In March 2023, BBC exposed allegations of sexual exploitation against Johnny Kitagawa, who founded only male talent agency company Johnny & Associates and recently died in 2019 at the age of 87.

According to the BBC report, many boys who aspired to become idols went through the Johnny & Associates system, giving Kitagawa unsupervised access and control over them.

One survivor, using the pseudonym Hayashi, shared his experience of being abused by Kitagawa. Similar stories surfaced in 1999 when a respected weekly magazine published articles about allegations from aspiring J-pop idols who claimed to have been sexually abused as teenagers.

Despite the testimonies, the allegations were not widely acknowledged in the public consciousness, possibly due to the co-dependent relationship between the Japanese press and the Kitagawa empire. Media companies relied on access to talent from Johnny & Associates for revenue and promotional purposes, leading to reluctance to report negatively about the agency or its idols.

In 2000, Kitagawa and his company sued the magazine for libel, but the Tokyo High Court eventually ruled that most of the claims made were true, confirming that Kitagawa had sexually abused minors within his agency. However, the verdict was met with more silence, and the libel case didn't lead to a criminal trial.

After the BBC report, Johnny & Associates met criticism from fans and alleged victims for failing to investigate the allegations. They also criticized that Japanese media companies have 'ignored' the matter and remained silent.

In May 2023, the current CEO of Johnny & Associates, Julie Keiko Fujishima, who is a niece of Kitagawa, apologised to the victims in a video published on the company's official website. However, she stopped short of saying individual allegations were true and claimed not to have known about her uncle's actions at the time. Fujishima also said there would be an internal "compliance committee" to investigate and would not be an independent investigation.

This issue was picked by the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights in its first country visit to Japan from 24 July to 4 August 2023. Kyodo News reported that the Working Group will conduct investigation by interviewing relevant personnel.