A sex scandal involving famous Japanese TV host Masahiro Nakai and Fuji Television Network Inc. has exposed systemic governance and abuse issues among Japanese broadcasters, causing public disenchantment with the media industry likely difficult to overcome. The fallout from the scandal surrounding Nakai, who rose to fame as a member of the now-defunct pop group SMAP, has already led to over 70 Japanese companies pulling ads from Fuji TV, as well as the resignations of two of the broadcaster's top executives.
Nakai, 52, earlier this month announced his retirement from show business. Other Japanese broadcasters are now grappling with an accelerating crisis as allegations of inappropriate conduct and governance failures rock the industry. Major networks, including Nippon Television Network Corp., Tokyo Broadcasting System Television Inc., TV Asahi Corp., and TV Tokyo Corp., have launched investigations to determine whether similar incidents have occurred within their organizations.
The controversy stems from reports made by a weekly magazine which alleged the circumstances of Nakai’s nonconsensual sexual activity with a woman during a dinner arranged by a Fuji TV employee. This incident reportedly led to a 90 million yen ($577,000) out-of-court settlement. Fuji TV faced criticism for its slow response; it only acted after U.S. fund Dalton Investments LLC, which owns shares of Fuji Media Holdings Inc., issued a letter on January 14 requesting the establishment of a third-party committee to investigate.
This scandal is part of troubling pattern; the Japanese entertainment industry has faced multiple sex-related scandals, most notoriously accusations against Johnny Kitagawa, the founder of the now-defunct talent agency Johnny & Associates, which propelled many boy bands, including SMAP, to success. Fuji TV held its first press conference on Nakai's situation on January 17, but the event drew fire for limiting participants and banning filming, alongside providing vague answers to pressing questions.
The network revealed its employee was not involved initially but faced backlash for allowing Nakai to continue performing on various shows knowing the allegations against him. Koichi Minato, then president of Fuji TV, justified his decision to keep the incident under wraps based on privacy concerns for the woman involved.
The press conference, intended to mitigate the fallout, only stoked the fire of public outrage. Sponsors responded quickly and severely, with major companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. withdrawing their advertisements from the network. By January 23, Fuji TV announced they were establishing independent third-party investigations due to increasing internal pressure for accountability from advertisers and the public.
During Fuji TV's subsequent press conference, which lasted ten hours and attracted over 400 attendees, Minato and Chairman Shuji Kanoh announced their resignations. Unfortunately for the network, the event did not yield clear answers or reassurance to returning advertisers. One telecommunications company official indicated their advertisements would remain off-air "until the third-party committee's report is complete," expressing skepticism about Fuji’s commitment to true reform.
Meanwhile, the Shukan Bunshun weekly, which originally reported the dinner incident, clarified its mistakes, stating Fuji employees had not invited the woman. They did reaffirm, though, Fuji's complicity as Nakai invited her, alongside allegations of broader abuses involving female employees within the network.
The manner Fuji TV managed its constituent scandal reveals significant cultural deficiencies within the organization, as decades-old practices continue to persist. Hisashi Hieda, who headed Fuji TV for nearly three decades until 2017, remains influential and faces criticism for maintaining authority over personnel issues, which some say hampers effective reform.
Documentary director and ex-Fuji employee Arata Oshima remarked, civil servants like Minato have been out of touch with contemporary societal standards. While Minato acknowledged the company's previous complacency around outdated gender norms, he iterated the need for systemic shifts within Fuji TV.
The publicization of Nakai's case has prompted both scrutiny of individual conduct and institutional structures across Japanese media landscapes, leading to calls for more significant protection measures and structures against sexual misconduct. This pressure adds to the seismic shifts already underway due to the delayed #MeToo movement's effect on Japan's entertainment industry.
The Nakai scandal encapsulates not just the burdens of one man's actions but the broader specter of media accountability and reform being demanded by the Japanese public. The third-party investigation is due to deliver its report by March 2025, and the industry watches closely to see if this moment will spark real change or fade like so many previous incidents.