Unusual Sexual Violence Warning Made by NHK’s Morning Broadcast Receives Criticisms

“Please watch at your own pace. If you feel uncomfortable during the program, please stop watching it.”

The unusual call was made on NHK’s “Asaichi” broadcast on December 6.

 

The voice was led by announcer Nahoko Suzuki of the same station. Next to her were Hakata Kanamaru & Daikichi.

Normally, the audience would be excited by the morning drama reception of “Boogie Woogie,” but this day was different. The reason was that the program featured sexual violence.

The program introduced the cases of victims of sexual violence that had been collected through a questionnaire survey, and again Suzuki spoke. 

“The reason why we decided to feature this project this time is because of the issue of sexual assault by Mr. Johnny Kitagawa. The issue has been frequently reported in weekly magazines, and in 2004, the Tokyo High Court ruled that he had sexually assaulted a minor. We regret that we did not fulfill our role as a media outlet in the face of so many minors being victimized.”

This is not the first time NHK’s morning program has covered sex. Even so, on social networking sites, there were comments such as

“Too heavy in the morning.”
“What is the significance of the content?”
“Why do you have to do it at this time of the day?”

 

 

NHK is the most “aggressive” in its response to the issue of Johnny’s sexual assault, and has announced that it will not use any of the former Johnny’s talents in the program unless compensation work is completed.

For the first time in 44 years, Johnny’s did not appear at the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen on New Year’s Eve.

“The reason NHK is so adamant is that it is financed by the public’s subscription fees. The issue of Mr. Johnny’s sexual assault is attracting international attention, and as a public broadcaster, it is required to take a firm stand.”

“Unlike commercial broadcasters, NHK does not need to pay attention to its program sponsors. To put it another way, they think that it is inevitable that viewer ratings will worsen by not using former Johnny’s celebrities.” (TV station insider) 

Nevertheless, until this issue arose, NHK had been in close contact with the former Johnny’s office.

Every year, the Kohaku Uta Gassen has a “Johnny’s quota” and the host is reserved. A reporter in charge of entertainment at a sports paper said

“It’s a model of how they turned the tables on us. There is a succession of comments from within the former Johnny’s, such as, ‘We don’t need to appear in the Kohaku any more,’ and ‘I don’t care if we are banned from NHK,’ The fact that popular groups Snow Man and King & Prince will be broadcasting live on New Year’s Eve is also seen as a way of destroying the Kohaku.”

NHK reported the existence of an “NG list” at the second press conference held by the former Johnny’s office. It was around this time that a deep rift began to appear in the relationship between the two parties. According to a source with knowledge of the situation:

“The news department, which has had its stories destroyed by the discovery process, is showing signs of motivation. I have heard that several reporters have gone directly to their superiors, saying, ‘If we don’t do this here, NHK will lose its raison d’etre,’ The power relationship with the entertainment department has completely reversed.”

The “Close-Up” report on the 4th of this month was a great success.

 

On the 4th of this month, “Close-Up Today” featured the lack of progress in compensation work for SMILE-UP. The content of the broadcast was known to some extent beforehand, and SMILE-UP. released a new statement on its website just before the broadcast of Close-Up Gendai.

“We are pleased to inform you that we have received a notice from the Victims’ Relief Committee that they have begun today to contact declarants whose enrollment records have not been confirmed at this time to inform them of the specific procedures to be taken in the future.”

The committee explicitly censured Kurogen, saying, “We’ve been going at it in batches.”

The story has reached its climax. At least wait until after the last episode is over. I think this is the first time the relationship has deteriorated to this level.

Even if NHK were to lift the ban on new appointments, it seems unlikely that the former Johnny’s side would accept it without a second thought.