Talent agency Johnny & Associates Inc. said Thursday it will hold a press conference on Sept. 7 to respond to recommendations from an external probe it set up to review allegations its deceased founder sexually abused young boys under its care.
The investigative team said in its conclusions issued Tuesday that pop mogul Johnny Kitagawa had sexually abused teens in the firm's Johnny's Jr. division for upcoming talent from the early 1970s through to the mid-2010s.
The press conference will be the agency's first over the issue.
Allegations against Kitagawa, who died in 2019, have undergone renewed scrutiny in Japan after the BBC aired a documentary in March featuring interviews with multiple people claiming to have been abused by him.
The probe's report into operations at the company, one of Japan's most successful talent agencies, recommended that its head Julie Keiko Fujishima, Kitagawa's niece, stand down over concerns their familial ties would compromise organizational attempts to reform in the scandal's wake.
Fujishima's deceased mother Mary Yasuko Fujishima, Kitagawa's older sister, was cited in the report as a major factor in the long-term concealment of sexual abuse at the firm.
The panel's head, former Prosecutor General Makoto Hayashi, told reporters Tuesday that the siblings had "overwhelming power" and "fostered an organization where governance was not effective."
It also called on the company to establish a system for providing redress to individuals coming forward with claims of abuse. Because Kitagawa is dead, the proposed framework would not require victims to come forward with typical standards of rigorous legal proof.
The report from the independent panel came after a U.N. human rights delegation in early August issued its own conclusions regarding the company following interviews in Japan with multiple alleged victims.
Among its findings, it said it heard "deeply alarming allegations" that several hundreds of the agency's talents were sexually exploited and abused.
Acts managed by Johnny & Associates include some of the biggest boy bands in the history of Japanese pop music, including SMAP, Arashi and Hey! Say! JUMP.
Related coverage:
Probe finds Johnny's talent agency founder abused minors for decades
U.N. experts say there are hundreds of victims in Johnny's case
Japan to open hotline for male sex victims amid Johnny's abuse claims
