Former Johnny’s Jr. Nihongi Akimasa speaks on sexual assault at government hearing

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Former Johnny’s Jr. Nihongi Akimasa (39) responded to a hearing from the Constitutional Democratic Party in the Diet for “Sexual Harm and Child Abuse” on the 31st regarding sexual assault by Kitagawa Johnny, former president of Johnny’s Office (who passed away in 2019).

Nihongi said, “In the year and a half that I was enrolled in the office, I heard about a dozen victims, including those from Johnny’s Jr., who was about to enter the office”.

Nihongi recalled, “I used to share my experiences of sexual abuse with the juniors on a daily basis. There were also people who were subjected to acts that escalated”.

When asked why he was unable to report the damage to others while information was being shared among the juniors, he replied, “Since then, there have been books that expose the damage, and the general public has heard (rumours) about it. I think there were a lot of people who were harassed, but there was no movement in the media”.

Nihongi confessed that he was sexually assaulted by Mr. Johnny at a hotel three months after he auditioned for Johnny’s office when he was in the first year of junior high school in 1996 and started working as a junior.

Nihongi said, “My body stiffened due to Mr. Johnny’s unexpected behavior, and I wondered what would happen if I resisted the president of the agency, and thought that I would lose my job, so I couldn’t refuse”.

After being sexually assaulted more than 10 times in half a year, he left the office after about a year and a half of activities, but Johnny’s actions remained traumatic and had a great impact on his life.

Nihongi said, “My self-esteem was destroyed. At that time, I couldn’t resist, so I felt like I couldn’t do anything”.

When asked about other victims, Nihongi said, “During the year and a half that I was enrolled at Johnny & Associates, I heard directly from the mouths of about 10 juniors who were about to enter the facility about their experiences of being sexually assaulted. There may be some people who didn’t share it with the juniors around them, and Johnny’s office had a strict hierarchical relationship, so it wasn’t an environment where you could easily talk to seniors who entered earlier than us. I didn’t hear about the experiences of sexual abuse from my seniors”.

When asked, “How many victims have you suffered in total?”, Nihongi replied, “I can’t figure out how many, but it wouldn’t be strange if there were about 300 victims, even if it’s a low estimate, the actual assault damage may be even bigger”.

After being sexually assaulted, what kind of follow-up did Mr. Johnny give? Mr. Nihongi said, “I was also handed 10,000 yen. I had the impression that it was a reward for sexual activity, or that it was handed over as a hush fee”

When asked, “Why didn’t the sexual assault come to light?”, Nihongi said, “This was held in a closed space called a training camp. I believe that Mr. Kitagawa Johnny had tremendous power and created an environment where people around him could not interfere”.

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