienced first hand how short-lived people’s attention can be — when he first went public with accusations against Johnny Kitagawa over 30 years ago.
Junya Hiramoto, 56, was one of the first people to speak up about Kitagawa’s sexual misconduct allegations: He has been talking about them publicly since 1989, when he and other former agency members published a book on the subject. Hiramoto, who is from Atsugi, Kanagawa Prefecture, was a Johnny’s Junior — young boys recruited to train at the agency — from the age of 13 to 18.
“I’m very thankful for all the attention that the issue has drawn recently, which is much more than the attention it had received for the last 35 years,” he said during an interview with The Japan Times. “But I'm afraid that in a few months, even before the summer, no one will be talking about it anymore. That’s the fear I have right now.”