Masahiro Nakai Considers Legal Action Against Former President Minato and Director Ohta

Toru Hashimoto and Kenju Furuichi questioned the nature of the third-party committee

Entertainer Masahiro Nakai (52) is reportedly growing increasingly anxious.

Following the exposure of a troubling incident involving former Fuji TV announcer A, Nakai found himself under intense scrutiny. The third-party committee established by Fuji TV determined that Nakai had committed sexual violence against A, and the once-celebrated career of the former SMAP leader collapsed almost overnight.

On June 19, Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu announced that he had personally apologized to A and reached an agreement on compensation. The very next day, on June 20, Nakai’s legal team issued a statement:

“As you are aware, our legal assessment of this matter differs from the evaluation found in the third-party committee’s report.”

They further emphasized:

“We once again ask that it be recognized that both parties have equal human rights.”

Nakai first began publicly pushing back on May 12. He was no longer able to tolerate being effectively labeled a “sex offender” by the committee. He assembled a legal team to challenge the basis on which the committee concluded that sexual violence had occurred. Nakai argued that he had agreed to lift confidentiality during the investigation, cooperated in a six-hour hearing, and yet found that almost none of his testimony was reflected in the final report.

He also insisted that his relationship with A had been amicable—that he had offered her advice, and that she had sent him thank-you emails in return.

“Then, figures close to him such as Toru Hashimoto and Noritake Furuichi began questioning the legitimacy of the third-party committee’s process and backed Nakai. As a result, on social media, the phrase ‘a case of unrequited love’ began to spread in relation to the incident with A,” said a reporter from a sports newspaper.

Nakai made repeated attempts to clear his name, submitting formal questions to the third-party committee. But on June 3, the committee notified him:

“We will refrain from any further correspondence.”

What Nakai’s side now fears is Fuji TV’s announced decision to file a lawsuit against former president Koichi Minato and former executive director Ryo Ota. The network aims to hold them legally accountable for failing to properly address the incident involving A despite being in positions of responsibility. However, both Minato and Ohta have refrained from making any public comment, a stance that has raised eyebrows among legal professionals.

Nakai’s lawsuit will be based on the opinions of experts

“Fuji Media Holdings, the parent company of Fuji TV, posted a 32.8 billion yen deficit for the fiscal year ending in March. This was largely due to a halt in most commercial advertising. Given that, it’s not surprising that Minato and Ota might face damages claims in the billions of yen. Even for high-paid Fuji employees, such amounts are unpayable and would completely derail their life plans. Normally, in situations like this, one hires a lawyer and responds to reduce liability, but these two have remained completely silent. There’s growing speculation that some kind of deal may have already been made with Fuji TV,” said a legal insider.

When our outlet contacted Fuji TV to inquire about the progress of the lawsuits against Minato and Ota, the network responded:

“Our corporate auditor is preparing for litigation, but we refrain from commenting on further details.”

Regarding the possibility of suing Nakai, Fuji TV stated:

“Our top priority is to restore public trust as quickly as possible by implementing improvement measures toward revival and reform. In that context, whether to file a lawsuit against Mr. Masahiro Nakai will be considered based on the advice of experts as we carry out these recovery measures.”

Both Minato and Ota have consistently claimed that they “did not grasp the seriousness of the matter” regarding the trouble involving A. They reportedly received reports from subordinates but interpreted it as something akin to a “case of unrequited love,” and therefore failed to respond appropriately.

“If it goes to court, they are expected to admit those failures and apologize. The next major question then becomes: where did the impression that this was a ‘case of unrequited love’ originate? In other words, how did Nakai initially report his conflict with A? If it’s proven that Nakai made a false or understated report in an attempt to protect himself, he too could be held accountable,” said a legal expert.

Within Fuji TV, resentment toward Nakai is said to be growing. A current employee in his 40s expressed it bluntly:

“Sure, Nakai has contributed a lot to Fuji, but that’s irrelevant now. If he hadn’t done what he did to that woman, the company wouldn’t be in this mess. I’ve got a family and a huge mortgage left. There’s no such thing as job security at Fuji anymore.”

Fuji TV may be using the lawsuits against Minato and Ota as a launching point to finally go after the main target: Masahiro Nakai. With the company’s shareholder meeting scheduled for June 25, the situation remains highly uncertain.