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The boys who got here ahead to allege they have been sexually abused as youngsters by Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa now have a strong listener: the United Nations.
Damilola Olawuyi, chair of the U.N. Working Group on Enterprise and Human Rights, informed reporters Friday the variety of victims could whole a number of hundred, and he accused Japan’s mainstream media of standing silent concerning the alleged abuse for many years.
Olawuyi raised critical questions concerning the sincerity of the response from the expertise company Kitagawa based, Johnny & Associates. He urged different leisure trade gamers to hold out a “clear and legit investigation with a transparent timeline.”
Junya Hiramoto, considered one of seven males who talked with Olawuyi’s group, was moved to tears by the U.N. official’s remarks.
“I felt our message had been clearly relayed,” he stated. “They gave me such braveness.”
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Pichamon Yeophantong, a fellow member of the U.N. group who appeared with Olawuyi on the Japan Nationwide Press Membership in Tokyo, urged the Japanese authorities to do extra.
“This case highlights the necessity for the federal government, as the first duty-bearer, to make sure clear investigations of perpetrators and that victims acquire efficient cures, be they within the type of an apology or monetary compensation,” she stated.
Olawuyi and different consultants have been in Japan since July 24. They met with authorities officers, human rights advocates, commerce unions and corporations, to study how companies could also be violating human rights and harming the setting.
A full report is ready to be introduced to the U.N. Human Rights Council in June, which is able to embody suggestions for change.
Pichamon Yeophantong, left, and Damilola Olawuyi, each members of the U.N. Working Group on Enterprise and Human Rights, converse to reporters at a press convention concerning the alleged sexually abused of youngsters by Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa, in Tokyo, on Aug. 4, 2023. (AP Picture/Yuri Kageyama)
Foremost on the Working Group’s agenda was the lads who allege they have been sexually abused as kids by Kitagawa, who was a strong determine in Japan’s leisure trade earlier than he died in 2019. The top of Johnny & Associates apologized in Might.
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Critics say what occurred at Johnny’s, as the corporate is understood right here, is shameful and indicative of how Japan, allegedly a democratic and financial powerhouse, lags in its safety of human rights.
The boys who’ve come ahead say Kitagawa abused them in his Tokyo luxurious mansion, in addition to different locations, reminiscent of his automobile and abroad accommodations, whereas performing as dancers and singers.
Kitagawa was by no means charged. He was revered over time, though allegations about abuse popped up at times, solely to be finally shrugged off.
“What’s the worst case of sexual abuse within the historical past of humankind is seeing the sunshine of day,” Shimon Ishimaru, one of many seven accusers to go public, stated. “This downside is actual. It actually occurred.”
Johnny’s, which continues to be thriving, arrange an investigative panel, however what it plans to attain has been unclear. Ishimaru and others stated they have been skeptical as a result of they’d not obtained the psychological well being care the corporate promised.
In response to a request for remark by The Related Press, Johnny & Associates stated all issues are being handled as a part of the investigation.
After a BBC documentary about Kitagawa aired this 12 months, musician Kauan Okamoto spoke in April on the International Correspondents’ Membership in Tokyo, the primary particular person in many years to make such allegations beneath his actual title.
The Associated Press doesn’t normally establish individuals who say they have been sexually assaulted, however Kitagawa’s current accusers determined to be named publicly in information accounts.
Kitagawa filed a libel swimsuit in opposition to weekly journal Shukan Bunshun after it printed a collection of 1999 articles primarily based on nameless interviews with former performers who stated he pressured them to have intercourse.
A number of years later, Japan’s Supreme Court docket upheld an appeals courtroom discovering in favor of Shukan Bunshun, saying the accusers’ testimonies have been dependable, and what they stated had actually occurred.
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What Japan does now could find yourself being a litmus take a look at for a rustic the place authorized revision that formally banned violence in opposition to kids kicked in solely three years in the past and experiences of kid abuse and neglect of youngsters are rampant. Japan raised the age of sexual consent from 13 to 16 solely this 12 months.
Akimasa Nihongi, one of many seven males who spoke with the U.N. officers, stated individuals like him had suffered sufficient. He praised the U.N.’s actions as a giant step ahead.
“A collective voice can ring loud and clear,” Nihongi stated.
“The U.N. Working Group sincerely listened to what we stated. And so they have now spoken.”
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