Fuji President Minato’s press conference: “I’ll leave it to the investigation committee”… Fuji President Minato’s press conference: “Dodging” questions and answers with the press.

For the first 10 minutes of the conference, he read out a written statement

On January 17, Fuji Television Network finally held a press conference after some weekly magazines reported the involvement of its employees in the “90 million yen settlement dispute” with TV personality Masahiro Nakai (52).

At the beginning of the press conference, Fuji Television President Koichi Minato read a 10-minute document and explained the background to date. According to the document, he was aware of the trouble in early June of ’23, immediately after it occurred, and that the top priority was the woman’s physical and mental recovery and the protection of her privacy. He also explained that he had been contacted by Nakai about the trouble, but did not investigate the matter with Nakai out of concern that the trouble would be known to many people. He also said that he had carefully timed the end of “Dareka to Nakai” because he was concerned about the speculation that would arise if it were to end abruptly.

Since the report had come up to him, he said that he was responsible for the decision. He then said that a third-party committee would be formed to investigate the matter, and that he would leave the matter to that investigation in the future.

Fuji TV had also denied on its website that any of its employees were involved in the dinner party that started the trouble. Fuji Television had also denied on its website that any of its employees had been involved in the dinner party that started the trouble, saying that it would leave that matter to a third-party committee to investigate, but made no mention of the fact that the Weekly Bunshun, released on March 16, had reported allegations of other “sexual entertainment” by the employee in question.

President Minato then began a question-and-answer session with the press, which lasted more than an hour and a half, and the following is an excerpt from his explanation.

─ In his explanation, President Minato said that “an employee who noticed a change in the woman who is said to be the victim approached her in early June (when he became aware of the trouble). Does this mean that the victim did not report this to the company, but that the employee who noticed the change in the victim saw it as a problem?

President Minato: I do not have an answer beyond what I just gave.

──You mentioned that Nakai-san also contacted you about this matter, but when was the timing of this?

President Minato: This is a matter that will be referred to an investigative committee. Yes, I will refrain from answering at this time.

─ ─ Am I correct in assuming that this is after the trouble in early June?

President Minato: That would be correct.