J-pop star and former Smap leader Masahiro Nakai retires after sexual misconduct allegations

TOKYO – One of Japan’s biggest pop stars and best-known television hosts, Masahiro Nakai, announced his retirement on Jan 2

3 over sexual misconduct allegations,

reports said, in the latest scandal to rock the country’s entertainment industry.

Nakai’s announcement comes after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates admitted in 2023 that its late founder Johnny Kitagawa had for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men.

Nakai, 52, was the leader of the now-disbanded Smap – part of Johnny & Associates’s lucrative stable – that swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the boy band’s nearly 30 years of fame.

Reports emerged in December that Nakai, who since the demise of Smap has become a successful TV host, had paid an unnamed woman a lump sum of 90 million yen (S$780,000).

The allegations concern a 2023 encounter with the woman that leading tabloid magazine Shukan Bunshun said involved a closed-door setting and a “sexual act against her will”.

In January, Fuji Television suspended a weekly show hosted by Nakai, while other major networks also dropped the presenter.

On Jan 23, Japanese media quoted a statement from Nakai to his paid fan club saying he was stepping back from show business altogether.

Nakai said he had “completed all discussions with TV stations, radio broadcasters and sponsors regarding my termination, cancellation, removal and contract annulment”, the Mainichi newspaper said.

“I will continue to face up to all problems sincerely and respond in a wholehearted manner. I alone am responsible for everything,” Nakai reportedly said.

AFP was not immediately able to confirm the announcement with Nakai’s agency, and the star’s website was overwhelmed with visitors.

‘Outraged’

Nakai issued a statement published in Japanese media earlier in January, apologising for “causing trouble” and saying some of what had been reported was “different from the facts”.

He said then he had been quiet on the matter so far due to confidentiality obligations, but acknowledged that a settlement had been reached “through the agents of both sides”.

Fuji Television has also come under fire over its handling of the affair, with dozens of top brands including Toyota and McDonald’s pulling their advertisements from the broadcaster.

Shukan Bunshun and other outlets have alleged a Fuji TV executive was involved in organising Nakai’s meeting with the woman.

Fuji TV has denied those claims, but said last week it was probing the matter after an American activist investor said it was “outraged” by the company’s lack of transparency.

Fuji’s president Koichi Minato held a press conference on Jan 17, but declined to discuss details of the allegation.

The news conference drew additional criticism because only a small number of media were invited and no video was allowed.

Mr Minato also drew ire by only announcing an internal probe to be carried out by a committee that was yet to be formed.

Other TV channels have announced their own investigations into whether similar events between celebrities and women had been organised.

On Jan 21, Nippon TV said that it would look into “whether there were any ‘inappropriate sexual contact during meals, etc’ at production sites and elsewhere”.

TV Asahi on Jan 22 said it has conducted interviews and concluded there were no instances of “inappropriate conduct”.

Denunciations

Music mogul Kitagawa, who died aged 87 in 2019,

had for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men seeking stardom,

his agency finally acknowledged in 2023.

Allegations about Kitagawa swirled for decades, but it was not until that year that they ignited calls for compensation, following a BBC documentary and denunciations by victims.

Japan’s showbiz industry was then rocked by another bombshell sexual assault scandal involving Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of the country’s most popular comedians.

In November 2024, Matsumoto said he was withdrawing a libel case against Shukan Bunshun that published the allegations, including that he forced oral sex on one woman, and forcibly kissed another. AFP