As many people are no doubt aware, Japanese male idol talent powerhouse Johnny and Associates has been rocked by the revelation that their founder, Johnny Kitagawa, had been serially sexually abusing minors in the company’s training program for decades. This has led not only to a sustained backlash against the company and intense media scrutiny of the “Johnnys Sex Abuse Problem,” but also led to the resignation of the company’s CEO Fujisawa Julie Keiko (Johnny Kitagawa’s niece).

I was invited by the Asahi Newspaper to share my thoughts on this broader scandal from my perspective as a scholar of Japanese female fandom culture and expert on the broader East Asian idol industries. Below, I share the translation of my interview with journalist Mori Mayumi, which was published in the Asahi Newspaper Digital Edition on 14th September, 2023. This translation is somewhat loose, with a few rephrases of some of the statements to better align with my current thinking, as well as one addition to the text which I have clearly indicated.

The original Japanese language version can be accessed here.

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The Johnnys Problem: Fans Can Improve Stan Culture – The Perspective of an Australian Researcher

Johnnys fandom has been shaken by the revelation of the large-scale sexual assault of minors at Johnny and Associates. While reporting has previously shed light on the important issue of why the media and society have overlooked this sexual harassment, some statements that criticize idol culture itself or shift the blame onto female fans have also appeared. What does the culture of celebrating male idols, such as Johnnys, mean to women, and how has the fandom been received by society? And what should Johnnys fans do moving forward? We asked Thomas Baudinette, Senior Lecturer in Japanese and International Studies at Australia’s Macquarie University, who is familiar with East Asian idol culture.

Is it a Japanese Problem?

M: Your research specialty is gender studies, but you yourself have been a fan of East Asian idols, including Johnnys, for many years.

T: When I was studying Japanese Studies at university, a friend introduced me to the idol group w-inds and I learned about Japanese idols. Later, while watching Japanese dramas and variety shows, I learned about Johnnys and that’s when I started to become an fan of Johnnys idols. I would go to bookstores in Melbourne that stocked Japanese books and buy idol magazines like Myojo and POTATO. Thinking about why I was drawn to Japanese idols, it was because Western celebrities appeared to me as akin to polished jewels, while Japanese idols seemed like diamonds in the rough where fans can directly experience the process of where they become polished. I was drawn to Japanese idols because of this difference in celebrity cultures.

M: As a Johnnys fan, had you heard about the allegations of sexual abuse committed by Johnny Kitagawa?

T: I first learned about the allegations when I was in graduate school researching materials for my doctoral dissertation exploring representations of gay men in Japanese media culture. At that time, SNS were not yet widely developed, so I did not know the details beyond the simply allegations. I was shocked by the nature of the sexual assault that has now come to light and the huge number of victims.

M: What did you think watching the press conference held by the agency on September 7th?

T: As Johnny and Associates is a private, family-run company, I felt it was important symbolically that Fujishima Julie Keiko – who is related to Johnny Kitagawa, the perpetrator of the abuse – resigned. For decades, it appears that Fujishima ignored accusations of sexual assault against minors leveraged at the company. Even if Fujishima truly had no real knowledge of the actual harm allegedly being perpetrated by Kitagawa, they possess a certain amount of culpability for ignoring the allegations over decades.

M: Is the Johnny Sexual Abuse Problem receiving attention in the Western media?

T: Two main perspectives [on this scandal] are emerging in Western media. One perspective is that the abuse of minors represents a systemic problem in the entertainment industry. In recent years, it has come to light that powerful and wealthy men, such as America’s Harvey Weinstein and Britain’s Jimmy Savile, have committed horrific sexual abuse and assault. So a perspective has emerged that looks at the Johnnys problem from a global context.

On the other hand, many Western media outlets are reporting that [what has occurred at Johnny and Associates] is a uniquely Japanese problem, adopting in a tone full of contempt for Japanese entertainment and idol culture. This perspective attempts to create a narrative of Japan as a nation of child pornography which possesses a perverted idol culture which is always already dangerous and problematic. I believe this perspective’s insistence on blaming this on Japanese culture shifts the discussion away from the actual essence of the problem.

Voices which criticize fans are misogynistic

M: Do the Japanese entertainment industries not possess any unique cultural elements?

T: What can be said to be distinctive to the Japanese context is how Johnny and Associates created a strong coercive relationships with advertising companies and media produces that allowed the agency to conduct exclusive business. Another important feature is the lack of state involvement in regulating the idol industry. This is true not only for Johnnys and Associates, but also for female idol production companies such as AKB48, with the Japanese government rarely getting involved when problems arise.

Recently, experts from the United Nations visited Japan and pointed out that “[i]t is necessary for the Japanese government to take the lead in ensuring a transparent investigation [of abuses in the idol industries] and ensuring effective relief for the victims, whether it is an apology or financial compensation.” Despite this, we have yet to see any action from the Japanese government. If this continues, it will look like the government is trying to protect the industry.

M: In South Korea, the Fair Trade Commission introduced a system to prevent ultra-long-term contracts in 2009, after a popular group accused an agency of forcing them to sign so-called slave contracts.

T: Speaking of Korea, it’s interesting to see how different its fan culture is from Japan’s. Many Japanese fans think that in order to protect their favourite idols, they must also protect the idol’s company. Korean fans, however, often take the stance that they must “protect their idols from their agency,” expressing their strong opinions against idol management companies. This may be because South Korea, which has experienced colonial rule and dictatorship, has a strong culture of “needing to speak out against authority.”

M: In Japan, after Johnny Kitagawa’s sexual abuse of minors was discovered, voices criticizing idol culture itself have become stronger.

T: I saw a certain public intellectual comment on SNS about Johnny and Associates, saying, “[i]t was a kingdom of fake stars (with no real talent).” That statement made me quite annoyed. The perpetrator was Johnny Kitagawa and Johnnys idols could have been his victims, but they have become targets of slander such as “[t]hey became stars because they were Johnny Kitagawa’s favourites.” The corollary of this view is that fans lack “good, aesthetic taste” and that “[t]hey consume what is given to them without criticism.” This kind of prejudice against fans is coming to the surface as commentators begin criticizing Johnny and Associates.

M: We’re also seeing the emergence of voices questioning whether Johnnys fans bear responsibility too.

T: Most fans of Johnnys idols are women. In a country like Japan, where women have a low social status and their desires are often not recognized as legitimate, idol culture has been of great significance as one of the only sites where where women enjoy being the subjects of their desires. If these incidents of abuse had occurred in a male-dominated entertainment fandom, I wonder if there would have been voices blaming the fans? When an AKB48 idol shaved their head due to a scandal, there were voices questioning Japan’s idol culture, but I hardly heard any voices blaming the fans. Blaming female fans and female idol culture for incidents of abuse committed by men is a sign of misogyny. Idol fans do not bear any culpability for the actions of Johnny Kitagawa.

On the other hand, some fans are blaming the victims of the sexual abuse, saying things like “Johnny is being outed as a gay man without his permission.” This perspective is wrong. As a gay man myself, I find it infuriating that Johnny Kitagawa has come to embody negative stereotypes of gay men, such as “an old man who preys on small boys.” Of course, the problem was not that Johnny was gay per se, but that he committed horrific sexual abuse against children. *As such, focussing on whether Johnny was “outed” also deflects attention away from the real issue at stake here (*I have added this sentence to clarify something left unstated in the original Japanese).

M: Is there anything that fans can do?

T: One of the main focuses of my previous research has been the world of Boys Love (BL), where we witnessed a debate called the “Yaoi Controversy” occur in the 1990s. Within this debate, some gay critics  strongly criticized the fact that women were consuming gay men’s romance as a fantasy, stating that “[t]his represented a usurpation of representation by arbitrarily projecting a convenient fantasy for women onto a gay male character.” There was a lot of criticism, and a heated debate ensued between predominantly female fans and gay men. These criticisms of a beloved culture caused confusion and backlash among female fans at the time. However, through mutual discussion, not only were problematic expressions that encouraged prejudice against gay men reduced in BL as a result of the Yaoi Controversy, Japan’s BL culture further developed and we saw the creation of deeper, sensitive expressions of gay men in the genre.

Many of the female fans who have been saved by Johnnys idols may be confused after learning about the Johnnys problem. While it will still take some time, I firmly believe that if fans take the initiative and continue to think critically about what fandom for Johnnys should look like moving forward, this will aid in eliminating problematic elements within the culture that they love and ultimately lead to significant improvements.