TOKYO — Disgraced Japanese talent agency Smile Up, formerly known as Johnny and Associates, is under renewed scrutiny following revelations that two additional staff members allegedly abused young boys, along with founder Johnny Kitagawa who died in 2019.
A year since the release of a documentary that sparked a slew of child abuse allegations against Kitagawa from former idols and trainees at Japan’s biggest J-Pop agency, Smile Up CEO Noriyuki Higashiyama told the BBC recently that “I have heard there were two other [perpetrators]” and “to my knowledge, [both] are still alive.”
