Japan's Johnny Kitagawa sex abuse scandal forces shake-up at J-pop agency

Shimon Ishimaru (third from left), deputy head of Johnny's Sexual Assault Victims Association, with other accusers in Japanese boy band producer Johnny Kitagawa's sex scandal, attending a news conference in Tokyo on Sept 4, 2023. - AP

TOKYO (Reuters): The niece of Johnny Kitagawa, the late J-pop magnate at the centre of a sexual abuse scandal that has shocked Japan, said on Thursday (Sept 7) that she had stepped down as the head of the talent agency her uncle had founded.

Kitagawa, who died in 2019, has been accused of using his sway over young boys seeking stardom to sexually abuse them, and the scandal has gripped the nation since the BBC first aired a tell-all documentary in March.