The President of Japan’s largest boyband agency has revealed that its now deceased founder sexually abused young musicians.

The news comes decades after allegations against Johnny Kitagawa first emerged.

The agency founder died of a stroke at 87 in 2019 and masterminded the birth of J-pop supergroups SMAP, Arashi and TOKIO, who saw massive success across Asia.

Japanese media first reported on abuse allegations in 1999, but a recently released BBC documentary and denunciations from victims has prompted the agency to speak out.

🇯🇵's male talent agency Johnny & Associates has apologised re sexual abuse by its late founder, Johnny Kitagawa.

His niece, Julie Fujishima, is replaced by actor/singer Noriyuki Higashiyama as its president.

👇🏻"Isn't keeping Johnny's name like calling it Hitler/Stalin company?" https://t.co/fEQbj7bxTz

— Mariko Oi 大井真理子 (@BBCMarikoOi) September 7, 2023

“Both the agency itself and I myself as a person recognise that sex abuse by Johnny Kitagawa took place,” said Julie Fujishima, niece of the accused.

“I apologise to his victims from the bottom of my heart,” she told a news conference in Tokyo. Fujishima added that she was stepping down as head of Johnny & Associates “to take responsibility.”

Before his death, Kitagawa had successfully sued for defamation over the accusations and was never criminally charged.

A panel of experts last month released the results of its first, in-depth look into the allegations against Kitagawa, concluding that his abuse went as far back as the 1950s, before his company was even founded.

Over the years, aspiring boybands, or “Johnny’s Jrs”, sought his mentorship, and the panel estimated that at least “a few hundred” of them had been victimised.