Photo/Illutration The NHK broadcasting center in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Japan Broadcasting Corp. (NHK) will resume employing actors and singers affiliated with the former Johnny & Associates Inc. talent agency after ending all ties following a sex abuse scandal that emerged in 2023.

Starto Entertainment Inc. took over management of singers and actors from Johnny & Associates, while a separate entity, Smile-Up Inc., was formed to compensate the hundreds of former talent agency members who were sexually abused by Johnny Kitagawa, the agency's late founder.

At an Oct. 16 news conference, NHK President Nobuo Inaba noted that the two new entities had clearly separated their tasks.

“In addition to the various efforts being made to compensate victims and to implement measures to prevent a recurrence, we have also been able to confirm the clear separation in business management (between Starto Entertainment and Smile-Up),” Inaba said. 

On Oct. 3, another major TV network, TV Tokyo Corp., also announced it would begin signing entertainers under Starto Entertainment management for new programs.

The NHK announcement will likely lead to other major networks again signing up those affiliated with the new talent agency.

NHK announced in September 2023 that it would no longer ink new contracts for its shows with members who were with the successor agency of Johnny & Associates.

The public broadcaster at that time said the conditions for reviewing that policy would depend on adequate compensation to the sex abuse victims, measures to prevent a recurrence as well as a clear separation between the two new companies that were established to take over from the scandal-plagued talent agency.

Smile-Up released on its website on Oct. 15 the status of compensation to victims. About 1,000 individuals claimed to have been victimized and agreements have been reached regarding compensation of 510 individuals.

The company also revealed that Julie Keiko Fujishima, Kitagawa’s niece who stepped down as president of Johnny & Associates in the wake of the sex abuse scandal, had also resigned as chairperson of four affiliated companies between May and August.

Last year marked the first time in 44 years that no singer or group affiliated with Johnny & Associates appeared in NHK’s highly popular New Year’s Eve music program "Kohaku Uta Gassen."

NHK also ended eight programs this spring that featured ex-Johnny's members as regulars. There were no NHK programs from April that included any talent once affiliated with Johnny & Associates.

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