<figure id="attachment_311138" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 2069px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-311138"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8dc50a5d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/05/f5102eac356e4ad9eeb8081844be9dd7-1.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-311138" class="wp-caption-text">Keiko Fujishima Julie, president of the Johnny&#8217;s&#8217;s Office, who apologized by releasing a video (from the official website)</figcaption></figure>
On the evening of May 14, Johnny&#8217;s released a video on its website. It was an unusual event in that President Keiko Fujishima apologized &#8220;in person.
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The incident began with the BBC&#8217;s broadcast in mid-March of allegations that the company&#8217;s founder, Janney Kitagawa (died in 1919 at the age of 87), had sexually assaulted a minor.
On April 12, former Johnny&#8217;s Jr. member Cowan Okamoto held a press conference, using his own name and face, and claimed that he had been sexually assaulted by Johnny&#8217;s between &#8217;12 and &#8217;16, when he was a member of the Johnny&#8217;s office.
 &#8220;I was sexually assaulted 15 to 20 times by Mr. Janney between &#8217;12 and &#8217;16.
The accusation caused a stir.
In the midst of this, fan volunteers held a press conference. They gathered 12,000 signatures demanding an apology from Johnny&#8217;s and a third-party investigation and verification, and announced that they had handed in the signatures.
Then, on the evening of the 14th, President Julie posted a video on her official website apologizing and released a document answering questions from various quarters. However, he said that he was &#8220;unaware&#8221; of Mr. Janney&#8217;s sexual assault.
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 He said, &#8220;Naturally, I do not believe that there was no problem at all. In addition, both as a company and as an individual, I believe that such an act itself is unforgivable.
On the other hand, &#8220;On the other hand, I do not believe that Janney, who was involved in the incident, was in any way involved in the incident,
 On the other hand, it is not easy for us to say in a few words that we accept or reject the individual accusations without confirming them with Janie Kitagawa, who is the party concerned, and we must also carefully consider secondary damage such as slander and libel caused by speculation. I hope you will understand.
In addition, the company did not acknowledge the establishment of a third-party organization.
The timing of the release of the video is also controversial among industry insiders. Whether by design or coincidence, the morning following the release of the apology video and document falls on a once-a-month &#8220;holiday&#8221; for national newspapers and other media.
 The reason why they insisted on releasing the video on the evening of the 14th is undeniably related to the newspaper holiday.
 Some may say it is irrelevant in today&#8217;s age of Internet news, but for Johnny&#8217;s, which still forbids streaming of its music, it is unbearable to have a scandal on the front page of a newspaper. It is unbearable for a scandal to appear on the front page of a newspaper.
Furthermore, on Sunday nights, popular news programs such as &#8220;News 23&#8221; (TBS), &#8220;News Station&#8221; (TV Asahi), and &#8220;zero&#8221; (NTV) are all closed. In addition, &#8220;Weekly News Leader&#8221; hosted by Shigeru Jojima of TOKIO will be broadcast on Saturday mornings, and &#8220;Sunday LIVE!&#8221; (both on TV Asahi) will be broadcast on Sunday morning.
The fact that the president himself apologized for Janie Kitagawa&#8217;s sexual assault for the first time must have been a big step forward. However, if he was still adjusting the date and time of the release of the report, saying that he did not want to make a big deal out of it, we would have to say that true reform is far from complete.

 The release of a video apology by the president of Janney's office, Julie Fujishima, on the evening of March 14, was timed to coincide with the publication of a report by the BBC in March.

Sneaky Timing of Janie Kitagawa’s Apology Video for Sexual Assault Issue Aimed at “Next Morning is a Holiday” for Newspapers

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