TOKYO (TR) – Earlier this month, Toru Ota, the president of Kansai Television Co., announced his resignation over the case of sexual violence by former TV personality Masahiro Nakai against a female Fuji Television Network, Inc. announcer.
At the time of the incident in 2023, Ota was serving as managing director of Fuji TV. “I want to apologize for being unable to empathize with the woman’s feelings and causing her anguish,” the 66-year-old Ota said on April 4.
Ota became aware of the incident in August 2023, according to the investigative report by the third-party committee set up by Fuji TV and its parent company Fuji Media Holdings, Inc.
However, he and then Fuji TV president Koichi Minato concluded at the time that it was a “private matter between a man and a woman.”
The results of the investigative report clearly show, However, the woman was pressured due to her position at the company, which TBS News (Apr. 8) reveals through the reprinting of text messages from Nakai, who resigned from show business earlier this year.
“It’s boring if it’s just guys”
The incident occurred at a barbecue at Nakai’s apartment. The third-party committee restored and investigated Nakai and others’ deleted emails and messages on chat app Line. In them, the truth of what transpired became clear.
Nakai wrote to a Fuji TV programming executive on May 28, 2023, “It’s boring if it’s just guys. I wonder if some Fuji TV announcer can come.”
The executive then responded, “I think I’ll try asking [full name of the female victim].”
The woman who was invited by executive received an email from Nakai two days later. “How about dinner tonight? I’m inviting members,” he wrote.
The victim thought it was a meeting with multiple people and expressed her intention to attend. However, the situation changed that evening.
“Maybe it’s because of the rain, but the other members are not very forthcoming,” Nakai wrote. “I want to drink, but it’s just the two of us. What should we do? A restaurant. I’m not sure, but I’ll look for one.”
However, during the hearing of the third-party committee, Nakai revealed, “I didn’t invite the other members, and I wasn’t looking for a restaurant.”
In the end, he suggested a meal for just the two of them at Nakai’s apartment. The woman said she there was no alternative but to accept.
“If a big name in the entertainment industry, who I work with, asked me to go, I had no choice but to go. I was worried that if I refused, it would affect my work,” she said.
“We can see a lack of understanding of sexual violence”
The third-party committee investigation report said the subsequent actions toward the woman that night said that the actions of Nakai constituted sexual assault. It added that it occurred as an “extension of work.”
After the incident, she was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She wanted to return to work but wound up leaving the company the next year.
Akira Takeuchi, the chairman of the third-party committee, said, “[The two] were in a professional relationship, a well-known talent and an announcer who had been with the company for several years. There was a power disparity there.”
“We can see a lack of understanding of sexual violence and a low awareness of human rights,” the report said.
The report also highlighted sexual harassment by host Osamu Sorimachi, who resigned on March 27, against two women between 2006 and 2008.
“The corporate culture is very tolerant of sexual harassment within the company. Sexual harassment is rampant,” Takeuchi said.
The third-party committee determined that Nakai also sexually harassed another female announcer at a meeting held in a hotel suite in 2021.
The 381,365 yen spent on this meeting was reportedly processed by the aforementioned programming executive as a Fuji TV expense.
“We have realized how naive our self-awareness was until now,” said current Fuji TV president Kenji Shimizu.
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