The new president of Japan's top male talent agency Johnny & Associates has directly apologized to one of the firm's former performers who came forward with an allegation that the company's late founder sexually abused him when he was a teen.
"I'm sorry for the deep pain (we've) caused you," Noriyuki Higashiyama, 56, told Yasushi Hashida on Thursday. Hashida, now a dancer and actor, revealed the apology in a message posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, the same day.
Hashida, 38, said he had hoped to reunite with Higashiyama, a veteran TV personality long represented by the entertainment giant, under different circumstances but he was "struck the most" by the words of gratitude he received.