Communication records revealed how former TV host Masahiro Nakai duped a woman he later sexually assaulted and highlighted the indifference that he and a Fuji TV official felt for the traumatized victim.

The records were obtained by a third-party committee that investigated the many problems at Fuji Television Network Inc.

Its report released on March 31 concluded that the assault was related to Fuji TV’s corporate culture that tolerated sexual harassment and objectification of women.

Although the committee faced obstacles, including recovering deleted information and a confidentiality agreement between Nakai and the victim, it produced a nearly 300-page report after its two-month investigation.

COULDN’T REFUSE INVITATION

Nakai used a text messaging service on May 28, 2023, to make a request for a barbecue party that he was planning at his condominium.

“It’s not fun with just men,” he wrote. “We need some women there. … Can any announcer come?” The recipient of the text was the head of Fuji TV’s programming department, who was also in charge of a TV program hosted by Nakai.

“I will invite some announcers,” the department chief replied.

He later asked a TV announcer if she would attend, saying, “It may benefit your job.”

She joined the barbecue and exchanged phone numbers with Nakai.

Shortly after noon on June 2, when heavy rain hit various areas of the nation, Nakai sent the TV announcer an email: “How about having dinner tonight?”

She said she had no plans that night.

Nakai replied, “I will ask other people to come.”

He added: “I’ll look for a kind of hideaway restaurant. I’m not confident if I can find any, but I will try.”

However, Nakai didn’t invite anyone else, and he never called a restaurant, the report said.

The announcer thought she would be attending a gathering with several people. She had dined with Nakai before, but there were always other people, including Fuji TV staff members, present.

Before dinner time on June 2, Nakai asked the announcer to join him at his condominium.

She reluctantly accepted the invitation, fearing her career would suffer if she rejected such an influential figure in the showbiz world.

“If I turn down the invitation, I might not be able to appear on the show,” she thought, according to the report.

Alone with Nakai, the announcer was sexually assaulted by the entertainer, the report said.

CASH OFFERED TO VICTIM

Four days later, the woman fell face down on her desk at her workplace. The chief of her department asked her what was wrong, and she explained what had happened between her and Nakai.

“I can’t live if this incident went public,” she was quoted as saying. “I want to continue my job.”

However, her hands kept trembling at work, and she couldn’t sleep at night for days.

She also lost her appetite, suffered from repeated flashbacks of the attack and ended up hospitalized.

She was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Nakai mentioned his trouble with the woman to the programming department chief who had invited the announcer to the barbecue.

The department chief replied, “I’ll make every effort to help you.”

On Nakai’s request, the chief tried to give an envelope containing 1 million yen ($6,670) in cash to the hospitalized woman as “get-well money.”

She refused the offer.

After her lawyer sent certified mail to Nakai about the sexual assault, the department chief introduced Nakai to a lawyer who had also appeared on a Fuji TV show.

In January 2024, Nakai and the woman reached a settlement.

She quit Fuji TV in August that year.

After Nakai learned about her resignation, he expressed relief in a text message to the department chief: “Now we are done with our work. Thank you so much for helping me.”

He replied: “I think we are done with the problem. If there’s anything I can do to help you, I will!”

But the “problem” did not go away. The weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun reported about the “trouble” between Nakai and the woman in December.

Nakai retired from the show-business world the following month.

Fuji TV’s vague and defensive explanations on what had happened only worsened matters for the company.

Under pressure, the broadcaster and its parent company, Fuji Media Holdings Inc., established the third-party investigative committee in January.

RESTORING DATA

The committee conducted 294 interviews with 222 people, including Nakai.

Some of them told the committee that relevant digital data had been purposely deleted, so the committee hired a specialist to restore the information.

The committee found that the TV programming department chief deleted as many as 325 text messages, including those he exchanged with Nakai.

Through the restored emails, interviews with related people and other sources, the committee patched together what had happened to the announcer.

The report also severely criticized Fuji TV for its response to the incident, characterizing it as “secondary victimization.”

The report said executives acted primarily for the benefit of Nakai instead of supporting a woman they knew was a victim of sexual violence.

Although Nakai was interviewed, he offered little information, citing the confidentiality agreement with the woman, the committee said.