Noriyuki Higashiyama was formerly a member of the popular boy band Shonentai and was a protégé of its founder, Johnny Kitagawa, at the Johnny and Associates agency.
Kohu Japanese Johnny and Associates boy band agency is expanding, as is its new leader Noriyuki Higashiyama accused of sexual harassment, says British broadcasting company BBC. Higashiyama’s appointment was announced on Thursday at a press conference, where the previous head of the agency By Julie Fujishima was said to be resigning due to the harassment scandal surrounding the agency.
About a week ago in the published investigative report the founder of the agency Johnny Kitagawa (1931–2019) was said to have sexually abused hundreds of boys during his career. As a result, his successor, Julie Fujishima, Kitagawa’s niece, announced her resignation as head of the agency and apologized for her uncle’s actions.
His its longtime employee, actor-singer Noriyuki Higashiyama (b.1966) was appointed as the agency’s director instead. He was a member of the popular Shonentai boy band in the 1980s and was Johnny Kitagawa’s protégé in Johnny and Associates.
Higashiyama said he was quitting his career as an actor and singer to focus on running the agency and cleaning up its reputation, as part of which he also manages compensation for victims of Johnny Kitagawa.
However at Thursday’s press conference, he was asked to comment on allegations that he himself had sexually harassed boys and young men who worked with the agency.
The claims are from by Masato Yamazaki already in 2005 Shogo Kiyama – under the artist name from the book he wrote, in which he described his experiences in the Johnny’s Jr. dance group. The group usually acted as background dancers with the agency’s most popular artists.
Claims according to Higashiyama, he would have rubbed the groin of the boys of the Johnny’s Jr. group and, among other things, exposed his genitals to them.
“I don’t remember exactly. Maybe that happened, maybe not. It’s hard for me to remember,” Noriyuki Higashiyama answered questions at Thursday’s press conference. He said that he might have done things in his teens and twenties that he wouldn’t do today.
About arguments has been known about both Kitagawa and Higashiyama for decades, but they were only really studied in May of this year, after Published by the BBC Predator – The Secret Scandal of J-Pop -documentary encouraged the Japanese-Brazilian singer Long time Okamoto to tell about their own experiences As an artist with Johnny and Associates.
The results of the investigation commissioned by the agency were published on August 30, and as a result, Julie Fujishima resigned and Noriyuki Higashiyama was appointed in her place.
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