Tokyo police have been receiving an increasing number of requests for consultations from male victims since alleged sexual assaults by Johnny Kitagawa, the late founder of Johnny & Associates, started making headlines.
The BBC aired a documentary in March that detailed Kitagawa's alleged abuse of entertainers with the major talent agency. The following month, Kauan Okamoto, a former Johnny & Associates performer, told a news conference that he was a victim of Kitagawa's sexual abuse, helping raise people's awareness about male victims.
According to the crime victim support office of the Metropolitan Police Department, consultation requests from male victims surged in September, when Johnny & Associates, now renamed Smile-Up, admitted its founder has sexually abused members of the agency.