Johnny's sexual abuse scandal. My opinion
I feel I should talk about it since: I'm currently a Japanese language student and voilá I'm a law professor.
What about the allegations on Johnny Kitakawa? A bit of history…
It began in 90's when the company exploded with 3 bands in particular: 光genji, SMAP and KINKI KIDS.
I know, V6 and Tokyo had debuted in the middle of this. The ones who called themselves victims of Johnny, said they were part of jrs alongside these 3 band members. The man said those group members didn't suffer any harm, because Johnny had already selected them and had been protected. These two men hid their identity and published their story in a 2004 book.
The media at that time covered the story. Some of the magazines even speculated that Takky and Jun Matsumoto were victims too.
The Tokyo prosecutor tried to investigate The Jimusho (because the book covered allegations of choreographers and other staff, like managers) and lastly Johnny himself.
Because they didn't find testimonies or other kinds of proof, they dismissed the case.
Now, in 2022 after Johnny's death, Kuan Okamoto in a stream said he was abused and that he wasn't the only one. He talked about another 100 possible victims between the 4 years term that he was a jr.
Four months after Okamoto's confesion, BBC made a special program calling Johnny a predator.
After a BBC program, Okamoto was called to the foreign press club YouTube channel to give his testimony. He declared he even has a recording of the abuse on his phone.
About law:
Under 18 years old is child abuse. Okamoto said he was 15 and was until 19 years old in the agency. He said he suffered the abuse about 15 times during his whole time in the agency. After he left, he formed a band and later he became a solo artist in 2021. The first time he said, Johnny has the habit of sleeping in the same bed with various jr. He said Johnny took off his underwear and performed a fellatio on him, while he pretended to be asleep.
Okamoto would be the first testimony and the one who holds a proof.
But… the alleged perpetrator is dead. So, the criminal law doesn't allow a trial when the perpetrator is dead. (This is a worldwide guarantee, is not only Japanese law)
What about the time he suffered the abuse? He could (the law says) denounce him whatever age he had. If he was a minor, he could be protected by law too and have a hidden name. Like US law says "testimony of John Doe".
Why didn't he do it? He said he had fear.
How does Japanese justice deal with such cases of abuse? It was many women who alleged any type of abuse in the idol industry, but all of them signed an agreement to not make their statement public in exchange for a big amount of money.
My conclusion:
I can't believe Okamoto's testimony. Johnny has the guarantee of being innocent since he is dead.
Maybe Kitakawa was a minor abuser. But, I doubt this particular guy's testimony.
Why didn't he go public when the suspect was alive and Okamoto became an adult?
That's something I can't understand. The revictimization is something psychological that occurs after an abuse, it leaves a deep mark on people's lives and they develop different psychological syndrome like phobias, suicide attemps and others.
Is almost impossible that Okamoto would follow an artist path like him, after an abuse people don't feel confident with their body.
Another particularity is the act itself. Minor abuser doesn't have that sexual conduct against his victim. When the victim is male and more than 13 years old, criminals don't behave like Okamoto said.
And the last: the proof. When a man is abused, they have shame and no one would record himself. That type of secret recording occurs on "mobbing" or "sexual harassment" cases when there's sexual misconduct between two grown up men in a work site.
Psychiatrists always had conducted those examinations on the victim's denunce.
I don't saying that Johnny is fully innocent. I'm saying that Okamoto's denunce don't fit into a sexual abuse pattern. So, as expectators we can't believe him blindly.
Finally, I should say Is common at this time, as a lawyer finds those kinds of "fake" not "completely real" denunce of abuse. Women or men do that kind of denouncement to harm targeted people.
Also we can't look away from the "cancel culture" ; these are campaigns launched by different organizations without having a proper lawsuit against the perpetrator.
Not only did it harm Johnny Kitagawa's reputation, but all the talents. Now the media presumed that everyone was abused and targeted with a name: Jun Matsumoto.
What about him? That wouldn't harm him psychologically? That is a revictimization process and invaded his privacy.
I let my perspective, and tried to let the reader question themselves about all those points.