Johnny Kitagawa: J-pop agency boss resigns over predator’s abuse

Julie Fujishima, the boss of Japan’s biggest pop talent agency – has resigned after she finally admitted the talent agency’s late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, sexually abused young people over six decades. 

Julie Fujishima resigned from Johnny and Associates on Thursday during a public apology to her uncle’s victims. 

Her resignation comes after investigators found Kitagawa “extensively” abused young idols at his pop agency for more than six decades. 

Johnny died in 2019, he always denied wrongdoing and never faced charges. 

But on Thursday, Fujishima acknowledged her uncle’s abuse for the first time. 

“Both the agency itself and I myself as a person recognise that sex abuse by Johnny Kitagawa took place,” she said.

“I apologise to his victims from the bottom of my heart.”

Kitagawa was one of the most influential people in Japan’s entertainment industry – his agency held a near-monopoly on Japanese boy bands for decades.