How the Japanese TV industry is changing

Japan Times

30-07-2025

Compliance violations and misconduct in Japanese entertainment had long been overlooked, with the sector placed on a pedestal and many dismissing issues as just 'part of the business.' But a recent wave of scandals involving TV figures may present an opportunity for the industry to make permanent changes.
After a series of major scandals in recent years — beginning for many with the sexual abuse allegations against entertainment mogul Johnny Kitagawa and more recently the 'sexual trouble' involving former boy band member Masahiro Nakai and a Fuji TV announcer — the TV industry appears to be growing more sensitive toward issues of harassment and misconduct.
Several major celebrities who were once seen as having permanent star status, including Nakai as well as popular comedian Hitoshi Matsumoto, have been exiled from the industry as victims came forward to speak out about their behavior.
More recently, evidence of compliance violations — a phrase used to refer to instances of not abiding by regulations or codes of conduct — has tended to be addressed openly, with the responsible parties suspended from the industry as part of a new approach to policing inappropriate behavior.
In a recent example, Taichi Kokubun, a former member of boy band Tokio, was dropped from a Nippon TV program over compliance violations. Within a week, the band went as far as to announce its disbandment after a 31-year career.
The speed at which this occurred stands in stark contrast to the Fuji TV incident, in which it reportedly took around a year and a half for management to ask Nakai to step down from his programs after they became aware of the incident with the female announcer — a delay that would make heads shake today.
Is this signaling an industrywide shift in how compliance violations are dealt with? Could it finally be time that the Japanese broadcast business, which has historically been entrenched and shaped by hierarchical power dynamics, makes changes for the better?
To some extent, the answer is yes, says Mamoru Nishiyama, an associate professor of business management at J.F. Oberlin University.
'Ever since the Johnny's issue I think there is a feeling (in the industry) that things cannot carry on like this,' said Nishiyama. 'However, with the Fuji TV scandal and issues with Taichi Kokubun, we can see that the management was still inadequate. On the other hand, the fact that these issues are coming to light is evidence that they are beginning to be seen as a problem, so I do think things are changing.'
What complicates regulating compliance issues in the industry is its deeply entrenched, traditional ways of operating — including the need for those operating in the sector to maintain close ties with major stars.
'The entertainment industry is unique — ultimately, harassment was not considered harassment,' said Nishiyama. 'Big-name celebrities were allowed to do whatever they wanted because they were 'special beings,' and therefore they were not expected to abide by the same common sense as regular office workers.'
Nishiyama said he has witnessed this culture firsthand. When he had gigs on TV networks, he saw major male celebrities casually asking female personalities whether they had ever slept with a talent of Johnny & Associates, Kitagawa's agency. No director or producer on the scene would be willing to call out such behavior, he noted, since minor harassment is so normalized.
This is not something that is unique to Japan and tends to happen in entertainment industries where certain people hold colossal power, said Nishiyama — as was apparent in the cases involving former film producer Harvey Weinstein and rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs in the U.S.
However, the business model in Japan where TV networks have very close and overly reliant relationships with entertainment agencies — such as the former Johnny's — creates a unique power dynamic in which broadcasters avoid challenging celebrities in order to stay in their good books.
As such, relationships are directly connected to who appears on certain shows and by extension how much viewership a show can get, and broadcasters have tended to prioritize them even if they come at the expense of others.
Nittele Tower, the headquarters of Nippon Television, in Tokyo. Taichi Kokubun, a former member of boy band Tokio, was recently dropped from a Nippon TV program over compliance violations. |
getty images
'One of the key points in the Fuji TV case with Nakai was the fact that the incident was (according to a third-party report) said to to have occurred as an 'extension of work,' said Kaname Murasaki, the head of Japan Harassment Association. The case showed a major shift in the way that broadcasters were forced to handle this kind of incident.
'I think until now TV companies had the know-how to create escape routes (for such scandals) where they would say that it was a private issue between a man and a woman and thus they did not have to be accountable for it,' he said.
Regarding the shift in the industry, Murasaki says that it could be credited to a growing number of staff working behind the scenes who are in their 20s and 30s — a younger generation that tends to be more aware and sensitive toward issues of harassment.
'Harassment that has been tolerated and normalized for many years is inevitably coming to light as they work with such staff members ... so it's impossible in this day and age for these issues to not become public,' he said.
In the past, when people spoke out about harassment, they were often ignored by the public — especially if the allegations involved popular celebrities. However, as audiences are becoming increasingly aware about harassment issues, the public has is starting to take these claims more seriously. More people are supporting those who come forward, to the point that TV networks can no longer ignore the allegations.
'It's coming in order, one by one,' said Murasaki, noting that it most likely started in 2023 when a former member of the Self-Defense Forces came forward using her real name to accuse an ex-colleague of sexual assault. This was followed by allegations surfacing against Kitagawa and the power harassment incident against a deceased member of the Takarazuka Revue.
'One key point is that (these allegations) are happening in major organizations that represent Japan,' Murasaki said.
Nishiyama added that the shift in the recognition of harassment as a serious issue, especially among the younger generation, could be a key factor in preventing future incidents.
'You see it when watching TV, and even in my experience interacting with staff behind the scenes, many of them are young, sensible people,' he said.
'The number of women has also increased significantly and so it may seem like things are stuck in the past, but that's a problem with upper management. But the culture among the young people in broadcasting is really changing. That's why having a change in leadership is very important,' he added.
However, both Murasaki and Nishiyama stress that lasting change will require systematic regulations and fundamental reforms in how broadcasters operate.
While the current situation means that only the networks that have been caught in scandals — such as Fuji TV — are being forced to reassess their corporate governance, one possibility could be a stricter regulatory framework that all broadcasters must follow to handle such incidents.
With a background working in the advertisement industry, which faced a lot of scrutiny a decade ago after the suicide of a worker at major agency Dentsu due to overwork, Nishiyama said that there is most likely a lot of low-hanging fruit to improve operations at broadcasters.
'Even if the sticky human relationships and power dynamics are cut out and operations are carried out in a more businesslike and rational way I think that there is ultimately no big issue,' he said. '(TV broadcasters) are going to find that those very Japanese close relations in the entertainment industry are not critical in getting work done ... so I think there will be a growing trend that the nature of work itself should change.'
And if meaningful change requires rethinking the very nature of TV as we know it — with new content airing around the clock, creating a high-pressure, time-sensitive environment — then perhaps that, too, needs to change.
'If protecting human rights comes at the cost that broadcast content becomes less substantial and frequent, such major reforms may be necessary,' said Murasaki. 'It will be extremely difficult, but if we don't think seriously about these issues and take drastic measures I don't think we will be able to say that the television industry has really changed.
'I think we are currently going through a time where we can expect quite a lot of reform. It's not a good thing but because so many scandals came to light in such a short span of time, the silver lining is that it could be an opportunity for the TV industry to make a big change.'