Photo/Illutration Actor Yoshitsugu Hattori, right, and childhood friend Motoyasu Matsuzaki at a news conference in Tokyo on July 15 (Tatsuya Shimada)

Actor Yoshitsugu Hattori came forward to say he was sexually abused as a child seven decades ago by the late talent agency impresario Johnny Kitagawa, adding a new twist to a sordid saga that is rocking the entertainment world.

He was not alone.

A childhood friend, Motoyasu Matsuzaki, who accompanied Hattori at a news conference in Tokyo on July 15, said he suffered similar abuse at the hands of Kitagawa, the founder of Johnny & Associates Inc.

Kitagawa, who was an industry byword for nurturing male idols, died at the age of 87 in 2019.

What makes the latest revelations so startling is that the victims, now in their 70s, were mere elementary school children.

Hattori, 78, the second son of noted composer Ryoichi Hattori, said Kitagawa performed oral sex on him when he stayed at his home. He was 8 years old at the time.

Hattori said he was sexually abused around 100 times by Kitagawa over the course of two and a half years.

Kitagawa, who helped his father’s activities immediately after World War II, was a frequent visitor to the Hattori home.

Ryoichi Hattori received the People’s Honor Award after his death in January 1993.

Matsuzaki, 79, a friend since elementary school, often visited Hattori at his home. He said he was subjected to similar abuse--on 40 or 50 occasions over an 18-month period--when Kitagawa took him in his car to movies and plays.

Hattori said he felt compelled to disclose his experience after seeing former members of Johnny & Associates talk about their anguish in public.

“Japan’s entire entertainment industry should take the scandal more seriously,” he said. “We cannot bring this problem to a close unless legal measures are put in place to enable authorities to punish a crime as a crime.”

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