【単独取材】ジャニーズ解体のその後……SMILE-UP. 東山社長、BBCの多数の質問に答える

【単独取材】ジャニーズ解体のその後……SMILE-UP. 東山社長、BBCの多数の質問に答える

Higashiyama the CEO of smile up has agreed to talk and this will be the first time anyone senior in the history of smile up and the decades long history of Johnny and Associates has ever done a one-on-one interview should get in I’m how you doing really nice to meet

You thank you for taking the time yeah why did you agree to speak to us today last year after the revelations and after this story broke John and Associates as a a formal company it’s effectively dissolved and there are new companies so can you talk me through the structure of those companies for

So let’s talk about that change for a second I know specifically today you are the CEO of smile up what are your objectives and what do you do day today so do you see it as part of your personal responsibility as CEO of smile up to get Justice and some semblance of

Closure for the survivors of abuse have you got any formal background in in social work uh delivering Justice for survivors of sexual abuse counseling any of those things yeah and and and so I don’t mean this in a do you feel that the public does have and should have

Confidence in in you leading smile up a company that has been tasked with delivering the process of compensating survivors of sexual abuse taught me through that process then because I know to date as we sit here today there’s almost 950 people that have come forward saying

That they are survivors of abuse at the hands of Johnny Kagawa so with those claims and with that volume of claims how are they being processed is there any semblance of a a time frame because over 900 people coming forward is there any idea of of how long it

Might take to to process those claims our survivors offered counseling but what about in terms of of Professional Health is is that something that smile up is is going to pay for What safeguarding mechanisms has the company put in place to safeguard talent and Safeguard young people at this company chief

That sounds like a a start but I’d like you to be as specific as you possibly can be what more is there in terms of safeguarding I mean some companies for example will have things like chaperon I I want to go back because I know you yourself are very much a star

Within your own right and a star that came up through the the Johnny system and so how did you first come to be working with Johnny Kagawa do you have fond memories of that time H how did you come to be living with Johnny Kagawa and you were living in the same property

As Johnny Kagawa is that right and in that period did you ever see Johnny kagara behave inappropriately with with other talents I only want you to answer this if if you’re entirely comfortable did Johnny Kagawa ever behave inappropriately with you in 1999 of course this story broke

That Johnny Kagawa was having sex with minors he was having sex with Talent including young boys what were the conversations at that point what did you hear but surely this is a another League of Scandal this is about someone and being a a pedophile let’s move then in uh to 2004

At this point it’s acknowledged at Tokyo high court that Johnny Kagawa has indeed been having sex with Talent at his company including minors so it moves away from the league of of rumor at that point what were the conversations going on at the company I appreciate you were a star

Within your own rights you were also an adult you were in your 30s by this point so I I’d really like you to think back to that time because surely I would imagine those internal conversations must have been around the welfare of talent I imagine there was an element of

Crisis management there must have been conversations did you try to have those conversations back then why do you think those conversations weren’t happening oh I think there’s a distinction though isn’t there between new stories which are going to be breaking at any time in any part of the world and allegations

Being made didn’t this feel very close to home so I’ll ask again why do you think those conversations weren’t happening sure we’ve spoken to a for Jr who has said that they are aware of abuse of talent at the company at the hands of a another member of Staff in

Addition to Johnny Kagawa are you aware of those allegations so are you concerned it illustrates that there was a culture of sexual abuse at Johnny and Associates which went beyond just Johnny Kagawa and if there are allegations about two other staff members is that not indicative of a a deep rooted problem

So the individuals you referring to are they still alive are these allegations and and the conclusion of this investigation are they subject to criminal proceedings if there’s been an investigation that’s concluded there are people in this company who have abused boys then isn’t it just common sense

That that needs to be shared with the police isn’t this an opportunity to get some justice morally wouldn’t it be the right thing to do surely the best outcome is if someone has committed a crime someone has abused children then they’re convicted don’t you think you as an organization

With a huge amount of power have a role to play in this if you agree with me do you think today you could commit to opening this this matter back up and and discussing with whoever’s advising you the idea of of handing your investigation handing this investigation over to the

Police have you asked the survivors in those particular cases if they want to pursue criminal proceedings I want to go back to this subject of the compensation process and lawyer that I’ve spoken to who represents some of the survivors described that process as as a black box suggesting it was opaque so the

Survivors were saying that the process wasn’t clear how do you respond to That do you agree though that if survivors themselves are saying that the process is like a black box that it’s unclear then that’s not good enough so for you think there’s more that the company could do to make that process clear so essentially are you saying survivors need need to wait until those

Meetings conclude I want to read a statement that was put out on the smile up website uh some time ago it says we’ve received information that there were cases in which people who are most likely not victims are telling false stories using the testimonies of real victims and then the

Statement asked media Outlets to fully verify the claims of people who are making these accusations so with that in mind can you talk me through smile Up’s own process a verification how reliable is that system because what we know about Johnny Kagawa is he was often scouting for talent and that

Involved spending time at dance rehearsals it involved spending time around lots of young people who may never have forly joined Johnny and Associates so are there any records of all the young boys that Johnny Kagawa had interactions with do you acknowledge that given the decades over which Johnny

Kagawa was working in the entertainment industry and given the the volume of young men that he spent time with we may never really know the true number of people who he abused in the buildup to this meeting today uh I met with your PR team and they

Suggested that we meet with survivors of abuse and at that meeting these survivors of abuse shared with us their idea that in their view many people who are coming forward and making claims are not telling the truth I want to understand what was the objective of of that process

How do you really believe though that there are survivors whose primary objective is flagging that there may be people lying about their abuse over the objective of of getting Justice for survivors so I I agree that one perspective could be that this is just an alternative view another perspective could be this is

Actually about managing the reputation of this company and discrediting the testimony of genuine survivors how do you respond to that do you acknowledge though that it’s already extremely difficult for survivors of sexual abuse to speak about their experiences how is pointing out or aiming to discredit the testimony of

Survivors and pointing out that there may be some people who are untruthful how is that helpful so so given that if that’s your priority tell me what smile up I doing to encourage survivors of abuse to speak out do you think there’s more you could do in terms of a strategy to encourage

People to speak out you’ll be aware of a survivor of abuse who went public with their story and was subsequently called a liar by members of the public and they got online abuse and as a result of that they ended up taking their own life are are you in touch with the family

I know care you acknowledge that perhaps it’s irresponsible for a company like smile up with all of this power and given the history using language and referencing on their website the idea of people falsifying testimonies do you think that’s a misstep a misjudgment for we know know though that in this

Particular case there was uh a culture of the Survivor of abuse effectively being bullied do you worry that your company might be contributing to that culture how can you make that distinction though when we know that Johnny kitagawa was in contact with with so many individuals isn’t that an

Extremely as we discussed earlier isn’t that an extremely difficult thing to do to decide who’s being honest here and who might be lying I want you to speak directly for a moment to people who go online and suggest to survivors of abuse that they are not telling the truth what

Would you say to them I think discouraging disparaging comments about survivors of abuse telling them their Liars telling them that they’re just seeking attention all of that I think would constitute online abuse I mean you are someone with a public profile you’re you’re also a a star

Within this world so I wonder if you’re speaking out against that abuse would actually be really valuable maybe it would discourage people from speaking out and bullying people online I’ve spoken to people directly who’ve told me that they are survivors of abuse who have not even told their own

Families there’s so much stigma it’s really difficult for people to talk about this stuff what do you say to anyone watching you today who is a survivor of abuse who hasn’t spoken out if we can talk about Judy fushima for for a moment I understand that she stood

Down as as the CEO of johnan Associates and of course that company no longer exists in in a formal sense Julie fujishima is still the owner of smile up I might am I correct does she benefit financially given the fact that these allegations were in the public domain do

You think Judy fushima could have done more to stop the abuse well let me put it to you this way Judy fima did have an extremely senior role at the company of Johnny and Associates for many many years and I’ve spoken to people who suggested that by resigning

She’s effectively avoided any kind of accountability isn’t that a problem how do you think Johnny K will be remembered is there anything more you want to say about Johnny Kagawa h foree I understand it must be very difficult is is there anything more you want to say that we haven’t we haven’t covered

I’m really grateful for your time thank you for answering one my questions thank you

東山紀之氏は今年2月、BBCによる単独インタビューに応じた。

ジャニーズ事務所の故ジャニー喜多川氏による長年にわたる加害行為を取り上げたBBCドキュメンタリー「J-POPの捕食者：秘められたスキャンダル」が昨年3月に放送されたのをきっかけに、ジャニーズ事務所は外部専門家による内部調査の結果、喜多川氏の虐待行為を認め、昨年10月に解体した。
同事務所は「SMILE-UP.」と社名を変更し、喜多川氏の虐待を生き延びたサバイバーへの補償業務に取り組むことになった。東山氏が、SMILE-UP.社の社長となった。

昨年のBBC番組で取材に当たったモビーン・アザー記者たちは今年、再び日本を訪れ、この1年で何が変わり、何が変わらなかったのかを取材。その中で東山社長が、異例の単独インタビューに応じた。
不透明な補償手続きや、虐待を生き延びたサバイバーの証言を疑わせるような内容を「SMILE-UP.」が声明として出していること、名乗り出た挙げ句に自死した男性のこと、さらに、喜多川氏以外にも少年たちを性的に虐待した事務所スタッフが複数いたことについて――。BBCの数々の質問に、東山社長は答えた。

「捕食者の影　ジャニーズ解体のその後」に含まれる部分のほかに、東山社長がアザー記者の様々な質問に答えたやりとりのうち、約30分間の内容を紹介する。

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https://www.bbc.com/japanese/articles/cqqwpnrpryzo

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