>The agency said it had nothing to do with the list, insisting it would “never make such a rude request like not wanting to call on specific individuals to raise questions.”
“We might turn a blind eye to our company founder exploiting the business to sexually abusing minors for decades, but we draw the line at refusing to call on reporters in a press conference who might ask us uncomfortable questions!”
>Johnny & Associates held the news conference in Tokyo from 2 p.m. on Oct. 2 to announce a “fresh start.” It said it will change its name to Smile-Up and focus on compensating hundreds of victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by the agency’s founder, Johnny Kitagawa.
If previously I had written a speculative fiction story about a dystopian future where a talent agency founded by a creepy pedo changes their name to “Smile-Up” when forced to admit their support and cover for repeated sexual abuse of their minor clients, every editor in the business would have told me to please try to make my stories more plausibly grounded in reality and stop trying to make the inhumane exploitation by Japanese businesses hidden behind a veneer of cheerful amiability quite so unbelievably on-the-nose.
To begin with, apology conferences are a unique Japanese culture.In the West, companies don’t have the opportunity to hold press conferences when they cause problems.
“These clubs generally comprise exclusively of journalists working at major Japanese media outlets. The members have exclusive access to official sources, and to maintain that access, they are required to comply with the official government line.”
Japanese journalism is based on whitelisted access to news conference by government and companies. How is having a blacklist any worse than business as usual.
It’s also the same pressure that lead the press to self censore on the topic for 20 years. “if your tv station journalist talk about Johnny’s abuse stories, talents won’t be sent to your tv shows”.
I haven’t seen any JP tv talk about how the abuse were covered in the late 90s but no one picked up because of diffamation laws and self censorship to access the talents. They are just beating a dead horse while no one alive is facing consequences.
4 comments
Also, here is an [entertaining Japanese commentary video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUQczOIVKww) by せやろがいおじさん about the other rules at the Johnny’s press conference.
>The agency said it had nothing to do with the list, insisting it would “never make such a rude request like not wanting to call on specific individuals to raise questions.”
“We might turn a blind eye to our company founder exploiting the business to sexually abusing minors for decades, but we draw the line at refusing to call on reporters in a press conference who might ask us uncomfortable questions!”
>Johnny & Associates held the news conference in Tokyo from 2 p.m. on Oct. 2 to announce a “fresh start.” It said it will change its name to Smile-Up and focus on compensating hundreds of victims of sexual abuse perpetrated by the agency’s founder, Johnny Kitagawa.
If previously I had written a speculative fiction story about a dystopian future where a talent agency founded by a creepy pedo changes their name to “Smile-Up” when forced to admit their support and cover for repeated sexual abuse of their minor clients, every editor in the business would have told me to please try to make my stories more plausibly grounded in reality and stop trying to make the inhumane exploitation by Japanese businesses hidden behind a veneer of cheerful amiability quite so unbelievably on-the-nose.
To begin with, apology conferences are a unique Japanese culture.In the West, companies don’t have the opportunity to hold press conferences when they cause problems.
I think it’s a stupid culture.
Why Japan rank so poorly in press freedom
https://www.dw.com/en/why-japan-ranks-poorly-in-press-freedom/a-65549778
“These clubs generally comprise exclusively of journalists working at major Japanese media outlets. The members have exclusive access to official sources, and to maintain that access, they are required to comply with the official government line.”
Japanese journalism is based on whitelisted access to news conference by government and companies. How is having a blacklist any worse than business as usual.
It’s also the same pressure that lead the press to self censore on the topic for 20 years. “if your tv station journalist talk about Johnny’s abuse stories, talents won’t be sent to your tv shows”.
I haven’t seen any JP tv talk about how the abuse were covered in the late 90s but no one picked up because of diffamation laws and self censorship to access the talents. They are just beating a dead horse while no one alive is facing consequences.