TOKYO –

An investigation by a major Japanese expertise agency into sexual abuse allegations in opposition to its founder is not going to address monetary or criminality questions but fairly aims to avoid this sort of scenarios in the foreseeable future, the guide investigator explained Monday.

“We see what has happened at the enterprise and this is a really serious governance difficulty,” Makoto Hayashi, a previous prosecutor, informed reporters at a Tokyo hotel.

Hayashi claimed the system would aim on listening to from victims who have appear forward. The panel will outline exactly where the response at Johnny & Associates failed and deliver tips to protect against a recurrence, he stated.

Allegations against Johnny Kitagawa, a impressive figure in Japanese leisure, have been tossed all around for a long time but he was never ever billed with any criminal offense. He died in 2019.

The allegations resurfaced as a subject matter for scrutiny immediately after BBC News made a unique phase previously this yr targeted on quite a few individuals who claimed they were being sexually abused as youngsters while operating at the business.

Considering the fact that then, other individuals have appear forward, like Kauan Okamoto, who spoke in April at the International Correspondents Club in Tokyo.

The Related Push does not usually determine victims of alleged sexual assault, but Okamoto has picked to detect himself in the media.

The scandal at Johnny’s, as the business was broadly recognized, has served as a wake-up phone over Japan’s lagging combat from sexual harassment and abuse.

Dozens of youngsters, perhaps hundreds, may possibly have been assaulted even though working at Johnny’s.

Before this thirty day period, Okamoto and two other men submitted to Japan’s parliament a petition signed by 40,000 people, demanding revised laws to better guard young children versus abuse. Key Minister Fumio Kishida has promised to consider action, whilst his precise ideas continue being unclear.

In accordance to the allegations, Kitagawa requested fledgling singers and dancers to stay at his luxurious home. When he advised a single of them to go to mattress early, everyone realized “it was your switch,” Okamoto said.

“These are information. As a substitute of denying these specifics, I hope individuals will respect and assistance us,” Okamoto instructed reporters.

Hayashi’s in-house investigation has been criticized as lacking independence.

Laurie Wesselhoff, a lecturer at Keio College in Tokyo and a cultural anthropologist, said Japan should really do superior, stressing there was “certainly no likelihood” the in-home investigation would be neutral.

Those “complicit in these crimes will continue to be in their positions, like absolutely nothing has happened. Inexcusable. Accountability ought to be called for. Merely indicating we will never do it yet again can make a mockery of sexual abuse legislation,” she mentioned.

Hayashi stressed his panel’s efforts are impartial inspite of becoming paid by Johnny’s office.

Hayashi also brushed off a issue about Chief Government Julie Keiko Fujishima’s apparent denial of the allegations. What the business decides to do with the panel’s conclusions is up to the firm, he claimed. He gave no day for when the investigation could possibly be completed.

Fujishima apologized very last month in an on the net video for the “disappointment and worries” admirers have to be emotion. But she said she was unaware of any wrongdoing. She did not appear at Monday’s information convention.

Top rated executives at many important Japanese firms that turn out to be ensnared in scandals, together with Toyota and Toshiba, bow deeply in apology at a news meeting.

Hayashi mentioned acquiring fault was not the stage of the probe and advised as an alternative that factors of the company culture may not have taken sexual abuse seriously.

“But our mission is independent from any felony investigation,” he explained.

Substantially of Japan’s mainstream media has been silent or reticent in reporting about the allegations towards Kitagawa.

Overseas media, such as the AP, have described about the allegations. Japanese journal Shukan Bunshun, which broke the Kitagawa tale, not too long ago claimed that a different official at Johnny’s, a manager, was also abusing little ones.

Hayashi explained all these kinds of allegations would be subject matter to the investigation.

Veteran Johnny’s stars like Noriyuki Higashiyama and Sho Sakurai have a short while ago spoken up, stressing the need to have for the agency to appear clean. Singer and actor Hideaki Takizawa, who was an government at Johnny’s, stop in November, and produced his possess manufacturing organization identified as TOBE Co. in March.