Fuji TV settles ‘sexual violence' case with apology and compensation to victim
According to the network's statement released Thursday, Fuji TV President Kenji Shimizu apologized in-person to the unnamed woman over the incident, as well as the fact that the company did not respond appropriately despite her having reported the misconduct to the company.
The company also took responsibility for having caused her additional emotional distress due to its initial reactions to the incident. The amount of the compensation was not disclosed.
'We express our deepest gratitude and sincere respect to Ms. A for giving us this opportunity to apologize," the statement read.
In the meeting with the woman, Fuji TV also expressed its commitment to protecting her from any further verbal harassment and cyberbullying over the incident. The broadcaster also agreed to compensate for the financial and mental damages she received due to the company's poor handling of the incident.
The major TV network has been embroiled in the series of scandals since the end of last year, when two weekly magazines reported on allegations of 'serious trouble' between the woman and Nakai, a former member of boy band SMAP.
A third-party report on the company released in March described the incident as 'sexual violence' that occurred as an extension of how the TV network operated, bringing to light its poor handling of the aftermath as well as a culture of harassment.
However, Nakai's side has been disputing the third-party report arguing that the characterization of the incident being 'sexual violence' was incorrect. On Friday, Nakai's lawyer released a statement following reports on Fuji TV's meeting with the woman, saying that 'both parties have the same human rights' and asking the media to be careful in the language they use when covering the case, TV Asahi reported.
Since the incident, Fuji TV has revamped the company's board, as well as its parent company's board members, aside from the newly appointed Shimizu. The company and its executives are committed to plans of reform to reinvent their company and prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NHK
4 hours ago
- NHK
Japan Day celebrated at World Expo in Osaka
The 2025 World Expo in Osaka, western Japan, celebrated Japan Day on Thursday, with a presentation combining traditional and contemporary performing arts. Japan's Crown Prince Akishino, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and representatives from various countries attended the event. The stage program included a performance of gagaku, or Imperial court music, and a projection mapping of manga featuring Myaku-Myaku, the 2025 World Expo official character. There was also a performance fusing contemporary dance and manga. Actor Fujiwara Norika, who serves as the honorary director of the Japan Pavilion, read out a message about the region's restoration from a major earthquake in 1995. The event ended with a live performance by popular Japanese singer Misia, who sang three songs. Following the ceremony, the Hello Kitty character, a popular regional mascot named Kumamon and people clad in kimono walked underneath the Grand Ring, a huge structure built as the symbol of the expo.
6 hours ago
U.S. Military Apologizes over Okinawa Sexual Assault Case
News from Japan Society Jul 3, 2025 19:10 (JST) Naha, Okinawa Pref., July 3 (Jiji Press)--A senior officer of the U.S. Marine Corps on Thursday apologized to Okinawa Prefecture over a recent conviction of a Marine for sexually assaulting a woman in the southernmost Japan prefecture. This marked the first direct apology from the U.S. military to the Okinawa prefectural government in a series of sexual crimes committed by U.S. servicemen in the prefecture since last year. "We apologize for the anxiety that this has caused the people of Okinawa, and our thoughts are with the victim in this case," Col. Neil Owens, chief of staff for the 3rd Marine Division, said at the Okinawa prefectural government office in Naha. Owens also explained efforts to prevent a recurrence, such as strict regulations on night-time outings and drinking by members. "We cannot help but feel strong indignation because (the offenders) ignored women's human rights and dignity," Masahito Tamari, head of the Okinawa governor's office, said in response to the apology. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
Japan Times
7 hours ago
- Japan Times
‘I Am Kirishima' peels back the mystery of a fugitive radical
Films about Japanese radicals of the 1970s who hijacked airplanes, blew up buildings and murdered each other in the name of ideological purity may strike younger viewers as unfolding in an alternative universe. But filmmakers like Banmei Takahashi ('Rain of Light,' 2001), Koji Wakamatsu ('United Red Army,' 2007) and Masao Adachi ('The Escape,' 2025), who knew that turbulent time firsthand, have earnestly tried to make it understandable to succeeding generations, while being faithful to the stories of their extremist protagonists. That is also true of Takahashi's latest, 'I Am Kirishima,' a strongly rooted, deliberately paced drama about the underground existence of Satoshi Kirishima, a former member of the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front (EAAJAF) whose smiling face was featured on wanted posters for half a century. Takahashi's film is more straightforward than Adachi's Kirishima biopic, 'The Escape,' which scrambles chronology and flirts with surrealism. It is, however, similarly in ideological rapport with its eponymous character, played in an outwardly tamped-down, inwardly seething performance by Katsuya Maiguma. Neither film probably would have been made if Kirishima, who was 21 when he went on the run in 1975, had not evaded capture until January 2024, when he revealed his true identity while in a hospital being treated for terminal cancer. He died four days later, his sensational revelation making national news. Co-scripted by Takahashi and Aki Kajiwara, the film starts with a rather plodding, if needed, primer on the actions and beliefs of the EAAJAF after Kirishima joined it, including the September 1974 bombing of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters building in Tokyo that resulted in six deaths. Though Kirishima shared the rage of his comrades at Japanese corporations that exploited their workers, both foreign and domestic, he was against killing, as the film takes pains to emphasize. After conspiring to blow up buildings belonging to a major construction company, Kirishima is shown wracked with remorse when he learns that one explosion injured a security guard. Be that as it may, once police begin scooping up EAAJAF members, including Hisaichi Ugajin (Eita Okuno), Kirishima's one real friend in the group, he changes his name to Hiroshi Uchida and disappears into the netherworld of day-labor jobs, where IDs are not required. In the 1980s, he finds a home of sorts at a small construction company in Kanagawa Prefecture run by an uninquisitive boss, but as he enters middle age, Kirishima feels trapped in his lonely, tedious existence. Romantic sparks fly between 'Uyan' (Kirishima's nickname) and Keena (Kana Kita), a singer at a local pub whose plaintive version of the 1986 pop hit 'Jidai Okure' ('Behind the Times') warms his heart, but he knows that marriage is out. 'I can never make anyone happy,' he tells her. Much later, by now an old man, he bridles at the casual anti-Korean remarks of a blonde new hire — an indication that, though his gait has slowed and his hair has turned gray, his core values remain as fiercely alive as ever. Whether 'I Am Kirishima' exposes the truth behind the youthful mug that once grinned from thousands of police boxes remains a question since so little is known about the man. Perhaps, after decades of living behind a mask, Kirishima himself had only a weak grasp of his pre-fugitive self. But as his deathbed confession dramatically shows, he also never totally lost it.
