On June 12, Sho Sakurai (41) appeared on &#8220;news zero&#8221; (Nippon Television Network Corporation) to talk about a press conference held that day by a &#8220;special team of outside experts to prevent recurrence.
The team is said to be a third-party committee consisting of an experienced attorney general, a psychiatrist, and a clinical psychologist who practices support for victims of sexual violence, etc., and is not affiliated with Johnny&#8217;s office in any way.
<figure id="attachment_316452" class="wp-caption alignnone" style="width: 1861px;" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-316452"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="556e69d8"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2023/06/26dc2b6ead76a9a44a4d7b6e15aece58.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-316452" class="wp-caption-text">Sho Sakurai of &#8220;Arashi,&#8221; who twice mentioned Janie Kitagawa&#8217;s sexual assault.</figcaption></figure>
Sakurai said,
 As I told you last week, we need to put in place a system to ensure that this kind of thing never happens again. In order to do so, I think it is important to first of all, examine exactly what the problem is and how it should be solved.
He commented.
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On May 15, President Keiko Fujishima Julie (56) released a video on the official website of the office, apologizing and expressing her views on the series of disturbances. On the following day, &#8220;news zero&#8221; announcer Yumiko Arido (54) took up the issue, but Sakurai framed it out. Since then, he has remained silent for four weeks, but on the June 5 broadcast, he mentioned the following for the first time.
 There are many of my dear friends with whom I once shared time as the same Johnny&#8217;s Jr. who are already leading new lives in completely different places from this world.&#8221;
A reporter in charge of entertainment for a sports newspaper said.
 For a while after Mr. Julie apologized, there were harsh criticisms against Ms. Sakurai for not mentioning the issue, saying, &#8220;How is she as a newscaster? However, in the broadcast on May 5, she confessed her complicated feelings about her position, saying, &#8220;I belong to an office that is being held accountable for the issue&#8221; and &#8220;I am put in a position where I could be seen as a victim. His voice sometimes trembled. He must have been very worried about what he should say.
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One of the things Sakurai mentioned in the broadcast was that &#8220;there are people who are hurt by speculation. He said that he was very concerned about speculation about his friends who had already left Johnny&#8217;s. In fact, behind this statement, Sakurai said, &#8220;I am very concerned about the people who have already left Johnny&#8217;s.
In fact, behind this statement, there was a former colleague of Sakurai&#8217;s &#8211; a former colleague of Sakurai&#8217;s.
<div data-friday-nextpage-lead="What is behind Sho Sakurai's &quot;reference to the sexual assault issue&quot;?"></div>
On June 5, three former Johnny&#8217;s Jr. members submitted approximately 40,000 signatures to the ruling and opposition parties, demanding that the Child Abuse Prevention Law be revised to prevent sexual abuse of minors. One of them, Nikenori Nihonki (39), has accused &#8220;Shukan Bunshun&#8221; and other media of sexual abuse by Mr. Kitagawa when he was a member of Johnny&#8217;s Jr. He was a member of the same unit as Mr. Sakurai when he was a member of Johnny&#8217;s Jr.
According to the article in Shukan Bunshun, Nihonju joined Johnny&#8217;s in the summer of 1996. Sakurai, on the other hand, joined in October 1995. Sakurai was one year his senior.
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 Before making his CD debut as Arashi, Sakurai-san was a member of a Johnny&#8217;s Jr. unit called &#8220;Tsubasa Shogumi. As the name suggests, the unit consisted mainly of Sakurai-san and Tsubasa Imai (41), who were two of the most popular Johnny&#8217;s Jr. members at the time. Mr. Nihonki was also a member of &#8220;Tsubasa Shogumi.&#8221; He and Mr. Sakurai appeared in idol magazines and other publications.
The time when Mr. Nihonju was a member of the group was called the &#8220;golden age of Jr.
 The variety show &#8220;8 o&#8217;clock J&#8221; (on TV Asahi), in which Johnny&#8217;s Jr. played the main roles, was aired in prime time, and the Jr. group as a whole was very exciting. There are about 200 Jr. members today, but at that time there were not that many, and the Jr. members were very close to each other,&#8221; said a TV magazine writer.
(A TV magazine writer mentioned above.) Sakurai may have had some feelings about the &#8220;accusations&#8221; of his friends with whom he had been working together, but he also said, &#8220;I myself am afraid that my speaking out may lead to further speculation and spread, and even harm people who are not involved in the activities.
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 Mr. Sakurai is in the difficult position of being both a member of Johnny&#8217;s and a newscaster. In such a situation, I called on him to refrain from speculating on his friends who have already become ordinary people, but Mr. Nihonju and the other accusers who spoke out this time are also Mr. Sakurai&#8217;s former friends. However, the accusers who voiced their opinions, including Mr. Nibongi, are also former associates of Mr. Sakurai&#8217;s. Many viewers may not be satisfied with the fact that Mr. Sakurai&#8217;s comments were not in sympathy with the accusers.
The uproar has only grown as not only Mr. Janney but also a former manager of Jr. confessed to sexual assault. Sakurai&#8217;s anguish continues.

 Yusuke Kondo

 On June 12, Sho Sakurai (41) appeared on "news zero" (Nippon Television Network Corporation) to talk about the "special recurrence prevention meeting by outside experts" that was held that day.

Behind the Anguished Expression on Sho Sakurai’s “News Zero”: The Accuser of Sexual Assault Was a Former Colleague!

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