Earlier today, former Johnny’s Jr. member Kauan Okomoto held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan to speak on his allegations of sexual abuse against Johnny & Associates founder Johnny Kitagawa.
In recent months, Kauan has spoken out on these allegations, first to YouTuber GaaSyy, and more recently to Shukan Bunshun.
At the press conference, Kauan said he was molested by Johnny 15 to 20 times during his four years as a Jr., starting when he was 15 years old, and ending in 2016.
“I hope other victims will also come forward, all of them,” Kauan said. He believes most of the 100 to 200 Jrs. during his time with the company were also assaulted by Johnny.
Kauan, now 26, said it was common for Jrs. to spend the night at Johnny’s penthouse, which featured a jacuzzi, a bar, and a karaoke machine.
He said the first time Johnny assaulted him, Johnny went to Kauan’s bed and proceeded to touch his genitals and perform oral sex on him. He was then given ¥10,000 the following day, with no specification as to why.
Kauan said he had no plans to ask police for a posthumous investigation of Johhny, who died in 2019 at the age of 87.
“Thanks to Johnny, my life did change,” he said. “But I also believe what Johnny did, performing sex acts on me when I was 15, and to the other Jrs., was a bad thing.”
Kauan said there was a “general awareness” among the boys in the company that rejecting Johnny’s advances would hurt their chances of success, though Johnny never explicitly said this. His words carried such decision-making power that “some Jrs. even said, ‘You have to be at his place to succeed’,” Kauan said.
He continued, saying, “I also want the agency’s top management, and Johnny himself if he were here today, to acknowledge what took place and make sure such things won’t happen again.”
During the press conference, Kauan admitted that he lied on Twitter last month about being sued by Johnny & Associates in a bid to solicit donations through an online system.
After the press conference, Johnny & Associates released a statement. The statement read that since Johnny’s death, the company has worked to be more transparent and more in line with the times, a company that the public can trust.
The company doubled back on the statement it released in January, “Our Promise for 2023.” It was signed by Julie Fujishima, President of Johnny & Associates. This was the first time the company has done this publicly.
Kauan’s full press conference can be seen below.
Yahoo News, source
