Johnny Kitagawa: The J-Pop Predator

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[00:00:37] The case featured in this episode has been researched using police records, court documents, witness statements, and the news.

[00:00:45] Listener discretion is advised. All parties mentioned are innocent until proven guilty and all opinions are my own.

[00:00:53] Hey everyone, my name is Nikki Young and this is Serial Napper, the true crime podcast for naps.

[00:01:18] I'm back with another true crime story to lull you to sleep or perhaps to give you nightmares.

[00:01:23] One of the first things I noticed when I moved to Tokyo was the smiling faces of J-pop idols posted absolutely everywhere.

[00:01:31] Large billboards, moving trucks, subway cars.

[00:01:35] Japan has the second largest music market in the world.

[00:01:39] Mostly due to the rising popularity of J-pop with millions of fans in Japan and all around the world.

[00:01:47] One man known as Johnny Kitagawa, considered to be the grandfather of J-pop, is

[00:01:52] responsible for creating idols out of hundreds of young boys who dreamed of being famous.

[00:01:58] But few know the dark secrets this man, his company, and the Japanese media have kept hidden for decades.

[00:02:06] Johnny Kitagawa allegedly abused hundreds of preteen and teen boys who wanted nothing more than to become a J-pop star.

[00:02:15] The stories of sexual abuse were kept quiet by many due to greed,

[00:02:20] shame, and a culture that has denied that males can be raped as well as the making of a legend out of a monster.

[00:02:27] Only in his death has the truth of Johnny Kitagawa and his company, Johnny and Associates,

[00:02:33] finally come to light.

[00:02:35] So dim the lights, put your phone down, and listen to the story of how one of Japan's most beloved and celebrated

[00:02:42] predators was enabled to abuse hundreds of boys for almost 60 years

[00:02:49] while the media and law enforcement looked the other way.

[00:02:52] So let's jump right in.

[00:02:54] The supposed grandfather of J-pop, Johnny Hiromu Kitagawa, was actually born in Los Angeles, California

[00:03:02] in 1931.

[00:03:04] However, when he was just two years old, his family decided to return to their native country of Japan to live.

[00:03:11] His father was a Buddhist priest and his mother a homemaker.

[00:03:15] He grew up learning English from his parents who were fluent in both languages,

[00:03:20] which gave him a huge leg up when he was looking for employment post-war.

[00:03:25] He graduated from Sophia University,

[00:03:28] earning a bachelor's degree in international studies.

[00:03:31] But he still wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. In the early 50s,

[00:03:36] he found a job working at the United States Embassy located in Tokyo. While working here,

[00:03:42] he took his lunch break at Yoyogi Park as many people do and he encountered a group of young boys who were playing baseball.

[00:03:51] And suddenly he had this brilliant idea.

[00:03:54] He thought that they had the look, the it factor, and he wanted to help form them into a boy band.

[00:04:01] Which he would call the Johnnies, as if he couldn't be any more narcissistic.

[00:04:06] There's another rumor that this didn't go down that way at all.

[00:04:10] That he had actually approached the group of boys and began to chat with them,

[00:04:14] learning that they were signed with a music group already,

[00:04:18] signed with a different management company.

[00:04:21] And then he just decided to start his own talent agency right then and there and to poach them.

[00:04:26] Either way, this group of boys agreed and their first performance would be at the Western Carnival,

[00:04:32] a week-long music festival held at the Nichigeki Theater.

[00:04:36] They were said to be a huge hit, much different than the other acts at the festival at the time.

[00:04:42] The Johnnies had this youthful, innocent image,

[00:04:46] bellowing out ballads while combining them with slick dance moves.

[00:04:51] The crowd went wild, and Johnny Kitagawa knew immediately that he had a money-making idea.

[00:04:58] In turn, he created his talent agency, Johnny & Associates,

[00:05:02] renting office space at the already massive multimedia management company Watanabe Productions.

[00:05:09] What set him apart from other agencies was that he focused specifically on creating idols out of young boys and men.

[00:05:17] In 1968, he launched a new boy band called Four Leaves, which was very successful and highly marketable.

[00:05:25] A money-making machine, if you will.

[00:05:27] Four Leaves, a group of teen boys, created the mold for which all future Johnny & Associates acts would look.

[00:05:35] They were all young, handsome, and able to dance and sing at the same time without any instruments on stage with them.

[00:05:42] The J-pop movement was growing quickly in popularity,

[00:05:47] and Kitagawa, he was basically spearheading the whole thing.

[00:05:51] Then, in 1988, one of the Four Leaves singer, a man named Kita Koji,

[00:05:56] came forward with horrifying allegations against the man who had made him famous.

[00:06:01] He published a 12-volume open letter titled,

[00:06:05] Dear Hikaru,

[00:06:07] Hikaru being one of the most popular acts signed to Johnny & Associates at the time.

[00:06:12] It was a warning to them, containing allegations that he had been sexually assaulted for many years by Johnny Kitagawa,

[00:06:20] with promises of being made famous in exchange for sexual favors.

[00:06:25] The letter was shocking, damning, and it should have put an end to it all,

[00:06:30] but it mostly went ignored.

[00:06:33] Willfully, by both the media who benefited from Johnny's idols,

[00:06:38] and law enforcement, who didn't acknowledge that a crime was even committed.

[00:06:43] So, Johnny Kitagawa carried on, business as usual.

[00:06:47] He continued to build his roster of young boys who would be mentored and then developed into pop idols,

[00:06:54] some as young as just 10 years old.

[00:06:57] The younger, newer recruits were called Johnny's Juniors.

[00:07:01] The juniors were basically idols in training, mentored by none other than Johnny Kitagawa himself to learn how to sing, dance, and act.

[00:07:11] They were typically used as backup dancers for the more established famous idol groups,

[00:07:16] kind of like a soft launch to the public to see how they reacted to their talents.

[00:07:22] Once a junior became popular enough,

[00:07:25] they would become one of Johnny's idols and then given an entire public relations team to take them to the very top.

[00:07:32] The goal of every junior was to become a Johnny,

[00:07:36] and many of their parents would do anything to ensure that this would happen.

[00:07:41] There would be auditions held all over the country where young boys would perform for Johnny Kitagawa

[00:07:47] in hopes of standing out amongst the others.

[00:07:51] Some young hopefuls would send their resumes directly to Johnny and Associates with the hopes of getting a call back.

[00:07:58] If they were selected, they would then get to be interviewed by Johnny who decided if their fate was to be an idol.

[00:08:05] Once chosen, these boys would need to leave their parents behind and they were moved into what was called the dormitory,

[00:08:12] which was on the fifth floor of Johnny's house.

[00:08:15] Away from other adults who might be tempted to step in and put a stop to the abuse,

[00:08:21] Johnny would groom these young men,

[00:08:23] holding the promise of fame over their heads.

[00:08:27] Inside the dormitory, there were rows of beds and the boys would sleep next to each other.

[00:08:33] Johnny would walk into the dormitory and choose who his next victim would be that night.

[00:08:38] The other boys would have to listen as their fellow aspiring idols were being abused right next to them.

[00:08:45] Many pretended to be asleep, hoping that they wouldn't be next.

[00:08:50] Johnny Kitagawa was the only adult allowed in the dormitory,

[00:08:54] allowing him complete unsupervised access to these young boys who were away from home for the first time.

[00:09:01] Now I think it's a bit obvious, but I do want to add a trigger alert here because I'm about to talk about the

[00:09:07] experience of one of Johnny's victims who would later come forward to talk about what happened to him.

[00:09:13] He has been referred to as Hayashi in the media in order to protect his identity,

[00:09:18] and it will become clear soon why these victims are afraid still to this day to talk about what happened to them

[00:09:25] at the hands of Johnny Kitagawa.

[00:09:28] Hayashi was just 15 years old when he decided to send his resume to Johnny and associates.

[00:09:34] He was one of the lucky ones who got a call back

[00:09:37] and he was sent an invite to come to the office and interview with Johnny Kitagawa.

[00:09:43] His first impression of Kitagawa was that he was kind and considerate.

[00:09:48] Kitagawa was a professional groomer. He had his routine down to a science.

[00:09:54] He poised himself as a loving, gentle old man who simply wanted to help these boys to be their very best.

[00:10:02] Hayashi was invited to come for a lesson where he would learn to sing and dance and basically to appeal to a female audience,

[00:10:10] which in and of itself is kind of creepy when we're talking about young teens and young prepubescent.

[00:10:17] After the lesson, he was also invited to stay the night at the dormitory on the fifth floor of Kitagawa's house.

[00:10:23] When he arrived, Hayashi was told that he should go have a bath,

[00:10:28] which he did in a bathroom that had a TV and video games inside of it. The perfect setup to appeal to young boys.

[00:10:36] Johnny had followed Hayashi into the bathroom and he began to fill up the tub with water.

[00:10:42] Initially, Hayashi believed that Johnny was just being kind and helpful, but things quickly took a sinister turn.

[00:10:50] Johnny Kitagawa began to help Hayashi to undress, starting with his sweater and then moving on to his pants.

[00:10:57] When Hayashi insisted that he could do it himself,

[00:11:00] Johnny Kitagawa said nothing. He was silent while he continued to undress the boy.

[00:11:07] Once he was fully undressed,

[00:11:09] he ushered him into the bath and then he began to wash him, wash his body and his hair just like he was a doll.

[00:11:18] Hayashi was very uncomfortable, but he was too afraid to object so he just sat there and he stayed quiet as he was washed.

[00:11:26] After the bath, Kitagawa towel dried him and then sent him on his way.

[00:11:31] Hayashi recalled walking out of the bathroom back into the dormitory

[00:11:35] and then having the other boys look at him like they knew what had just happened because it had happened to them too.

[00:11:43] This was clearly a routine.

[00:11:46] The boys would tell him that his dreams had been shattered, but that he would have to put up with it if he wanted to succeed.

[00:11:53] Later that night when it was time to sleep,

[00:11:56] Johnny Kitagawa told him to get into bed because he must be tired.

[00:12:01] Then he massaged him the entire night.

[00:12:04] This was only the beginning of the abuse that Hayashi would suffer at the dormitory,

[00:12:10] believing that he needed to endure it in order to be famous.

[00:12:14] Kitagawa was the one who decided which of them would get booked for big gigs and

[00:12:19] only the boys who complied with his demands were selected.

[00:12:24] So while it was common knowledge amongst the boys who visited the dormitory,

[00:12:28] it was also an accepted fact that this was happening.

[00:12:33] Many of the victims felt like this was the only way they would ever see the success that they had dreamed of.

[00:12:39] And it's alleged that their parents even encouraged them to just go along with the abuse.

[00:12:45] To be selected as the next big idol by Johnny Kitagawa was quite literally life-changing for the entire family.

[00:12:53] So despite the allegations from former Johnnies juniors,

[00:12:57] parents continued to hand their children over to this predator.

[00:13:02] The mainstream media didn't seem to want to publish any of the allegations that Johnny Kitagawa's alleged victims were making.

[00:13:10] In truth, they had this twisted relationship with his talent agency.

[00:13:15] In Japan, these idols are pretty much integrated into every aspect of daily life.

[00:13:22] They are quite literally everywhere you turn. They cover the subway stations,

[00:13:26] they're on all of the daily television programs,

[00:13:29] they're in every marketing campaign that you'll see, every advertisement.

[00:13:33] Their music and faces are put on these buses and trucks that drive around the city blaring their songs,

[00:13:40] promoting their next release.

[00:13:42] There are stores littered throughout Tokyo that only sell photos and merchandise with these idols' faces.

[00:13:50] And there's always lineups to get in.

[00:13:52] Huge crowds of young ladies gather at the airports

[00:13:56] just for a potential sneak peek of their favorite idols getting off of these flights. In North America,

[00:14:02] we had that boy band boom in the 90s.

[00:14:05] But in Japan, the hysteria over these idols is basically amplified by 100,

[00:14:11] and they've never grown out of it.

[00:14:14] It's time for a quick break and a word from tonight's sponsors. Hang on, I'll be back before you know it.

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[00:16:15] Now back to our story.

[00:16:18] There is a lot of money to be made in J-pop, and the media is intertwined with these financial deals,

[00:16:24] so they don't want to shoot themselves in the foot.

[00:16:27] Johnny Kirigawa used this relationship to control the narrative.

[00:16:32] He was a legend, revered as a god by some, and you simply didn't want to mess with him.

[00:16:38] Still, some of his victims were determined to tell their truth. In 1996,

[00:16:43] Hiromata Jr. was one of Johnny's juniors when he was a young boy,

[00:16:47] and he decided to publish a book called All About Johnnies.

[00:16:51] In the book, he spoke of the dormitory and the routine of having the juniors be washed by Johnny Kirigawa.

[00:16:58] Again, these allegations basically went ignored by the media and law enforcement.

[00:17:04] It seemed that no one wanted to hold Johnny Kirigawa accountable.

[00:17:09] Three years later, in 1999, a weekly local newspaper called Shukhan Banshan

[00:17:15] released a series of articles that included interviews with dozens of alleged victims.

[00:17:20] The articles, which dubbed Kirigawa as the monster of the showbiz world,

[00:17:25] included graphic accounts of abuse that they had suffered.

[00:17:29] These men who were young boys when the abuse occurred all had similar stories about being bathed,

[00:17:36] massaged, forced to perform and receive oral sex, and full-on penetration.

[00:17:42] One victim recalled how Kirigawa sexually abused him at his own house,

[00:17:47] and how his parents had moved his futon into the boy's room so that they could sleep next to one another.

[00:17:53] It's sickening, and in my opinion, it's a clear indication that the parents knew what was happening and even encouraged it,

[00:18:01] because they were hopeful that he would make their child a star.

[00:18:06] In total, there were 10 accusations of sexual abuse by Johnny Kirigawa published in this magazine,

[00:18:13] and in turn, Kirigawa sued them for libel, claiming that the boys were all lying.

[00:18:20] The courts determined that 9 out of 10 of the claims published were true,

[00:18:25] the only defense in a defamation case. But one could not be proven, so

[00:18:30] Kirigawa won 8.8 million yen, which is around 80,000 US dollars.

[00:18:37] The fine would later be lowered to 1.2 million yen because the courts decided that the sexual abuse claims weren't defamatory,

[00:18:45] but the allegations that Kirigawa had given the young boys alcohol and cigarettes

[00:18:50] were. Although most of the allegations of sexual abuse were proven to be true,

[00:18:56] there were no criminal charges brought forward by the police.

[00:18:59] The reasons for this are just as disturbing.

[00:19:03] Firstly, the age of consent in Japan at the time was just 13 years old.

[00:19:08] If Kirigawa was able to convince people that he was in a consensual sexual relationship with these young boys,

[00:19:16] then there was no crime committed and some of them did kind of feel like maybe they were in this relationship with him.

[00:19:22] They thought it was

[00:19:23] mutual. Thankfully, the age of consent in Japan shifted from 13 to 16 in 2019,

[00:19:30] after national public outrage for an increase in rape acquittals.

[00:19:35] The other issue here is that at the time this case went to trial, the law did not recognize men as victims of rape.

[00:19:43] According to the law in Japan, only a woman could be raped. It just wasn't possible for a man to be raped.

[00:19:50] This law wouldn't be changed until 2017,

[00:19:53] but to this day, many sexual assaults go unreported in Japan.

[00:19:58] As some of you may know, I lived in Tokyo for four years,

[00:20:01] and there's very much a culture of just not causing any sort of disruption, going with the flow,

[00:20:08] putting on a smile even if you're dying inside.

[00:20:11] It's one of the toxic things about life in Japan,

[00:20:15] and it's a big reason why they have one of the highest suicide rates in the world.

[00:20:19] They work themselves to death, putting up with so much in their lives,

[00:20:24] while not wanting to disrupt the social order of things.

[00:20:28] It's insane.

[00:20:29] Oftentimes, victims are the ones who feel like they're at fault, and this sentiment is actually shared by the general public,

[00:20:37] which is one reason why Johnny Kitagawa was able to get away with abusing these boys for so long, for literally decades.

[00:20:45] While these stories were making headlines all around the world, again, the Japanese media stayed quiet.

[00:20:53] Beyond legal ramifications, there weren't any negative implications to his career either.

[00:20:59] Kitagawa continued to serve as president of Johnny and Associates for 16 more years, until the day he died.

[00:21:06] He continued to put together J-pop boy bands, including a group called Heisei 7,

[00:21:12] which broke a record as the youngest male group ever to top the Japanese music charts,

[00:21:17] with an average age of just 14.8 years old.

[00:21:21] At the height of its success, Johnny and Associates generated 2.9 billion yen in annual profits, around 25 million USD annually.

[00:21:31] And then, in July of 2019,

[00:21:34] Johnny Kitagawa died at the age of 87 years old from a stroke.

[00:21:38] When his death was announced, there was a public outpouring of grief.

[00:21:43] There was awareness of what he had done, but people were not wanting to talk about it.

[00:21:49] To many, he was a legend, but a mystery.

[00:21:52] While he kept his idols in the spotlight, he also shielded himself away from the cameras as an individual.

[00:21:59] It's actually quite difficult to find any photos or videos of him at all,

[00:22:04] perhaps making it all that much easier to get away with the things that he had done.

[00:22:10] Instead of connecting his face to the horrific crimes he had been accused of,

[00:22:14] his name and reputation for creating idol culture in Japan prevailed.

[00:22:19] There was even a memorial concert held in his honor at the Tokyo Dome,

[00:22:24] which featured many of the young artists that he helped to become a celebrity.

[00:22:29] One has to wonder how many of these idols were victims themselves,

[00:22:33] and how painful it would have been for them to perform for a man who violated them.

[00:22:39] Yet many victims felt like they owed him for their success.

[00:22:44] He had made them famous, but at what cost?

[00:22:48] Kitagawa's niece, Julie Fujishima, took over the company as CEO.

[00:22:53] It was only after Johnny Kitagawa's death that things finally came to a head, and his company, Johnny & Associates,

[00:23:00] as well as the mainstream media in Japan, could no longer ignore the victims and their accusations.

[00:23:08] In March 2023,

[00:23:10] the BBC ran a documentary called Predator, The Secret Scandal of J-Pop.

[00:23:15] I was able to find it on Daily Motion, and I'll have the link in my show notes if you want to check it out.

[00:23:20] It's definitely worth the watch, especially because you can hear the stories

[00:23:25] told by the few victims themselves, the ones that wanted to actually come forward.

[00:23:30] You can hear what they went through in their own words, which I think is really important.

[00:23:35] This is also when more of his alleged victims finally felt comfortable enough to come forward,

[00:23:41] including a young man named Kawan Okamoto.

[00:23:44] He was a former Johnny's Jr.'s member, and he said that he had been abused for four years while under his management.

[00:23:52] In a press conference, he said that during those years,

[00:23:56] he remembered there being between 100 and 200 boys that would stay at the dormitory,

[00:24:02] and at night, when Kirigawa would select one of them to go to bed early,

[00:24:07] everyone else there knew that it was their turn.

[00:24:11] There are still many victims of Kirigawas who just refuse to speak out about what happened to them,

[00:24:17] basically for fear of repercussions.

[00:24:19] There are also many who have no idea that they are actually victims of sexual abuse.

[00:24:25] That's because of how good Kirigawa was at grooming these young boys.

[00:24:30] From the start, he acted like he was a kind, compassionate person who just wanted to help them to reach their goals.

[00:24:38] And as the grooming progressed,

[00:24:40] he made these victims feel like they were special, and if they complied, they were rewarded with commercials,

[00:24:48] ads, concerts, airtime, money.

[00:24:51] It was to the point that some of the boys even fought for his attention,

[00:24:56] wanting him to pick them that night,

[00:24:58] not realizing that they were being exploited by a monster. It was mental warfare.

[00:25:05] Even as adults, many of his victims say that even though what he did was wrong,

[00:25:11] they still like him and even love him.

[00:25:14] They feel like they owe him for their success, and that he treated them with love and affection.

[00:25:20] It's a perfect example of Stockholm syndrome, when victims develop positive feelings towards their abusers.

[00:25:28] With everything now out in the air, Kirigawa's niece, Julie Fujishima,

[00:25:33] she was forced to step down as CEO and finally admit that the claims of her uncle being a predator

[00:25:39] were all true, and that the victims should be compensated for all that they went through.

[00:25:44] She issued an apology, though it was truly far too late for any of that.

[00:25:49] And for the first time ever, in April of 2023, NHK, which is the Japan Broadcasting Corporation,

[00:25:57] they published a piece on the abuse.

[00:26:00] It's absolutely wild that it took them so long to finally address an issue that had been brought to light

[00:26:06] decades prior.

[00:26:08] But NHK was deeply embedded with Johnny and Associates, and it shows.

[00:26:14] In October 2023, Johnny and Associates rebranded itself into two different companies.

[00:26:20] Stardot Entertainment, which is to handle new and existing talent in the agency,

[00:26:26] and Smile Up, a company tasked with processing claims of abuse.

[00:26:31] Smile Up hired Noriyuki Higashiyama, a former Johnny and Associates talent, as CEO.

[00:26:38] Since this company was set up, they've received criticism for how they've handled the processing of victims' claims.

[00:26:45] Since the BBC documentary was released, nearly a thousand men have come forward to say that they were victims of Kirigawa.

[00:26:53] But some of these victims have said that they've been harassed and even received death threats after sharing their stories.

[00:27:01] For one of the victims, after he came forward with his own story, his personal details were leaked online,

[00:27:08] and he faced a wave of backlash from people who called him a liar and quite literally threatened to kill him.

[00:27:15] He couldn't handle the emotional abuse that he was now receiving, and sadly, he decided to end his own life,

[00:27:22] leaving behind his wife and his children.

[00:27:25] His story demonstrates why it has taken this long for all of the abuse allegations to come to light.

[00:27:31] For fear of not being believed, for fear of being blamed and shamed.

[00:27:36] Even Smile Up, the company that is supposed to be making things right,

[00:27:40] released a statement just days after being set up that said,

[00:27:44] We have received information that there are cases in which people who are most likely not victims

[00:27:50] are telling false stories using the testimony of real victims.

[00:27:54] The rate of people falsely reporting allegations of rape and sexual abuse is incredibly low.

[00:28:00] The vast majority of victims are telling the truth.

[00:28:03] The rate in a country where there is very little support for victims and very real negative consequences for reporting it at all

[00:28:10] is even lower.

[00:28:12] So yeah, believe all victims.

[00:28:15] Even if you think the accused is a good person, even if they've never hurt you personally,

[00:28:20] even if the victim held on to this secret for years.

[00:28:24] Not all victims look the same or act the same way, and many have in some way worked with or supported their perpetrators afterward.

[00:28:32] But it does not make them any less of a victim. It means that they were groomed, manipulated, and taken advantage of.

[00:28:40] Which is exactly how abuse happens in the first place.

[00:28:44] We all know to watch out for people who outwardly appear to be dangerous,

[00:28:48] but oftentimes it's those with a warm smile and an outreached hand that you need to be cautious of.

[00:28:56] Grooming is a slow process

[00:28:58] of being nice, being kind, making the person feel special and valued.

[00:29:04] They never reveal their hand right away.

[00:29:08] These boys were only able to be abused because their perpetrator positioned himself as a kind and

[00:29:14] caring old man who only wanted the best for their future.

[00:29:17] Instead, Johnny Kitagawa will go down in history as one of Japan's most prolific pedophiles,

[00:29:24] known as the J-pop predator.

[00:29:27] That's it for me tonight. If you want to reach out, you can find me on Facebook at Serial Napper.

[00:29:32] I also have a Serial Napper true crime discussion group over on Facebook. It's called Serial Society.

[00:29:37] And I'll also have the link in my show notes.

[00:29:39] I'd love to chat with you about this case, all of the other cases that I cover, plus

[00:29:42] everything else that is going on in true crime.

[00:29:44] You can find my audio on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts.

[00:29:50] I post all of my episodes in video format over on YouTube, so go check it out.

[00:29:54] And if you're watching on YouTube, I would just love if you can give me a thumbs up and subscribe. Every little bit helps.

[00:30:00] I'm over on X, formerly known as Twitter, at Serial underscore Napper.

[00:30:05] And I post things on TikTok. Serial Napper Nick, and that's all one word.

[00:30:10] Until next time,

[00:30:12] sweet dreams, stay kind, especially in the comments.

[00:30:17] Bye.