<figure id="attachment_434782" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-434782" style="width: 5472px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="#" data-ident_hash="8805c41d"><img src="https://res.cloudinary.com/fridaydigital/image/private/t_article_image/wpmedia/2025/08/d47352fd50f02b550a49c2f465411a95.jpg" alt=""></a><figcaption id="caption-attachment-434782" class="wp-caption-text">Noriyuki Higashiyama (left), president of SMILE-UP, and Keiko Fujishima (right), representative director of SMILE-UP.</figcaption></figure>
<h2><span class="strongInContent"> The &#8220;book of accusation&#8221; by Julie Fujishima that triggered the complaint.</span></h2>
<p> The former Johnny&#8217;s office, now known as &#8220;SMILE-UP.&#8221;, is still under the scrutiny of society due to the long-standing sexual assault by the late Johnny Kitagawa (Mr. Kitagawa was 87 according to the complaint).</p>
<p> The former head of the company, Keiko Fujishima Julie (&#8220;Julie Fujishima,&#8221; 59), questioned the reporting attitude of NHK, a public broadcasting station, in a book titled &#8220;Last Interview&#8221; (Shinchosha) by nonfiction writer Kazuma Hayami, which was released on July 18.</p>
<p> When we compared the contents of his book with the court documents obtained by this website, we found statements that supported Julie Fujishima&#8217;s accusations and even suggested the possibility of a &#8220;major misreporting&#8221; in NHK&#8217;s reporting.</p>
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<p> In his book, Mr. Fujishima questions NHK&#8217;s October 9, 2011 report on &#8220;News 7,&#8221; NHK&#8217;s news program, about &#8220;sexual assault in the toilets in the NHK station&#8221; by Mr. Janney.</p>
<p> A man claiming to be a former Johnny&#8217;s Jr,</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He testified anonymously that he was sexually assaulted multiple times by Mr. Janney in the restrooms of NHK&#8217;s Broadcasting Center.</span></p>
<p> The report made headlines when a man claiming to be a former Johnny&#8217;s Jr. The man also testified on &#8220;Close-Up Today&#8221; on December 5 of the same year. These reports planted suspicions in society that sexual assault was taking place over the public airwaves, further strengthening the accusations against SMILE-UP.</p>
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<p> However, SMILE-UP. questioned the content of the reports and filed a lawsuit in the Chiba District Court against the man who claimed victimization in &#8220;News 7,&#8221; demanding confirmation that it had no obligation to compensate him.</p>
<p> The court documents detail the claims made by SMILE-UP, which differ from the content of NHK&#8217;s report.</p>
<p> Briefly put, the trial in question is a lawsuit to have the court confirm that SMILE-UP. is <span class="strongInContent">not obligated to pay compensation to you (the man who complained of sexual assault in the bathroom)</span>.</p>
<p> The men, through their lawyers, had been seeking compensation from SMILE-UP. through out-of-court negotiations (voluntary consultations) for over a year. However, these long-term talks had reached a stalemate, and SMILE-UP. decided to file an unusual lawsuit because it found it difficult to reach a resolution through discussions.</p>
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The accused man&#39;s statement changed two or three times."></div>
<h2><span class="strongInContent">Court Documents Reveal the Core of the &#8220;Great Misinformation</span></h2>
<p> The complaint explains that it is necessary to clarify the veracity of the report through the court process, and it argues, citing concrete evidence, how the man&#8217;s report lacks <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;veracity</span>. First, the accuser, a male student, claims as follows.</p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> He submitted his resume during the summer vacation of 2002, when he was a senior in high school, and was contacted about participating in an audition on September 21 or 22 of the same year. The first time he attended an audition was on September 23, 2002.</span><span class="strongInContent"> (from the complaint)</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> During a break in the first audition on September 23, 2002, just as the lesson was about to resume, Ms. Kitagawa called her out and sexually assaulted her in a private bathroom. (from the complaint)</span></p>
<p> The accusation is graphic, and even the date is specified. However, SMILE-UP. denies this outright.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> In all of the interviews with the plaintiff&#8217;s compensation general manager and others, as well as with the plaintiff&#8217;s counsel, the defendant repeatedly stated that he was first sexually victimized by Kitagawa on September 21, 2002, September 22, or September 23, 2002, when he was a senior in high school, Kitagawa was traveling abroad and was not in Japan on any of these dates. (From the complaint)</span></p>
<p> (from the complaint) On the days when he is alleged to have been harmed, the alleged perpetrator, Mr. Janney, was not even in Japan. Furthermore, the report also points out that the contents of the report have changed. The date of the victimization, which was initially stated as &#8220;2002,&#8221; was later changed to &#8220;2001. The report also claims that there are <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;serious exaggerations&#8221; in</span> the fundamental part of the allegations, such as the possibility that the number of times he attended lessons and the number of times he was victimized were actually <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;only two times&#8221;</span> instead of <span class="strongInContent">&#8220;every week,&#8221; &#8220;about 10 times,&#8221; and &#8220;five or six times</span>.</p>
<p> The report also claims that it was physically difficult to commit the crime in the restrooms of the NHK Broadcasting Center, where the alleged crime took place.</p>
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<p><span class="strongInContent"> Due to the structure of the restrooms at the NHK Broadcasting Center, the large number of people coming and going, the time constraints, and other factors, it is unlikely that audition students or lesson students would be victimized by Kitagawa in the private restrooms, and it is even more unlikely that first-time audition students would be victimized.</span><span class="strongInContent"> (Long story omitted.) Moreover, the rehearsal room in question was not a private room.</span></p>
<p><span class="strongInContent"> Furthermore, the floor where the rehearsal room was located also housed offices of NHK&#8217;s production department staff and offices of related organizations such as mutual aid associations, and was accessible not only to the plaintiff&#8217;s staff but also to third parties at any time. Furthermore, there was a reasonable gap between the walls and the door and the ceiling in the private toilet room, so it was not what one would call a &#8220;closed room. (from the complaint)</span></p>
<p> SMILE-UP.&#8217;s logic is that it <span class="strongInContent">is &#8220;inconceivable</span> &#8221; that they would risk publicity and sexual assault in a restroom where over 100 Jr. and staff members enter and leave, and where the room is not even a secret room.</p>
<p> Furthermore, the court documents contained something that could not be overlooked.</p>
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<p><a href="https://friday.kodansha.co.jp/article/434788"> The &#8220;big mistake&#8221; in the Johnny&#8217;s sexual assault report was supported by a serious comment made by an NHK employee.</a></p>
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 Kazuhiko NAKAMURA

 In the July issue of "Last Interview" (Shinchosha), Keiko Fujishima, former head of "SMILE-UP.", questioned the content of NHK's report on sexual assault by Janie Kitagawa. The contents are available at .......

The contents of the court documents in which “NHK’s alleged gross misreporting” was disputed.

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