Ex-Johnny’s Actor” praises the “pressure” exerted by “Mr. Merry” on a movie producer.
On August 29, a “special team of outside experts to prevent recurrence” released an investigative report on the issue of sexual assault by former Johnny’s. The team acknowledged the fact of sexual assault and concluded that the increase in damage was caused by Johnny’s sister, Merry Kitagawa. The team acknowledged the fact of sexual assault and claimed that “neglect and concealment” by Mary Kitagawa, Janney’s sister, were partly responsible for the spread of the damage. The Internet has also pointed the finger of criticism at Mary over these details.
The “Special Team for the Prevention of Recurrence” set up by Johnny’s’s office consists of Makoto Hayashi (lawyer), Nozomu Asukai (psychiatrist), and Azusa Saito (clinical psychologist). According to the report, the special team conducted an investigation between May 26 and August 29 of this year, and interviewed 41 people, including the victim and Johnny’s office personnel. Based on the victims’ statements, the report concludes, among other things, that “it was found that Mr. Janney’s sexual assaults were almost universally present from the 1950s to the mid-2010s” (original text, same as below).
‘Mr. Janney passed away in July ’19, and Mr. Merry also passed away in August ’21. The report also stated that “there is a possibility that the company was aware of the fact of sexual misconduct, but neglected it and continued to cover up the fact, fearing that the business would be affected by the exposure of the founder’s misconduct” (reporter from a sports newspaper).
In the midst of all this, an episode involving Mr. Merry has been attracting attention. It all started with a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Kazuyoshi Okuyama, a movie producer, who revealed that 35 years ago, when he tried to cast Masahiro Motoki, a former member of the Shibukitai, who had just left Johnny’s, Mr. Merry told him to “think it over” and “I won’t say no, think it over again” (August 29, 2008).
The Shibukitai disbanded in 1988, and Motoki left Johnny’s. Okuyama was probably thinking of using him in the movie “226,” which was released in 1989. He continued, “I decided on Motoki for the role after careful consideration and attraction. Since then, I have been banned from the Johnny’s office,” he said.
The timing of the press conference held by the special team made this post immediately popular,
The way the pressure was exerted was amazing.
I knew it was Mary who was pressuring him.
This is how he has been able to control the industry.
On the other hand, on August 27, the post was deleted from the broadcast.
On the other hand, in an August 27 broadcast of the radio program “Toshio Egi no Kikkunin? (Radio Osaka), Toshio Egi, a former member of Forleaves who used to belong to Johnny’s, and the actor Mayo Kawasaki co-hosted the program. They seemed to be having so much fun reminiscing that it was hard to believe that their old home was in the middle of a turmoil.
In the course of the conversation, Kawasaki expressed his gratitude to Mary, and there was also an exchange of praise for the office’s ability to find talent.
Kawasaki, who grew up in Osaka, moved to Tokyo when he was 13 and joined Johnny’s. In a talk with Egi,
When I came to Tokyo at the age of 13, Janie-san was really my father and my mother was like Mary-san. I owe a lot of my education to Mary-san. He really took good care of me in many ways.
He recalled those days. In response, Egi said, “The Johnny’s’s office has an amazing ability to nurture a boy’s buds in that sense. I wonder why they nurture boys with such an eye on their future? Kawasaki responded, “It’s amazing, isn’t it? It’s amazing, isn’t it? No matter how hard any agency tries, they can’t do this. I think that’s what an ‘empire’ is,” said Egi, to which Kawasaki agreed.
Despite his immense power in the industry, Mr. Merry is said to have shown great affection for the talents. What does the “empress” think in heaven about the environment in which the office is currently operating?
