By AI TANABE/ Staff Writer
February 26, 2024 at 18:33 JST
Kazuo Sumi, chairman of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., in Osaka in 2021 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The chairman of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc. will resign from the board of directors at the Takarazuka Revue Company as of Feb. 29 following a scandal involving the apparent suicide of a 25-year-old member.
However, Kazuo Sumi will continue to be engaged in affairs concerning her bereaved family and reforms of the all-female troupe’s organizational climate, sources said on Feb. 26.
Hankyu Hanshin Holdings is the parent company of Hankyu Corp., a railway company that operates the troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture.
The woman was found dead in the grounds of her apartment building in Takarazuka on Sept. 30. Police suspect that she died by suicide.
She was a member of the Cosmos Troupe, one of the revue company’s five troupes.
In November, the company acknowledged management responsibility for the woman’s long work hours and other issues but said it could not confirm power harassment against her by senior troupe members.
In a statement submitted to the company, however, the bereaved family’s lawyers called on the company to admit that she suffered power harassment by senior troupe members, mainly citing 15 specific acts.
The company has been holding discussions with the family’s lawyers.
The company’s board consists of 10 members, including a theater director, a senior theater official and a performer. Sumi joined the board in March 2014.
Sumi resigned as president of the Takarazuka Music School, which trains Takarazuka Revue Company performers, as of Dec. 1.
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