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Letter From Tokyo
In the seedy underbelly of Japan’s entertainment industry, sexual predators lurk in the shadows
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A news bulletin reporting the death of Johnny Kitagawa on July 10, 2019. Probes that were recently conducted have concluded that Kitagawa routinely preyed on boys.
PHOTO: AFP
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TOKYO – Millions across Asia have swooned over heart-throbs like Takuya Kimura of iconic group Smap or Kazunari Ninomiya of boyband Arashi, two of Japan’s top idols whose meteoric rise was orchestrated by their talent management agency, Johnny and Associates.
The firm was affectionately known as Johnny’s, a word that is now unsavoury since probes concluded in August that its founder Hiromu “Johnny” Kitagawa, who died of a stroke at 87 in 2019, had routinely preyed on boys.
