Johnny & Associates

**Johnny & Associates** (, *janīzu jimusho* in Japanese) is a well-known talent agent in Japan. The company was established in 1963 by Johnny Kitagawa. It accepts and trains talented boys and promotes their debuts to the entertainment industry. Although Johnny & Associates once accepted female idol candidates in 1980s, it now only takes boys as its candidates.

## History
Starting with group name "Johnnys" in 1962, Johnny & Associates has debuted over 20 groups so far. It has currently more than 10 groups actively participating in the entertainment industry. The most famous groups of today include SMAP (since 1991), TOKIO (1994), V6 (1996), Kinki Kids (1997), Arashi (1999), Tackey and Tsubasa (2001), NewS (2003), Kanjani∞ (2005), KAT-TUN (2006), and Hey! Say! JUMP (2007). Johnny & Associates has been introducing a new idol group almost every other year, and in 2009, Nakayama Yuma with B.I. Shadow made its debut in June.

## Sexual Assault allegations 
### Overview 
Kitagawa created Johnny & Associates in the early 1960s. It has been shown that Kitagawa had sexually assaulted many of the boys since the early days of the company.

In civil trials held in the 1970s, obscene acts were suggested but the boys denied anything was happening. .It was said the that people had been accused of harm or had almost been harmed. Some former members of the group (Koji Kita(北公次), Junya Hiramoto(平本淳也)) published books that included information about boys being raped. In 1999, the magazine *Shukan Bunshun* reported about people claiming there was sexual abuse by Kitagawa.

With the exception of *Shukan Bunshun,* no other Japanese media covered this subject.  Law enforcement in Japan also took no actions.

During this time, it was known that an employee of Johnny & Associates had often had oral sex with some of the boys. Sexual assault at the office was being seen as the norm. 

Johnny Kitagawa died in 2019 without being arrested or charged with any crime.

In 2022. Kauan Okamoto(カウアン・オカモト) appeared on GaaSyy's Youtube channel. 

Okamoto had belonged to Johnny & Associates. He talked about how he was a victim of assault while he was at Johnny's. 

On March 7, 2023, the British broadcaster BBC broadcasted a documentary titled *Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-Pop*. This is about sexual assault by Kitagawa.

On April 12, 2023, Kauan Okamoto held a press conference. He said that from the time started working at Johnny's Entertainment, at the age of 15,  until he left the company, he was abused  twenty times by Kitagawa.

People from the United Nations Human Rights Council came to Japan in late July 2023. They investigated the situation from late July 2023 until early August 2023. On August 4, 2023, They said that there was boys rape at Johnny & Associates. They also said that the Japanese media had said nothing about this for decades.,

### Cause 
Johnny & Associates were a powerful part of the Japanese entertainment industry for a long time. The company had been pressuring the media to report positively on the company, the performers and Kitagawa, They were not to report negatively. 

Johnny & Associates was a typical family-run company. From 1980 until Kitagawa's death in 2019, Kitagawa and his sister Mary Kitagawa(メリー喜多川) each owned half the stock of the company.  Because they were the only shareholders, there was no one to comment about how the company was run. When Kitagawa died, Mary Kitagawa's daughter, Julie Keiko Fujishima(藤島ジュリー景子), became president of the company.  She gained both her mother and her uncles shares. . She could have investigated Kitagawa's actions  but chose not to. Julie Keiko Fujishima, president of the company, took responsibility. She also retired as president, Noriyuki Higashiyama, a Johnny's talent, became president.
* Some companies that use Johnny & Associates talents in their commercials have said they will no longer do this. These include Tokio Marine Nichido, Japan Airlines They included Nippon TV, TV Asahi, TBS, TV Tokyo and Fuji Television. 
* At the 2023 Rugby World Cup, Japan's ambassadors are Johnny & Associates talents. France has criticized the use of Johnny & Associates talent.
* Among Johnny's fans, there were comments such as "If you're a fan, you know this fact" and "That's what the entertainment world is like", acknowledging child rape and denying reporting it. And, they attacked on social media against Kauan Okamoto, who talked about to boys rape.

## Related pages 
* Child sexual abuse
* Child grooming
* Victim blaming

## References