News Johnny Kitagawa: Japan’s J-pop predator

[thomas]

The BBC on Johnny Kitagawa, the former kingpin of J-pop who has churned out male pop stars and boy bands for over six decades. Despite having sexually preyed on his protégés who went through the Johnny & Associates machine, he is still revered by many four years after his passing.

This is a disturbing account of sexual abuse and exploitation.

Exposed for abuse but still revered – Japan’s J-pop predator

How did the high priest of Japanese pop, Johnny Kitagawa, exploit teenage boys with impunity for so long?

www.bbc.com

 

[Lothor]

The reporting of his death on the commercial TV channels was sickening. His behaviour was widely known in the media, yet there was day after day of 'mourning' when he died. I don't think I've ever seen such revolting sycophancy in my life.

 

[Majestic]

Its as if the country (well, most of it, anyway) just shrugged their shoulders and said, "well, that's showbiz" ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
And worse, there seemed to be no end of boys and their families who were willing to accept the allegations, and head off to Johnny's to try to be an idol anyway. I thought the article did a good job of nailing this aspect.
But still, no-one dares speak a bad word about the mysterious Johnny himself. It has echoes of the Harvey Weinstein case in the US, but once it was clear that the allegations against Harvey were true, the press went on the attack. In Japan, the allegations against Johnny were proven to be true, but there was no attack, except from a couple of outlets. He's still treated like a lovable, naughty old uncle by the entertainment establishment.
It's a huge, weird, yawning cultural chasm.

 

[Majestic]

This is getting some traction on Twitter. It's been popping up on my feed all day. I was reminded on Twitter that this story kind of parallels the Jimmy Savile case in the UK. Not exactly, but it walks in a similar trajectory. One key difference is that after Jimmy Savile's death, the gloves came off and Jimmy was righty pilloried as a sex predator, and today his name is trash. Whereas in Japan, the omerta surrounding Johnny Kitagawa remains firm, and people still speak of him in respectful tones.

I guess this BBC special is airing in Japan this month.

Between this, Tucker Carlson, and Elon Musk being an absolute scumbag, it was a busy day on social media.