Text | Reprinted Ten Points-kun
I don't know when documentaries became more and more "volumed".
The natural landscape that the audience is most familiar with has long ceased to be popular.
Documentary filmmakers, boldly extending their lenses into the dark abyss.
Marriage robbery, sexual assault, cults, capital...
Fortunately, there are also more and more victims who dare to stand up and say no: no.
However, still today, there are people who turn a blind eye.
Even when sins are exposed, cover them up with indifference.
What I want to talk about today is a documentary released by the BBC at the beginning of the month -
Who is Kitagawa ?
You may not know who he is, but you may have heard the names of his artists.
Junior team, Hikari GENJI, Arashi, Seki 8 and many other idol groups.
Noriyuki Higashiyama, Atsushi Sato, Takuya Kimura and other generations of popular idols.
They all have a common name, Janis.
As Janis' leader for decades, Kitagawa has brought this star-making factory to the level of a single company.
Whether it is the later Korean entertainment and internal entertainment concocted idols, they are all under the tutelage of Janis.
These trainees, known as Janis Jr.
He entered the company when he was about ten years old, experienced various training such as singing, dancing, acting, etc., and was also arranged to accompany the seniors to dance, participate in variety shows and other tasks.
In the end, the key vote that will determine their future is in the hands of Kitagawa .
After their debut, how much exposure and resources the idols can get is not unrelated to Kitagawa behind the scenes.
In 2019, Kitagawa died of subarachnoid hemorrhage. The obituary claims that he left in the cycle of children's love.
Today, when Japanese people mention him, there is still no shortage of praise.
However, in Janis's old rival, the well-known media Wen Chun Weekly, this is not the case.
As early as 1999, Wen Chun broke out a shocking scandal:
Kitagawa is suspected of sexual assault, and the victims are these underage Jrs who have not yet debuted.
Inside Janis, there is a long tradition of "hop-and-stay".
The boys live in Janis' "dormitory", which is actually Kitagawa home.
When night falls, Kitagawa enters their room and molests the boys.
There are rooms where more than one boy lives.
Some boys lay on their own beds, clearly listening to their companions next door being molested.
My mind echoed, "It could be me next." ”
Kitagawa was not limited to the dormitories where they lived together.
Some victims have mentioned that Kitagawa once visited their home.
The parents put the child in the same room as Kitagawa .
That night, in his own home, Kitagawa sexually assaulted him, and his parents were next door.
What's even more frightening is that some artists revealed:
In order to slow down the development of boys so that they can more closely meet Kitagawa preferences in the long term.
They are injected with estrogen to keep as "little boys" as possible.
When the news was broken by Wen Chun that year, Janis, who was in full swing, immediately took Wen Chun to court and claimed 100 million yen.
Even if Wen Chun had sufficient evidence, the judge ruled that the sexual assault was true.
But Fumiharu still paid 1.2 million yen in compensation.
Because this was only a lawsuit, and even the police did not initiate an investigation, Kitagawa continued to control his empire.
Four years after Kitagawa died, the BBC's exposure has sparked limited discussion in Japan.
This is not so much a documentary as a "fried cold rice".
Less shocking news, lack of professional judgment.
This is more like the "fuss" of the European and American media about Japan's "unspoken rules of the entertainment industry" for many years.
Since the earliest of the 60s, there have been sporadic reports about Kitagawa since the 60s.
And most well-known media, ignoring this, Janis's attitude, only blocking.
No contact, no response, even if it is just the exterior of the building, it is not allowed to shoot.
Like the old rival Wenchun Weekly, because of repeated revelations, he was once included in Janis's interview blacklist.
Because of the silence of the media, the public is also very cold about it.
In interviews on the street, many people said they had indeed heard the news.
But "people die for great", so they don't want to discuss, "there is no value".
On the contrary, Janis himself, in the face of this incident, still maintains the same attitude as when Kitagawa was alive.
The perpetrator is silent, but what about the victim?
When asked about their parents, more than one victim believed that their parents were fully informed.
But, more stark than sexual assault is the fact that:
If you please Kitagawa and you may become an idol and make a lot of money.
If you refuse Kitagawa , you will definitely be beaten into the cold palace and finally go home in ashes.
It is with this feeling that those parents instead use their children to please Kitagawa .
They put children and animals in one room in exchange for more resources of fame and fortune.
Some parents even say to their sons, "In order to become famous, you have to raise your ass to Mr. Kitagawa ." ”
How cruel.
Under the silent pressure of the whole society, most victims have also chosen to shut up for decades.
Victims who are willing to be interviewed have different attitudes depending on the degree of victimization.
Victims who have been sexually assaulted have so far been unable to fully accept it.
When he recounted the past in front of the camera, he was still choked and crying.
The BBC also interviewed some victims who were "massaged", moved by Kitagawa and stopped halfway.
It is clear that they have since lost the opportunity to "soar".
However, in the midst of a long silence, they are even thinking:
Everyone else is accepting and patient, am I wrong to do this?
Others defended Kitagawa :
He did this out of love for his children.
Some people even take the initiative to crave "love" from Kitagawa and even compete for favors.
Journalists from the BBC were shocked.
But in the eyes of psychologists, this is a common and reasonable behavior.
Out of self-preservation, the victim denies the trauma and even glorifies it.
Under the rendering of Japan's "shame culture", it is more like an absurd act of shame to stand up and admit it.
Shameful sexual assault must be your own problem, don't say it out loud and cause trouble for others.
And Kitagawa behavior, which everyone has tacitly approved for so many years, how can it be wrong?
The victim immersed himself in the shadows for too long, even fuelling the darkness with his own silence.
However, regardless of the seriousness of the victims, the attitude of the victims to the vivid memory of this past illustrates the fact that there is no need to repeat.
The fear brought by Kitagawa has penetrated deep into their lives.
The BBC documentary ended with regret.
Even on the extranet, there are some fan commenters who think it's "nothing to do".
But just a few days ago, Wen Chun updated his fierce material to add bricks to this "horror film".
According to the victims interviewed, many children tried to escape Kitagawa during the dormitory.
They sleep in jeans and "tie three belts" on their pants to avoid being easily taken off.
The child's room, which has been "flipped" for many days, will become a safe house.
Because Kitagawa will turn his gaze to other people.
The picture comes from the Internet, if there is infringement, contact to delete
JR, who is targeted, will be actively kept away by everyone so as not to "harm the pond fish".
It is clear that when the public is silent in the name of "protecting the victims".
That "my turn" horror film.
Still every late night, it repeats itself again in the minds of the former teenagers.