Editor’s note: This is the third in a series about victims of Johnny Kitagawa’s sexual abuse.

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Kenichiro Kawai removed his face mask and gazed at the media cameras and reporters gathered in front of him.

“From now on, I will be speaking under my own name,” Kawai, 55, said at a news conference in Tokyo on Jan. 15.

Kawai had spoken to media outlets about being sexually assaulted by Johnny Kitagawa, the late founder of the talent agency now called Smile-Up Inc. But he had always requested anonymity for those interviews.

After remaining mum about the assault for decades, Kawai revealed what he went through to a supervisor at his workplace. He suffered a “double punishment” because of his brief candor.

For the Jan. 15 news conference, he intended to speak under a pseudonym while concealing his face.

After Kawai removed the mask, a reporter asked why he suddenly decided to go by his real name.

“Everybody steels themselves for this,” Kawai replied. “I have been doing this anonymously, but I wonder if (my message) was really reaching people. I really want it to get through and reach people to their very core.”

The news conference was held to demand greater transparency in how the talent agency, previously known as Johnny & Associates Inc., was compensating victims of Kitagawa’s sexual abuse.

Others, including members of the Johnny’s Sexual Assault Victims Association, sat down the news conference table with Kawai.

FIRST AND LAST VISIT

Kawai was a member of a theater troupe, and when he was in junior high school, he landed a role in a movie playing the younger brother of a character portrayed by Masahiko Kondo.

Kondo at that time was one of the bigger stars at Johnny & Associates.

When he was 18, Kawai sent his resume to the agency. Kitagawa called him at his home.

“I usually throw them in the trash,” Kawai quoted Kitagawa as saying about resumes. “But I was surprised and am calling you because it said you played (Kondo’s) younger brother.”

Later that day, Kitagawa asked the teen to come to his studio, known for its popular boy bands and teen idols.

Since Kawai was aspiring to be an actor, he told Kitagawa as soon as they met, “I don’t want to do singing and dancing.”

After a short silence, Kitagawa said, “There’s a drama coming up, you should be in it.”

Kawai was so happy that he joined Kitagawa and members of Johnny’s Jr., a pre-debut idol group in the agency, in a car that took them to Kitagawa’s home near JR Harajuku Station.

The home was widely known as a “gasshuku-jo” (training camp).

“You are lucky to be able to come here,” one of the Johnny’s Jr. members excitedly told Kawai.

While eating sushi and fruits that Kitagawa ordered, Kawai felt sleepy and fell asleep in a room.

He woke up feeling “uncomfortable.”

“Kitagawa was groping my pubic area” and then performed oral sex, Kawai said.

He said it felt disgusting, but all he could do was twist his body and resist. He could not think of anything else and forced himself to sleep.

When he woke up in the morning, he felt angry and afraid. He told Kitagawa, “I’m going home.”

But Kitagawa was keen to keep the teen at the home, telling him things like, “Take a bath” and “Get some breakfast.” Kawai reluctantly complied.

While there, Kawai saw Noriyuki Higashiyama and Toshihiko Tahara, big idol stars of the agency at the time.

When Kawai was leaving, Kitagawa tried to give him 3,000 yen ($20). Kawai refused but Kitagawa forced him to accept the cash.

That was the last time Kawai ever met with Kitagawa.

Kawai acted until he was in his 40s while working other jobs. He never received a notable role nor got his big break.

Kawai said he felt his career path had been blocked because of the sexual assault.

“If that had not happened, maybe my life would have been different,” he said.

REPORTS TRIGGER PTSD 

In 2023, the BBC ran a program about the decades of sexual abuse committed by Kitagawa, who died in 2019. Victims then came forward with their stories to the Japanese media.

Kawai’s physical condition worsened when he read and watched those reports.

He went to a psychosomatic medicine clinic, where he was told he had post-traumatic stress disorder.

In September 2023, a desperate Kawai contacted the victim’s relief committee set up by Smile-Up and reported the damage caused by Kitagawa.

But he was told the agency could not confirm his enrollment at Johnny’s. When he called the office asking about the status of his damages claim, he was usually told: “No decision has made yet. I can’t tell you anything.”

Around summer that year, Kawai was working at a company and was one of its top sales performers.

But he became so worried about gaining compensation and relief from Smile-up that he could not concentrate on his work.

In November, he began missing work. He suffered from flashbacks and other PTSD symptoms.

To avoid causing trouble at his place of employment, Kawai told his supervisor about the sexual assault.

Later, Kawai, his supervisor and others went to a “sunakku” bar, a favorite venue of the company’s employees.

Out of nowhere, the bar’s female owner exclaimed, “Let’s force the Johnny’s to pay up, and we can all have a drink.”

Kawai was stunned.

He wondered if his long-held secret had passed on to the bar owner and others in the company.

The supervisor explained that the company’s head office needed to know about such information, and that it might have been passed on from there.

Kawai found it difficult to continue working at the company, and he took a leave of absence for about a month. He also consulted the police.

“It was a fact that I didn’t want anyone to know about under ordinary circumstances,” Kawai said. “But it was spread around inside and outside the company, and I suffered secondary damage.”

Kawai had an interview with Smile-Up at the end of last year, but the agency still has been unable to confirm his enrollment.

He hopes he can receive compensation without the confirmation and that his case can provide courage and hope to other victims.

At the Jan. 15 news conference, Kawai said, “I want you to know that I’m risking my life in making this accusation (against Kitagawa).”

When asked about revealing Kawai’s secret, his employer told The Asahi Shimbun: “While it is true that his supervisor was consulted about the sexual assault, we have not yet been able to confirm if word about the sexual assault has spread both inside and outside the company.”