22-05-2025
Fuji TV third-party panel defends report's fairness on former personality
A third-party panel set up by Fuji Television and its parent company has defended the appropriateness of the fact-finding process used to determine that TV personality Nakai Masahiro committed sexual violence against a Fuji TV announcer.
In a report released in late March, the panel determined that the woman was subjected to sexual violence by Nakai while engaging in activities related to her work. The finding was based on the definition of sexual violence by the World Health Organization.
Nakai's legal team issued a rebuttal on May 12. It argued that although the report used the WHO's broad definition of the term "sexual violence," there was no confirmation of the kind of violent sexual acts generally associated with the term in Japanese.
The legal team concluded that the report lacks impartiality and fairness and is extremely damaging to an individual's reputation and social status, and is therefore profoundly problematic.
The team called on the panel to disclose relevant evidence and provide an explanation.
The third-party panel released a written response on Thursday.
The response stated that the conclusion was based on an accumulation of the objective picture of the circumstances surrounding the case, along with statements from the parties concerned and other evidence.
The panel added that the WHO's definition of sexual violence is a global standard, and that it believes an objective criterion like this should be applied when assessing this particular case.
The panel rejected the Nakai side's request to disclose evidence, citing its confidentiality obligations to Fuji Television and others.
It concluded that it believes its investigation did not lack neutrality, fairness or impartiality.
Nakai was a member of the disbanded popular boy-band group SMAP.
