The Nakai Masahiro scandal is still fresh in everyone’s minds in Japan. Against that backdrop comes yet another TV station scandal involving yet another male supergroup. The incident raises questions about whether Japanese TV outlets are doing enough to stop workplace harassment.
Kokubun Taichi’s “compliance violations” at NTV
The news broke this weekend that Kokubun Taichi, the keyboardist for the group TOKIO, was let go from his NTV variety program The! Tetsuwan! Dash!!. Later, TOKIO announced on its official website that Kokubun was on an “indefinite hiatus.”
Why the sudden boot? Both NTV and TOKIO vaguely mentioned “compliance violations.” At a press conference, NTV President Fukuda Masayuki refused to be more specific.
Tabloid reporters, however, found some insiders willing to spill the beans. According to FLASH, Kokubun presented an affable face to people he regarded as equals. However, he was vicious and horrible to regular staff. Sources say he regularly abused staff for “misses” such as illegible writing or bringing him a wet tissue when he wanted an oshibori (the small moist towels given out before meals at restaurants).
Multiple people said Kokubun regularly engaged in power harassment. He would yell at staff on a daily basis, telling those who he thought screwed up to “get out of my sight.”
It didn’t stop there, either. In at least one instance, Kokubun engaged in sexual harassment, begging a female staff member to send him lewd photos. Others say he’s frequently tried to invite female staff on dinner dates and also touched them without their consent.
Sources say that, on numerous occasions, they saw Kokubun having unnecessary private conversations with female staff. Several female staff members reportedly sought help from others at the station because Kokubun was becoming “overly familiar” with them.
Harassment scandals abound on Japanese TV
The scandal isn’t the first for the Japanese pop group. In 2018, member Yamaguchi Tatusya was arrested for plying a teenage girl with alcohol and then sexually assaulting her. Yamaguchi left the group and never returned.
The first half of this year was dominated by another Japanese TV scandal. Fuji TV found itself in hot water after it came out that former SMAP member Nakai Masahiro had paid an ex-Fuji newscaster to settle a sexual assault allegation. The station came under fire after reports alleged that staff members helped cajole other female newscasters to attend hotel parties that Nakai hosted.
It’s not just the large stations under fire, either. We recently wrote about a former local TV star who’s suing Ai Television, a TBS affiliate in Matsuyama City, Ehime Prefecture. She alleges that she was sexually harassed regularly and the station did nothing to stop it. Not only that, but the station broadcast some of the offensive comments aimed at her, adding in sexually suggestive subtitles to boot.
It’s good that these incidents are finally coming to light. However, the alarming number of them reveals a larger rot that may take years to root out. In Kokubun’s case, there are many lingering questions around how much NTV execs and other TOKIO members themselves knew about his behavior – and how long they tolerated it.
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Sources
【裏の顔はまるで別人】国分太一めぐる“現場の悪評”が次々…DASH村ロケでもスタッフに怒号. FLASH
弊社所属タレントに関するお知らせ. TOKIO official web site
