Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
Fuji TV have become deeply involved in the fallout of the Nakai Masahiro (ex-SMAP) sexual misconduct scandal, with the broadcaster losing dozens of advertisers after their reported involvement, having stockholders calling for an independent investigation, and even the government urging them to clarify the facts.
As a result, the company recently held a press conference over 10 hours (likely as some kind of self-flagellation act) where President Minato Koichi and Chairman Kanoh Shuji announced their resignations to take responsibility for how the broadcaster handled the allegations. Of course, the press conference itself didn’t reveal much new information, though it did reveal a third-party investigation was ongoing.
In a packed news conference that continued late into the evening, reporters raised questions about what actually happened, how Fuji TV dealt with the victim of the alleged nonconsensual sexual act, whether a staff member was involved, and whether there is a corporate culture of workers being forced to entertain celebrities. Fuji TV representatives declined to answer some questions, citing a pending investigation by a third-party committee.
That investigation is due to be made public sometime in March.
Fuji TV continues to maintain that the executive had no involvement in what happened, though that’s not really why the resignations happened, as they were made aware of the allegations back in August of 2023 and did nothing.
Minato has been the subject of heavy criticism following the revelation that he became aware of the incident involving Nakai not long after it occurred in June 2023. Despite this knowledge, he and other executives continued to air shows featuring the former member of the now-defunct boy band SMAP.
Minato, who received a report of the incident in August 2023, said he did not take action sooner in order to keep the information limited to a handful of people, thereby honoring the victim’s request to keep the matter private so she could return to her job as well as ensure her physical and mental health.
But he acknowledged that the broadcaster failed to report the incident to relevant divisions internally. The company allowed Nakai to continue appearing on TV programs without conducting appropriate hearings with him, Minato said.
Guess we’ll be revisiting this in March, though that won’t stop Nakai’s fans and others from indulging in crazy conspiracies.
Prior to that press conference, Fuji TV’s problems deepened, as former announcer Aoki Kanon came forward with allegations of sexual harassment by an executive.
On Jan 20th, Kanon Aoki uploaded a video on her personal channel. In the video, she accused an executive at Fuji TV of making sexually harassing remarks and demanding kisses.
Recalling her experiences, Aoki stated, “(The Fuji TV executive) treated sexual harassment toward women as routine. I resisted once, but after being persistently approached for 2~3 weeks, I found myself in a situation where I couldn’t refuse.” She further revealed, “He would show me inappropriate photos of himself with famous female celebrities to flaunt his power. As the demands for kisses and inappropriate touching increased, I began to lose my mental stability.“
While she refrained from disclosing the perpetrator’s name in the video, Aoki explained that it was due to concerns for her personal safety, asking for understanding. She added that her purpose in speaking out was to expose the distorted realities within the industry.
Hopefully the investigation peels the onion a bit, but even if not, it seems pretty clear that there’s an ingrained problem here and it’s not at all hard to believe this was relatively common practice.
Perhaps the only upside to be seen in all this is that it’s making all this news at all.
The episode underlines how swiftly attitudes are changing in a country frequently mischaracterized as static. With one of the oldest boards in the country — an average age of 71, according to data compiled by Bloomberg — Fuji’s executives have appeared ludicrously out of touch with everyday attitudes.
It also shows the difference in the speed of reaction between the Old Japan, represented by Fuji’s deer-in-the-headlights initial response, and firms from the New Japan which pulled their advertisements immediately. Crisis communications is something that few Japanese companies currently do well. Let the 10-hour grilling of Minato on live TV serve as a lesson to those who don’t appreciate it.
The scandal has already cost Fuji TV about $150 million in advertising revenue, so it certainly looks like a different future at least, though how different or whether it’ll actually be better is still up in the air.
