Thursday, February 06, 2025

The Aum Shinrikyo Video Problem of TBS - Lessons in crisis management which FujiTV can probably learn from


While a lot of attention is on FujiTV now for its handling of the Nakai Masahiro scandal, governance structure, compliance systems, corporate culture and other unpleasant stuff that may have taken within the organisation, the other TV stations are also wary of the scandal's fire spreading to their sides and hurting their reputations and profits. In particular, TBS being the first to announce its internal investigation to uncover possible wrongdoings attracted speculation over whether its swift action was due to its past experience with a huge scandal more than 20 years ago.

This article from JBpress features an interview with former TBS announcer Shimomura Kenichi who is currently a special appointment professor at Hakuoh University and a freelance announcer. Being someone who went through the days when TBS was in the thick of the Aum Shinrikyo video problem back, he had some words of advice and learning points for the FujiTV employees now.

Firstly, what was the Aum Shinrikyo Video Problem? In a nutshell:
  • Also known as the TBS Video Problem or TBS Aum Video Problem.
  • On 26 Oct 1989, the production staff of TBS "wide show" (later termed as infotainment) programme "3 ji ni aimashou" showed an interview video of lawyer Sakamoto Tsutsumi to executive members of the cult Aum Shinrikyo at their demand. 
  • These executives viewed the video in which Sakamoto had criticised the cult within TBS' premises.
  • This led to the cult leader Asahara Shoko ordering his followers to kill Sakamoto.
  • Sakamoto and his family including his wife and son were murdered by 6 cult members on 4 Nov 1989.
And the long story is...

TBS had already planned to air a special about Aum Shinrikyo on 27 Oct 1989 so Sakamoto's interview was supposed to be an add-on to the prepared footage. In actual fact, besides Sakamoto, there were also two other leading figures in the anti-Aum Shinrikyo movement i.e. journalist Maki Taro and anti-cult activist Nagaoka Hiroyuki who were interviewed for this programme. The recording of the interviews took place in the morning of 26 Oct. 

Concurrently, the news reporting department's society news team was on site at Aum Shinrikyo's Fujisan base to film Asahara in action. The cult came to know about Sakamoto's involvement (he was known to be anti-Aum Shinrikyo) and questioned TBS' intention of doing such a SP. Although the TBS news team promised to strike a balance between their reporting and the SP, the cult still demanded to watch the interview videos before the broadcast which was agreed to by the producer on duty there so as to resolve the issue on the spot.

In the wee hours of the same day, three executives of the cult came to TBS and insisted on watching Sakamoto's video. The general producer agreed to this only if the cult would let his subordinates continue to interview them for TBS' news reporting. It was then that TBS Vision (now known as TBS Sparkle) showed the edited version of the video tape to the cult executives. One of them was taking notes on paper while watching the video. TBS was also made to promise not to show the interview video.

On 31 Oct, three cult members headed to Sakamoto's law firm where negotiations fell apart and Sakamoto told them that he intended to file a lawsuit against Aum Shinrikyo. 4 days later, the murders happened.

Once the murders of Sakamoto and his family came to light, Aum Shinrikyo was suspected of being responsible but there were no investigative actions taken against them at least until 1995 which led to the case going cold. At that time, TBS did not reveal voluntarily that they had shown Sakamoto's interview video just days before he was murdered which later led to questions over why they decided to keep mum, why they gave in to Aum Shinrikyo's demand to view the video in the first place and if there was a direct link between the video and the murders.

What was even more damning after this episode was the Tokyo Subway Sarin Attack by Aum Shinrikyo which took place on 20 Mar 1995 and led to 13 people dead and more than 6,300 people injured. It was only when investigations into the cult led to the confession of one executive who disclosed the exchange with TBS over Sakamoto's interview. The police and prosecutors then requested for TBS' cooperation in the investigations in September which led to the discovery of the management being aware of what had happened in 1989. However, the TV station didn't think that this was a huge problem back then and only launched an internal investigation committee one month later on 9 Oct.

The prosecutors then asked TBS to produce the interview video of Sakamoto as evidence on 12 Oct just before they found the notes taken by the executive when he watched the video in 1989. However, the cult members were ambiguous about whether they did watch Sakamoto's video and took advantage of the fact that the notes were found on a word processor and not the handwritten version. Later, TBS was raided by the prosecutors on 18 Oct in order to retrieve the interview videos of Maki and Nagaoka but the TV station claimed that they had since been overwritten with other content. It was said then that the raid was conducted due to the prosecutors' distrust in TBS over their conflicting account of events.

A day later, NTV reported in their news programme that the suspects had indeed reported the contents of Sakamoto's interview with TBS to their leader. This was the first time that the public and the rest of TBS came to know about what happened.

The immediate reaction of TBS was to protest to NTV for its false reporting and its news programme on 19 Oct denied the allegation vehemently by saying that nothing of this sort had happened and this fact was ascertained through an internal investigation. However, NTV continued reporting the testimonies of the cult members which led to TBS directors calling them multiple times to protest and sending an official letter of complaint.

On 11 Mar 1996, TBS announced the results of their internal investigation about the Aum Video problem. Following the trial of the cult member who took the notes that were revealed in court, Sakamoto's law firm sent an open questionnaire to TBS which held a press conference and replied to them on 19 Mar that the showing of the video to Aum Shinrikyo did not take place.

A managing director of TBS was also summoned to the House of Representatives Judicial Affairs Committee as a witness over this matter who claimed that he was convinced that the video was never shown to the cult after their investigation. Regardless of the prosecutors' office's findings which they refrained from commenting on, TBS firmly believed that their investigation outcome was true and accurate.

Later that year on 23 Mar, the full version of the notes came to light and matched the contents of the Sakamoto interview video. It was then that TBS could no longer deny having shown the video to Aum Shinrikyo and the TV station held an emergency press conference 2 days later. The producer who had made the initial suggestion to show Sakamoto's video to Aum Shinrikyo admitted to the facts and his firing was announced during the press conference. The managing director who had testified at the judicial affairs committee apologised for his statement on 28 Mar and said that new facts surfaced after that hearing so that was why it caused him to provide a wrong testimony.

TBS aired a special programme on 30 April where it announced the findings of its internal investigation and its then-president also appeared in the beginning to address the viewers. A final report was submitted to the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications followed by the resignations of the president and several senior management members. As a show of apology, it suspended its broadcast for 5 days during the late night period (from 12 midnight onwards) until 24 May and sent a new response to Sakamoto's law firm to replace their earlier reply.

Several "wide show" programmes were shut down due to the scandal with the first being "3 ji ni aimashou" which was the starting point of this issue. The social reporting department was closed and TBS withdrew from the infotainment show genre from 1996 to 2005. Some of the shows which focused on reporting social trends were inherited by the news department while some had their production shifted to other departments.

TBS was severely criticised for violating journalism ethics by not protecting their information sources and keeping these confidential. In addition, they had kept quiet about their exchange with Aum Shinrikyo when an open investigation was conducted for the Sakamoto family's murders and still denied their involvement for more than 5 months after the notes for the video came to light in court. The action of showing the interview video was widely seen as the catalyst for the killings which also led to an outcry from the public over the TV station's responsibility in this matter. Even while the management knew about the situation, they were believed to have concealed the facts deliberately which reflected poor crisis management on their part. 

The investigation committee's effectiveness was also called into question because they did not even know that some employees had given different accounts of events to the prosecutors and the committee. The father of Sakamoto's wife subsequently related how dishonest TBS had been in dealing with the bereaved through a book he wrote and how they had been evasive and dismissive of the bereaved's efforts to get to the bottom of things. Other TV stations were wary of becoming another TBS and stopped interviewing the cult's executives after the problem came to light.

On the other hand, there were also views that TBS' action might not have led to the killings as Sakamoto was already critical of the cult in the media well before his appearance in the TBS interview. Besides, it was a common practice back then for interviewees to request to see the videos before they went to air and the incident was before the terror attacks by Aum Shinrikyo happened. It would not have been possible for the media to predict at that time that the cult would conduct such a series of serious terror attacks. The absence of privacy laws at that time was also raised as a point to argue that it was illegal to fire the producers who leaked the video.

In the judgement for Asahara's trial, there was only a short paragraph describing the events what led to the viewing of the video and the confrontation at Sakamoto's law firm but no mention of the murders nor subsequent impact on parties such as TBS.

Ever since 1996, TBS had avoided using the word "wide show" and only returned to this genre of programmes in 2015 through "Vivit". It resumed using this term which used to be a taboo from Sep 2019.

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In Shimomura's interview, he talked about the situation back then in 1996 when the problem first became public knowledge:
  • Only a limited number of people knew about the problem so it was shocking for the rest of the employees to find out about it, including himself.
  • Even without a thorough and proper investigation, TBS' approach to deny everything from the start added fuel to fire and led to strong distrust and anger towards the management.
  • Considering that the impact of the action most likely led to the loss of 3 lives, it was naive and irresponsible to insist that "we knew nothing about it" as a way to get away from the scandal.
He felt that the current employees in FujiTV are in a similar situation as he was with the rest of the TBS employees back then and thought that there were three points of consideration which he wanted to convey to them:
  • FujiTV employees including the announcers should not be making comments like "we are also frustrated at the developments" and "we want to see the truth come to light as soon as possible" during their shows. This seems to create the faint impression, whether intended or not, that they think of themselves as "victims" in the whole scheme of things and distant themselves away from the responsibility that FujiTV needs to shoulder in the Nakai incident. It could have been better if they pledge to say that they will do their best in getting to the bottom of things and making the findings known within the limits of their abilities and capacities rather than simply show that they are waiting for others or the third party investigation committee to do that for them.
  • While FujiTV employees may be given a gag order for now and told not to speak freely to the media, this refusal is a slap in their faces as well because they are also in the business of interviewing and filming people with cameras and microphones. As such, it would not be wise to do this. To protect the victim's privacy and avoid adding fuel to speculation, there is also the need to answer with the utmost honesty and prudence. On the other hand, he also hoped that the rest of the employees would not view those who speak out with animosity. Back then when TBS was in trouble, FujiTV and Shuukan Bunshun had both interviewed him and he was frank and open during the interviews. However, it turned out that FujiTV's ambush interview was aired nationwide the following morning while Bunshun had misrepresented some of the things he said. Despite this experience, he still doesn't regret speaking to the media because he would not have been able to carry on with his job of being a journalist and interviewing others if he had rejected the interviews back then when his employer was in hot soup.
  • Although the fire of this scandal is still continuing and has the likelihood of getting bigger, it is also the time to think about how to restore faith in FujiTV and rebuild from the ashes. If there is no resolution and resolve to repent, change and revamp the corporate culture, nobody will believe their words and concrete actions should be taken rather than pay lip service. For example, the TV industry may have been pushed to the brink due to the uprise of the Internet and online streaming and that sponsors are gone due to the scandal. This might be the perfect opportunity to adopt a reverse mentality by exploring challenging and unconventional programme genres which can only be done now rather than lament the current dire situation. At the risk of being ridiculed for this opinion, he said that even if the sponsors aren't likely to return for the quarter between April and June, it's time to look forward and see what can be done with the current manpower and do programmes with extremely low budgets. Whether and when the sponsors will return is anyone's guess (most likely won't be back at the pre-scandal level in the near future), it's better to seek a breakthrough rather than play safe and stick to the old ways.
With regard to the point that FujiTV executives have been sticking to i.e. concealing the incident since it was reported to the management for the sake of protecting the victim's privacy:
  • It is understandable that the victim did not want everyone to know about such an incident of a sexual nature especially if she wanted to return to work some time in the future and did not want the incident to be an issue for her career.
  • However, based on what has been known to date, it is not clear if there were efforts to contain the information about the incident from getting out to those beyond her immediate circle i.e. the people who she relayed the incident to, the friends she may have confided in and her medical team.
  • Despite the claims to protect the victim, the developments so far do give people the impression that ultimately, FujiTV is more interested in protecting itself rather than the victim.
  • It is important for the third party investigation committee to ascertain if it was really the victim who did not want to disclose this incident or she was forced to keep quiet about it or else the controversy and speculation over FujiTV's true intention will continue.
As for the reason why Nakai was still engaged to host its shows after the incident, FujiTV's explanation was that they didn't want to agitate and provoke the victim but this was really hard to believe. At least to him, he felt that the decision was really in FujiTV's interests and not for the victim as claimed. This is also something which the third party committee will have to clarify in its investigation.

The point about Hieda Hisashi being blamed for everything that happened may not be entirely true. While the senior management did say that Hieda doesn't decide everything that goes on in FujiTV, perceived and indirect influence should be considered beyond actual influence in the organisation. Based on what he had found out from some FujiTV employees, a large number of people in the TV station were obviously mindful and wary of Hieda's influence which was highly unusual. In fact, there were views held by employees who felt that they didn't know who is in Hieda's faction, believed that they would be transferred or lose their jobs if they speak up and that if you pledge allegiance, you will be duly rewarded. As such, this kind of fear influence will cause the organisation to "shrink" inwards and the employees to practice self-censorship. For the sake of the company's survival, it might be best to give the idea of Hieda stepping down some serious thought or else FujiTV won't be able to make a fresh and proper restart.

Wednesday, February 05, 2025

Winners of the Kinema Junpo Best Ten Movie Awards - 2024


Best Japanese Movie: Yoake no subete

Best Foreign Movie: Oppenheimer

Best Leading Actor: Matsumura Hokuto (Yoake no subete)

Best Leading Actress: Kawai Yumi (Namibia no sabaku / An no koto)

Best Supporting Actor: Ikematsu Sousuke (Boku no ohisama / Baby Valkyrie Nice Days)

Best Supporting Actress: Oshidari Akiko (Boku ga ikiteru, futatsu no sekai)

Best Director: Miyake Sho (Yoake no subete)

Best Scriptwriter: Nogi Akiko (Last Mile)

Best Male Newcomer: Koshiyama Keitatsu (Boku no ohisama)

Best Female Newcomer: Nakanishi Kiara (Boku no ohisama)

Best Cultural Movie: Seigi no yukue

Readers' Choice - No.1 Japanese Movie: Yoake no subete

Readers' Choice - No.1 Japanese Movie Director: Miyake Sho (Yoake no subete)

Readers' Choice - No.1 Foreign Movie: Oppenheimer

Readers' Choice - No.1 Foreign Movie Director: Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer)

Source: Kinema Junpo

Preview of "Suiheisen no uta" (Drama SP)


Title: Suiheisen no uta / 水平線のうた
Official website: here
O.A. Dates: 1 March and 8 March 2025 at 10pm
Broadcast by: NHK
Cast: Abe Hiroshi, Shiratori Tamaki, Nakagawa Tsubasa, Kitaki Mayu, Yamanaka Takashi, Uno Shohei, Sugawara Daikichi, Yamamoto Hiroshi, Matsuoka Izumi, Sasaki Shiho, Maehara Kou, Matsushima Nao & Kato Tokiko

Tuesday, February 04, 2025

The uncanny similarities of FujiTV Winter 2025 dramas with its ongoing scandal and other related observations


As the spillover effects from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV's scandal continues to spread far and wide, its Winter 2025 season dramas are facing extremely challenging headwinds with the departure of sponsors and reviewing or termination of collaborations with government bodies and the private sector. This article from News Post Seven highlights some unexpected similarities with the current situation as well as observations about the productions in this season


* As compared to its key competitors i.e. TBS, NTV and TV Asahi, FujiTV has 5 offerings this season in the primetime timeslots i.e. 7pm to 11pm, which is 2 more than the others, namely:
  • 119 Emergency Call
  • Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~
  • Aishii ~ Shunkan kioku sousa Hiiragi han ~
  • Mondai Bukken
  • Nippon ichi no saitei otoko 

* The writer of the article wonders whether it was a coincidence or a premonition that these offerings seem to reflect the mess that FujiTV finds itself in:
  • "119 Emergency Call" is set in a fire station's communications command centre where its officers have to deal with emergencies that involve life and death situations -> FujiTV's survival is in the balance due to the pullout of sponsors, loss of advertisement income, refusals to work with them by various organisations and the impact of its role in the scandal yet to be ascertained which could open up the possibility of lawsuits and penalties.
  • "Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~" is a police suspense story using a special MRI special to create images of the brain to be used for investigation purposes -> FujiTV's press conferences were filled with ambiguous and opaque answers such as "unable to answer for the sake of protecting privacy", "yet to be ascertained" which coincide with the title.
  • "Aishii ~ Shunkan kioku sousa Hiiragi han ~" features the lead character played by Haru taking on difficult cases with her special ability nicknamed Camera Eye (photographic memory) and grappling with her painful and unforgettable past. -> This coincides with the victim in Nakai's case who has to deal with the emotional scars from what happened even till now.
  • "Mondai Bukken" is a real estate-themed mystery where the characters try to solve various strange things happening at different properties. -> There are two interpretations here i.e. FujiTV is a problematic property for its parent group and that Fuji Media Holdings actually earns more money from the property business than its media contents business.
  • "Nipponichi no saitei otoko" features Katori Shingo as a man who is at his wits' end in life and forms a fake family with his brother-in-law and the latter's children. -> FujiTV's executives have been criticised for their poor handling of the crisis and nicknamed as the worst men in Japan.

* Compared to TBS' "Mikami-sensei" or NTV's "Hotspot" or TV Asahi's "Private Banker" which have been highlighted as rather unconventional works this season, FujiTV's lineup is perceived to be very conservative and skewed towards certain niche areas:
  • The works are serious in terms of settings and tones where the lead character (s) finds himself or herself in challenging circumstances and has to deal with difficulties that come one after another.
  • Comparatively, there is lesser room for them to catch a breather as the problems are neverending. Humour is lacking in most of the works.
  • Except for "Nipponichi no saitei otoko", the other 4 works feature weekly guests and are episodic in nature i.e. one case featured in one episode. These 4 also deal with life and death issues which is seen as a safe and tested formula to get a certain level of ratings in the TV drama industry.

* However, playing it safe is increasingly seen as a weak strategy to secure critical praise and boost online streaming views as such "been-there-done-that" stories are felt to be too predictable and lacking in novelty. Even without the fallout caused by FujiTV's scandal, it would have been hard to market these dramas well.

* One other thing noted is the low number of cast members as compared to dramas from other TV stations. Based on the cast charts shown on the FujiTV official websites, "Mondai Bukken" has 6 characters, "Nipponichi no saitei otoko" has 7 and "Aishi" features a regular cast of just 5 members in the Hiiragi team. It seems to reflect the tightening of budgets to spend on a smaller number of actors and make the productions more compact as compared to before.

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My comments:
While I agree that the similarities highlighted in the article seemed too coincidental on hindsight, I thought that the point about "Aishii" with the victim felt a bit "off" and rather insensitive given the nature of this scandal.

With regard to the point about a smaller cast, I would say that this is also due to the point raised above about having weekly guests. Usually, cast charts feature "regular characters" only i.e. those who appear on a recurring basis and have a certain degree of importance in the story so for a drama like "Aishii", most likely the cast chart would only show the key characters i.e. the detectives while the criminals and suspects do not usually appear unless they turn out to be the big baddie at the end. 

Another reason for this phenomenon could be due to the nature of the story. If the drama doesn't feature many characters in the first place such as a family drama, it will definitely have a shorter cast list as compared to something like a school drama where you need to have people playing teachers and students. However, I do agree with the point that having lesser characters does sometimes show that the production budget may be lesser. It is indeed unusual for primetime dramas to be so "basic" in terms of the lineup when compared to late night dramas.

In order to find out whether the article's observation about the cast size is true, I checked the official websites of the primetime dramas for FujiTV, TBS, NTV and TV Asahi. Some things to note though:
  • While "Himitsu" was included under FujiTV's count despite being made by Kansai TV, the writer omitted "Forest" from TV Asahi's list even though it is made by ABC TV.
  • There is a discrepancy between the numbers in the cast chart and the cast list as shown in the table below.
  • Cast charts and lists may change over the course of the season with the revelation of new characters. The numbers in the table below are accurate as of 3 Feb 2025.
  • I have counted those where the characters are already shown in the cast charts even if the actors playing them have not been revealed e.g. "Kujaku no dansu, dare ga mita?". 
  • Animals and voice actors of animated characters were not counted in this tally.
  • Only dramas that have a starting time within the primetime period of 7pm to 11pm were included in this tally.
  • TV Tokyo dramas were excluded this time since they were not mentioned in the writer's analysis.

Observations
  • While the numbers do show that FujiTV's dramas this season have a lower average cast size compared to the other TV stations, the unusually high number for TBS is actually due to "Mikami-sensei" which has 44 cast members, of which 29 of them are students. TV Asahi's "Aibou Season 23" has a high cast number as well due to most of them being police officers. 
  • The lower average could also be due to the fact that FujiTV has 5 dramas so the production budget is spread thinner across each of them thus leading to a smaller cast size.
  • For dramas which have weekly guests e.g. "Kaseifu no Mitazono Season 7", the number of regular cast members tends to be on the low side. However, if you consider the guest list as well and assume that there are at least 2 per episode, the actual total should balloon to as much as more than double the number of regulars.
  • The numbers between the cast chart and cast list can differ by a lot at times as some supporting cast members' photos don't get included in the chart especially if it is a conscious attempt to prevent clutter in the chart or over-complicating it. However, most of the dramas in the sample are seeing relatively small discrepancies between both sets of data which could be due to new cast members announced along the way on one side but not on the other.
  • The average cast size for this season's primetime dramas is about 17 based on the above sample's cast chart numbers. In this sense, 4 out of 5 FujiTV's dramas are indeed below this number while "Himitsu" is on par. Comparatively, TBS' dramas are all above average, NTV has 2 out of 3 while TV Asahi has 1 out of 4 which exceed this figure. However, I think that the nature of the TBS dramas other than "Mikami-sensei" are seeing higher numbers partly due to the nature of their storylines which needs to cover more characters.
It might take more samples over a longer time to obtain more insights but from what we can tell from this season's numbers, FujiTV's cast size does seem a bit smaller across the board when compared to its competitors for this season. As to whether this is an once-off phenomenon, has been going on for a while or will continue in the future especially as some media articles are saying that actors and celebrities are seemingly becoming more cautious about getting involved in FujiTV's productions due to the ongoing scandal, only time will tell.

Monday, February 03, 2025

Quick Review #96: City Hunter (movie)


Title: City Hunter / シティーハンター

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for
Those who want to watch a well-crafted action/suspense movie and are fans of Suzuki Ryohei but don't mind this for being too short and somewhat incomplete

* Disclaimer: I have not read the manga nor watched the prior anime versions.

Liked:
- The action scenes were definitely the highlight of this movie and Suzuki Ryohei absolutely nailed them with such style and made them look so effortless. 

- The suspense part of the story moved along speedily and complemented the action scenes pretty well.

- After watching this movie, you would probably be able to appreciate better why Suzuki won so many awards for his acting here. He's always been the type to fully immerse himself into the roles until the extent that you can't really pick up traces from his other roles. I thought that he managed to balance the wacky-lecherous side and serious-cool side of Saeba Ryo really well.
While Kimura Fumino didn't get a lot of scenes, she came across as really gorgeous, charming and cool which left a pretty deep impression on me. 

Disliked: 
- As the movie was less than 2 hours long, there were some parts of the story which inevitably wouldn't be covered. It felt like there was no head and no tail - head meaning the background story of Saeba and his buddy Makimura as well as their relationship with Nogami Saeko as well as how they came to be doing what they were doing and of course, the tail being a conclusive ending which then hints at more sequels potentially coming our way. The conclusion of the case itself was a tad underwhelming as it was apparent that the so-called culprit wasn't the mastermind and the final confrontation was rather meek as compared to how the story got to that point. In view of this, while I enjoyed the process, I wouldn't say that I was satisfied with the movie as a whole given that it was "incomplete" from the perspective of someone who knows little about the original material in the first place.

- Given the limited airtime, it was also inevitable that only Suzuki got to shine while the rest had very little room to work with. Maybe a prelude might be good or a full series would be sufficient to show the essence and charm of the original material in a better way and give the other characters a chance to make an impression on viewers.

Sunday, February 02, 2025

Updates and new information from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 1 Feb 2025


- Coincidence or on purpose? Despite Nakai Masahiro's ongoing scandal, WOWOW showed his 2008 movie "Watashi wa kai ni naritai" which had attracted a lot of attention back then because fellow SMAP member Kusanagi Tsuyoshi also appeared in it. This movie was shown from 2.30pm on 27 Jan which overlapped with FujiTV's second press conference for more than an hour as it ran all the way till 5.30pm. In addition, reruns have been planned for 2 Feb and 21 Feb.
While it is not clear when the programming schedule was decided, the uncanny timing did attract a lot of attention and discussion online. What's probably not known to many is that WOWOW's biggest shareholder is actually Fuji Media Holdings which holds about 20% of its shares as of 30 Sep 2024. It might not be a deliberate decision by Fuji to do this as WOWOW's shareholder but the coincidence did raise a lot of eyebrows.

- During the broadcast of FujiTV's "Mezamashi 8" on 31 Jan 2025, it was reported that:
  • A regular board of directors' meeting for Fuji Media Holdings was held on 30 Jan 2025 which lasted for more than 4 hours.
  • Discussion topics included management renewal and the assistance to be rendered to the third party investigation committee.
  • New president Shimizu Kenji talked about Shuukan Bunshun's correction to its report and that there are various options to be considered as a response to this move but they have to be mindful of the potential impact this will have on the third party investigation committee's work. 
  • There was also doubt cast on the timing of the correction which happened on the day after the 27 Jan press conference.
  • As for whether Hieda Hisashi will leave his post as the chairman of the Fuji Sankei Group and advisor of FujiTV, Shimizu revealed that there was no discussion of this matter during the meeting nor did Hieda voluntarily offer his resignation. 
  • Hieda was present at this meeting.
  • Shimizu declined to share what Hieda said during the meeting.
- Shimizu Kenji sent an email to FujiTV employees on 30 Jan 2025 to apologise for causing pain and worry to them over the ongoing scandal. He also mentioned that FujiTV had a strong foundation to withstand the impact brought about by the lower revenue and called upon them to rest assured and continue to plan for the future. In addition, he specifically promised that more would be done in the areas of respect for human rights and ensuring transparency:
  • Admitted that FujiTV's awareness of human rights issues was lacking and that it had reacted too slowly thus resulting in the loss of faith in the organisation. In order for all employees to work with peace of mind, he will build a fair and healthy working environment.
  • Acknowledged that the current leadership had been criticised for being an "old boys' club which was not receptive to external views and promised to improve the transparency of the organisation
He then ended the email by saying that by acting honestly and in good faith, he hopes that everyone will be able to take pride in their work again by the time they regain the trust of the public. In order for this to happen, he said that every employee's involvement would be critical.

- A new casualty of the Nakai & FujiTV incident? Shofukutei Tsurube was discovered to have attended the May 2023 barbecue that was held at Nakai's place one month before the latter's incident with X-san happened. Also at the event was comedian and host Hiromi. When asked about it during NTV's "DayDay.", Hiromi insisted that it was an ordinary barbecue and that he and Tsurube had left early together.
Coincidentally or not, it was announced on 30 Jan 2025 that the 4 Feb broadcast of Tsurube's BS11 programme "Mugaku Tsurunoma" had been cancelled. The monthly talk show is released via U-NEXT since May 2022 and BS11 started doing broadcasts of past episodes since Sep 2024. 
In addition, revolving sushi chain Sushiro had taken off Tsurube's ads from its official website on 30 Jan. He has been their CM character since July 2023. When interviewed by "Josei Jishin", Sushiro said that the decision was made on the basis of "customer feedback".
In response to these movements, there have been an influx of comments online to BS11 and Sushiro asking for a clear explanation of the reason and what exactly is problematic about Tsurube to warrant such actions. In particular, Sushiro was criticised for ditching Tsurube so easily over his attendance at that barbecue despite him supporting them while Sushiro was in trouble in Jan 2023. Back then, a youth had uploaded a video of him licking the sushi and placing them back on the conveyor belt, the soy sauce bottle and cups at the table which led to a lawsuit by Sushiro asking for damages of JPY 67m (later withdrawn after the youth apologised and acknowledged his responsibility). Due to the incident, business at Sushiro was badly affected but thanks to Tsurube's ads, it was said to be a key factor in boosting consumer confidence again.

- FujiTV's broadcast rights for sporting events and sponsorships with the sporting scene are also undergoing various changes including withdrawals and reviews of existing agreements:
  • FujiTV announced on 30 Jan 2025 that it will not be airing the 49th Japan Grand Sumo Tournament due to begin at Ryogoku Kokugikan National Sumo Arena from 9 Feb 2025. While the tournament will still proceed, some parts will be changed after discussions with related parties. The tournament organised by FujiTV, is a regular fixture for sumo fans but due to its ongoing scandal, 3 sponsors have pulled out from the event thus leading to the cancellation of the TV broadcast. SKY Co., Ltd. decided to withdraw its sponsorship right after FujiTV's first press conference on 17 Jan while MIRARTH Holdings made the decision on 24 Jan. As for The Nissin Oillio Group, it decided to end all collaboration with FujiTV, pull out its CMs and will decide what to do going forward after observing the situation's developments.
  • One of the three soccer championships in Japan - Levain Cup has been broadcast on FujiTV. It is supposed to begin the new season on 20 Mar 2025 but there have been concerns raised at the J-League board of directors' meeting on 28 Jan about FujiTV's scandal. 
  • While FujiTV has a 3-year deal up to 2025 for the broadcast rights of F1, whether it can go ahead with the broadcast this year is still a question mark depending on how the scandal progresses until then. This is especially because of the presence of big-name sponsors which will be more particular about compliance issues than most Japanese companies.
  • The Japan Volleyball Association's SV League which started in 2024, is expected to broadcast its matches for this season on FujiTV's CS channel. The All-Japan Senior High School Volleyball Championships ended its season recently. The association is currently reviewing the situation and deciding what to do with these broadcast rights going forward. On the other hand, since the broadcast rights of the FIVB Volleyball World Championship and Nations Series belong to TBS, there might be a possibility that JVA may award the rights for the SV and the high school tournament to another TV station.
  • As for the golfing scene, FujiTV organises the Fuji Sankei Ladies (April) and Fuji Sankei Classic (September) championships and is a supporter of the AXA Ladies Golf Tournament (March). The Japan Ladies Professional Golfers' Association (JLPGA) is currently deciding on what to do at the moment.
  • FujiTV airs figure skating tournaments such as the World Figure Skating Championships (March). However, as the broadcast rights are given by the International Skating Union, the Japan Skating Federation is unable to answer on their behalf as to what would happen to the broadcast rights agreement with FujiTV.
  • Japan Racing Association which has been broadcasting its horse races on FujiTV for many years, decided to pull out its CMs from 20 Jan.
- The number of companies which have stopped its CMs on FujiTV is reported to have passed the 80 mark as this also includes those which work with the local TV stations in the same network.

- Akashiya Sanma was one of the few to voice support for FujiTV openly during this difficult time. He mentioned during his radio show that he wondered what would happen to the TV station from April onwards in terms of money due to the sponsors and advertisers fallout. He revealed that he used to be nicknamed FujiTV's child in the past because he had worked a lot with them almost exclusively so their support was critical in his career's success all these years. Due to his longstanding relationship with the TV station and its staff ranging from the management to young assistant directors, it could be why he was concerned about the fate of the TV station. There were also many who held the view that this scandal had nothing to do with the staff members who are at the lower end of the hierarchy and it was unfair for them to bear the brunt of the aftermath.

- While "Shuukan Bunshun" has been criticised for its error in an earlier article and subsequent correction about A-san's role in the incident, "Josei Seven" which was the first to break the news on 19 Dec 2024, stood its ground for its initial report. It stated to "Sports Hochi" that based on its investigation, they were able to ascertain that A had actually invited 3 women who worked in the entertainment industry to join the meal gathering but he suddenly said that he wouldn't be able to attend. 

- Some members of the media were also criticised for their behaviour at the second press conference of FujiTV.
Of these, Mochizuki Isoko from Tokyo Shimbun was singled out for her aggressive and persistent style of questioning. When interviewed, she admitted that although she wanted to keep her emotions in check when it was her turn, she was angered by how the management kept skirting around the questions and gave ambiguous answers. She also pointed out that the TV station was doing things that went against what they were saying because letting Nakai continue to appear on TV could have provoked X-san even more despite them saying that they didn't want to do anything against her wish of not letting anyone know about what happened. Even if they did not have direct access to X-san, the logical expectation was that they could still consult her on her wishes through her doctor or legal representative. As such, she ended up raising her voice especially when she heard how much the management claimed that they were angered about this incident but their actions gave the impression that they didn't care less about how the incident had affected X-san or were aware of the gravity of what it meant by sexual assault.
Some had also attributed the reason why FujiTV's press conference dragged on for that long to its open-door policy this time. It was pointed out that some members of the press were going endlessly about their viewpoints rather than asking questions, heckling the management or asking the same questions repeatedly. This led many to comment online that the level of Japanese journalism displayed during the press conference was embarrassing.
Some of the so-called freelance journalists and YouTubers were also criticised for seizing this opportunity to "rub salt into injury for the elite and high-and-mighty" this time since the FujiTV management could not "retaliate" after their botched press conference earlier.

- As the other TV stations go about investigating possible issues in their operations following what happened in FujiTV, there were two cases of misdeeds uncovered in TV Asahi and TBS Radio:
  • Shimizu Atsushi, a director from TV Asahi submitted his resignation on 31 Jan as he was found to have misused entertainment fees totaling JPY 1.16 million in 2024. Despite having meals with people in the company, he passed off these expenses as that of entertaining external parties. TV Asahi commented that this was unacceptable behaviour and would strengthen its internal audit systems and prevent a recurrence.
  • TBS Radio fired Ikushima Hiroshi from his radio show on 27 Jan. He was found to have sent inappropriate photos received from a friend to the staff members which were highly offensive to the female staff. In addition, he was said to have vented his anger towards staff members during a 90-minute live broadcast. TBS Radio apologised for not being more aware of harassment issues and identifying such actions in time.
More wrongdoings or inappropriate behaviour are expected to be uncovered in time to come as there is closer scrutiny on the operations of the TV stations and the entities/people they work with.

- The timeline and process surrounding Okada Junichi's appointment as the new co-host of "Dare ka to Nakai" attracted speculation. Ever since Matsumoto Hitoshi left the show due to his own scandal, Ninomiya Kazunari was appointed as the new co-host from Feb to Apr 2024 after the show changed its title followed by Muro Tsuyoshi who took over until mid Dec 2024. The thing was, Nakai himself was informed in Nov 2024 that the show was to be cancelled but Okada's appointment from Jan 2025 onwards was announced on 15 Dec which suggested that he was engaged by FujiTV after the decision was made to cancel the show.
In the end, the first episode featuring Okada could no longer be shown as the scandal broke at the end of last year and the show was officially cancelled on 22 Jan 2025.

- Although FujiTV had claimed that A-san was never involved in setting up the meal gathering in question which led to the incident, Sponichi reported that he has been transferred to the HR department as of 30 Jan 2025 and that his duties as the programming department's director will be taken over by his boss. Since 15 Jan, A-san was said to have been issued with orders not to head into the office.
According to insiders from FujiTV's programming department, postings to the HR department are usually for those who are about to begin maternity or childcare leave or those to be posted to other companies within the group. Besides, this period is traditionally not when transfers are done. Since A-san is supposed to go through questioning by the third party investigation committee, this is probably why he was transferred out since he would most likely not be able to continue his work as usual in the programming department.

- The Japanese government announced on 30 Jan 2025 that as of 29 Jan, it had already instructed government organisations and ministries to stop placing ads on FujiTV or abort plans to do so. Of these, there were 2 ads from the Cabinet Office and one each from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and National Tax Agency which were all pulled out. In addition, there are 4 ongoing tie-ups with FujiTV programmes. One is with the Fire and Disaster Management Agency i.e. the drama "119 Emergency Call" which is being reconsidered while the other three are currently being reviewed. 

- The spring edition of "FNS Kayousai" scheduled to be shown on 9 April 2025 has been cancelled as reported by Sponichi:
  • The programme began in 1974 and has been a regular fixture as a music special in the year-end lineup.
  • Former president Minato Koichi was the person-in-charge of this programme from 2002 to 2014.
  • Since 2012, there has been a summer edition every year.
  • The spring edition is shown on an irregular basis since 2016.
  • This year's spring edition is the first since 2022 and meant to be the highlight of the "Aoharu Week".
  • However, with Fuji Media Holdings' announcement on 30 Jan 2025 that FujiTV's advertisement income is expected to reduce by JPY 23.3 billion as compared to the previous forecast, parties involved in the spring edition had been told that it was impossible to spend money on this now. 
  • It is estimated that the production costs for the spring edition is between JPY 50 million and JPY 70 million. Compared to a drama series which cost more than JPY 30 million per episode / one season would cost close to JPY 300m, the spring edition's costs are considered cheap. 
  • However, the issue was said to be more with the fact that the "Aoharu Week" is actually Minato's pet project so sponsors are expected to react negatively to this link.
  • Unlike the winter edition which tends to invite big names in the music industry, the summer and spring editions offer the opportunity for new and up-and-rising artists to be showcased. As such, music industry insiders felt that it was a pity the spring edition had to be cancelled. 
  • As the situation is still unclear, the fate of the summer edition in July is undecided for now.

Saturday, February 01, 2025

Quick Review #95: Ashura no gotoku - Winter 2025


Title: Ashura no gotoku / 阿修羅のごとく

Rating: 7 / 10

Recommended for
Those who want to watch a family-themed drama featuring slice-of-life episodes, sibling rivalry and romantic relationships and/or are fans of the cast members

* Currently showing on Netflix (availability subject to geographical location)
* Disclaimer: I have not watched any of the prior versions i.e. the 1979/1980 drama and 2003 movie.

Liked:
- First of all, the cast is definitely something to watch out for as every sister was played by a leading lady-class actress and their love interests also equally boasting of great acting skills. While they performed well in their own ways, my personal favourites would have to be the pairing of Ono Machiko-Motoki Masahiro and Kunimura Jun-Matsuzaka Keiko. Not only were their characters a complex mix of different facades representing the roles they played in life (husband, wife, father, mother) which made it interesting to delve into and ponder over their mindsets and actions, the chemistry between each pairing was also very natural and smooth to watch. While both pairs did not have any skinship or intimate scenes (that was taken care of by the other sisters' pairings), there was a lot going on between the couples beyond physical intimacy. In particular, the banter/dialogue which Ono and Motoki did was especially engaging to watch like a never-ending tennis game rally. On the other hand, Kunimura and Matsuzaka did not have a lot of long dialogue to begin with but there was a lot which could be inferred indirectly through their actions and subsequent fill-in-the-blanks information provided through the sisters' discussion of their parents' marriage.
On the other hand, Aoi Yu and Matsuda Ryuuhei's pairing started off as pretty bland, took a sharp turn in the middle and provided much mellow comfort towards the end. As for Hirose Suzu and Fujiwara Kisetsu's pairing, this couple was volatile right till the end and provided much drama for the story. I was quite surprised by Hirose's evolution this time because she always had this child-like vibe in her previous roles (Rurou no tsuki probably the exception). This time, she not only showed the complex emotions that Sakiko felt over the years and even managed to change her appearance and vibe to one that was mature and sexy at times.

- There were moments of brilliance in the story such as how the sisters may do a lot of infighting on the surface and underneath but when there were problems, they were always there for one another to render support in their own ways. In addition, there were lots of food for thought which posed questions to the viewers as to how they would react or feel when put into similar situations such as do you confront your partner when you suspect his infidelity, is a cheating husband better than being a widow and not having a husband or not being married at all.

- As the story was set in the Showa era and mostly during the colder months, there was a retro vibe complemented by the somewhat fuzzy picture quality and darker colour scheme. It might invoke some nostalgia among viewers who had gone through those years especially when you see items from the past.

Disliked: 
- The sum of good things does not necessarily translate into a wonderful overall landscape. If I look at the drama as a whole, I would struggle to classify this as something which was satisfying. The biggest reason was that the pacing of the developments was quite uneven to begin with so I almost wanted to give up on this after watching two episodes. Luckily, Ep 3 saved the day but things sort of meandered aimlessly for a while before the last 2 episodes picked up pace again. I had the feeling that there was a lot going on but there wasn't any element or subplot in particular which was compelling enough to keep me going. Perhaps this arrangement was meant to mirror real life since we don't know what's going to come ahead and our everyday life can be pretty mundane, repetitive and share lots of similarities with other people than what we may think.

- I felt that Miyazawa Rie and Uchino Seiyo's pairing was a tad underwhelming than expected. A lot of times, the two of them were simply engaged in steamy intimate scenes but I struggled to see how they were connected on an emotional level. It seemed to be a waste of their acting skills because I'm sure they could be more capable of delivering the emotions of their characters than what was displayed in this drama.

- The title felt like an afterthought and the ending scene seemed to be a last-minute hard-sell to remind viewers of the theme of the story. I don't know how the previous versions tried to convey the theme of the sisters' relationships filled with love and hate and the mess they were involved in but there could have been a more subtle way to "sell" the message than to spell it out point blank.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Preview of "Oboenonai satsujin" (Drama SP)


Title: Oboenonai satsujin / 憶えのない殺人
Official website: here
Official X: here
O.A. Date: 25 January 2025 at 9pm (BSP4K) and 22 February 2025 at 9pm (NHKBS)
Broadcast by: NHK
Cast: Kobayashi Kaoru, Ono Machiko, Hashimoto Jun, Matsuzawa Takumi, Sayashi Riho, Nishimura Izumi, Nakagoshi Noriko, Hotaru Yukijiro & Tsutsui Mariko etc.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

The right way for TV stations to conduct internal investigations - Observations from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV scandal


As the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV scandal continues to hog the media and public's attention, much has also been reported on FujiTV and its fellow TV stations' movements to conduct internal investigations about whether they have similar issues yet to be uncovered. Besides being wary of the likelihood that they may also have skeletons in their closet which could explode in their faces, a key factor leading TV stations to leap to action so swiftly is the likelihood of having the FujiTV's fire of sponsor exodus spread to their own backyards. 

However, as this President Online article written by Shizume Hiromichi, a TV producer and writer who used to be from TV Asahi pointed out, the manner of how the internal investigation is conducted is the issue, not whether there is an investigation to begin with. Here are some key points he made in his article:

- While the public's response and attention on Nakai's retirement was trending on social media, this outcome was probably expected by TV station executives as something which would come sooner or later given the scale of the scandal and its impact on FujiTV. 

- To date, most scandals of a similar nature would either end with the celebrity in question "disappearing quietly from the public eye" or the related programme to meet its end abruptly. However, this certainly would have been wishing thinking in this case. 

- To avoid being implicated in FujiTV's fire, it was noted that the rival TV stations were very quick to respond with their own measures.
  • First off the mark was TBS which announced on 20 Jan that it was beginning an internal investigation involving all employees at the advice of the lawyers in its compliance department.
  • NTV followed suit on the next day and said that it would engage external specialists to conduct hearing sessions with its staff.
  • TV Asahi was even quicker in the sense that it announced on 22 Jan that it had already conducted its first investigation since the beginning of the new year and did not find any inappropriate behaviour.
- In order to make it in time for the upcoming programming renewal period in April, TV stations needed to prove their "innocence" or else they may be seen as being similarly problematic like FujiTV. However, this also meant that they were seemingly doing this for the sake of their bottomlines and not to protect the human rights of their employees or clear themselves of suspicion and doubt from the sponsors and viewers.

- In contrast, NHK's "cold response" was noted as being due to its structure since it doesn't depend on advertisement income and sponsors. Its chairman commented on 22 Jan that NHK already has a harassment reporting system which has been working effectively and there were no internal reports of this nature to date. As such, there was no need for NHK to conduct any special investigation in response to the FujiTV scandal.

- However, just because a TV station is doing an investigation may not mean that it is done properly. The writer notes that he had gotten information from a female employee of TV Asahi (his former employer) which makes him doubt the effectiveness of such a flawed investigation.
  • The investigation was not done 1-to-1 but rather in a place where everyone in the department was present and the manager asked them questions. Even if there was an issue to be reported, the environment simply did not offer any much-needed privacy especially if the incident was sensitive in nature.
  • TV Asahi was seemingly in a huge hurry to conduct an investigation and applied immense pressure on the managers in various departments since the beginning of the year. As such, it was said that this contributed to some instances when male managers had asked female employees in the presence of other colleagues as to whether they had suffered any sexual assault or harassment before.
  • TV Asahi's news programme "Houdou Station" reported the investigation findings on 22 Jan as "there were no reports of inappropriate behaviour". However, given the manner of how the investigation was conducted, the findings might not be fully reflective of or accurately reflect the true situation in the company.
  • However, given that the investigation in question was said to be the "first investigation", it would be ideal if a proper investigation with consideration for privacy would be conducted in time to come. Otherwise, a slipshod investigation would not serve its intended purpose and fail to address concerns from viewers and sponsors.
- Details of the TV stations' investigations haven't been announced so it is a mystery as to what they are focusing on in their respective investigations.

- If the investigation is to be conducted by direct managers rather than a designated investigation team not part of the reporting hierarchy of the employees concerned, it may make it more difficult for those affected to raise their issues. This is especially if the managers are clearly inclined to fish for a "desired answer of no" from the respondents rather than be faced with the trouble that can come with bringing up potential violations and problems.

- Moreover, the gender mix in the TV stations are still very much male-dominated so there are many more male managers compared to females. It would be difficult for female employees to talk about such issues with their male bosses. In the example of TBS, it stated that its compliance department would be leading the investigation but given the amount of employees involved, it is questionable if the actual hearing sessions will be conducted by that department or the managers in various departments.

- One other important factor to consider is how big the investigation scope is going to be. Would it be sufficient to ask the employees only or should the investigation be extended to external production companies which are heavily involved in the making of TV shows? This is critical as many shows operate on the basis of TV station employees managing the production staff (both internal and external) but it is the external production houses doing the actual day-to-day tasks. As such, if the external production staff are to be excluded from the investigation, it might mean that the TV stations won't get a full and accurate picture of the situation.
On the other hand, since the external staff get work from the TV stations, this dependence would make them reluctant to raise the alarm and speak ill of their employers. Besides, the in-house producers might be unwilling to report any issues since they would be held responsible for everything that happens in their shows.
As such, this calls for the question of whether TV stations would be willing to go down this path of seeking out real answers and how to do so at the expense of its own interests.

- Last but not least, whether the employees trust their own companies is a key factor as to whether the investigation would be meaningful and successful. Given the state of things now and how the FujiTV scandal is developing, it is questionable as to whether employees would be willing to speak their minds. Especially if employees do not believe that their employers would protect them, they are not going to take the risk of telling the truth since this may also expose them to retaliation and workplace harassment. It is already well-known in the industry that anyone who is disliked by the management would get transferred to other shows but such movements are often masked as "normal job rotation" so there is no recourse for anyone who is a victim of such actions.

- As such, in view of these concerns, the writer of the article thinks that setting up the right environment where employees feel safe about telling the truth is the most important thing to be done before an investigation is conducted. And doing it in the most appropriate manner will then lead to a true reflection of the situation. Rushing to conclude an investigation may be meaningless especially if the findings are challenged and found to be lacking later on.

Preview of "Shoujiki Fudousan Minerva SPECIAL" (Drama SP)


Title: Shoujiki Fudousan Minerva SPECIAL / 正直不動産ミネルヴァSPECIAL
Official website: here
O.A. Date: 1 February 2025 at 7.30pm (BSP4K) / 5 February 2025 at 8.30pm (NHK BS)
Original manga by: Ohtani Akira, Natsuhara Takeshi & Mizuno Mitsuhiro
Theme Song: "so far so good" by Oda Kazumasa
Cast: Dean Fujioka, Kurashina Kana, Mikami Ai, Ito Asahi, Nishigaki Sho, Zaitsu Yuutaro, Fujii Mina, Izumi Rika, Takeda Tetsuya, Matsuzaka Keiko, Ichihara Hayato, Matsumoto Wakana, Takahata Atsuko, Tanaka Min & Takahashi Katsunori etc.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Preview of "Rira no hanasaku kemonotachi" - Winter 2025


Title: Rira no hanasaku kemonotachi / リラの花咲くけものたち
Official website: here
O.A. Start Date: 1 February 2025
Timeslot: Saturdays at 10pm
Broadcast by: NHK
Total number of episodes: 3
Original novel by: Fujioka Youko
Theme Song: "Tsukushi" by Nishina
Cast: Yamada Anna, Touma Ami, Hagiwara Riku, Sato Kanta, Yamasaki Shizuyo, Komoto Masahiro, Ishibashi Shizuka & Fubuki Jun 

Tuesday, January 28, 2025

Updates and new information from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 28 Jan 2025


- In a major twist, the electronic version of "Shuukan Bunshun" made a correction on 28 Jan to its first report on the Nakai & FujiTV incident that was published in its 26 Dec 2024 issue. It changed the part which said that "X-san was invited to the meal gathering in Jun 2023 by FujiTV's programming department executive A-san" to "X-san was invited by Nakai" and that "A-san had thought that the meeting between them was an "extension" of another gathering he had set up before". Bunshun indicated that the correction was due to findings from a further investigation concluded on a later date and apologised for the initial error.

- Sponichi reported that there was another meal gathering - a barbecue party which happened about a month before the incident in Jun 2023 and was also attended by X-san at the request of A-san. According to the article, the gathering was held on 7 May 2023 and attended by Nakai, female announcers from FujiTV and other TV stations, freelance announcers, young staff members and executives of TV stations as well as a popular male celebrity. A-san was said to be the one who invited the female participants to join this gathering.
The female participants were arranged to head into the room one by one at the orders of the programming department's executive and introduced to Nakai and the male celebrity. One of the female announcers was said to be told to sit beside Nakai. During the gathering, the male celebrity had made sexually explicit jokes and inappropriate touches to the women present. One of the female announcers was wary of the potential danger of staying longer at that gathering and gave the excuse that she had work on the following day before managing to leave alone around 9pm. 

- Prior to the 27 Jan press conference, there were 6 critical issues and questions to be addressed as identified by the media:
  • What would happen to the top management including the president Minato Koichi
  • What would happen to advisor Hieda Hisashi
  • Whether the FujiTV executive A-san was involved in setting things up between Nakai and the victim X-san
  • Whether there was an attempt to cover up Nakai's scandal
  • Whether there is a practice of "offering" female announcers for inappropriate purposes during the entertaining of VIPs and celebrities
  • Whether there are any specific or concrete measures to regain the trust of sponsors and viewers
- During the staff briefing, while the atmosphere was largely critical of the top management's handling of the crisis and very emotionally charged due to the angry employees, there was an episode which happened that briefly changed the course of the proceedings.
An employee from the legal department warned the audience to be mindful of what they said since they were not familiar with corporate laws and could be sued for leaking information to unauthorised parties. While the top management remained silent at this comment, the mood of the briefing changed as employees felt threatened even though they were supposed to be able to speak freely during the briefing. This then led to more subdued comments that subsequent employees raised.

- Nakai and FujiTV's poor handling of their crisis was compared to how Amuse and Yoshizawa Ryo did it when it was reported earlier this month that Yoshizawa had trespassed into his neighbour's apartment while drunk. While Yoshizawa's action may not be as serious as Nakai's, it was noted in several media reports that his agency was swift and professional in addressing the issue, explained the facts clearly, had already taken remedial action to apologise to the victim and reach a settlement and that he already moved out to avoid causing more inconvenience and trouble to the neighbour concerned and other residents. As such, the fallout from Yoshizawa's incident was largely contained with one sponsor Iris Ohyama even keeping him as its brand ambassador.

- Hieda has been nicknamed the emperor of FujiTV while Fuji Sankei Group has been known as the Hieda Empire. He became the programming director in 1980 at the young age of 42 years old and was credited with building the golden era of FujiTV through various achievements together with the founder's eldest son. In 1992, he supposedly led a coup against the founding family and managed to remove the then-chairman who was the son-in-law of Fuji Sankei Group's founder. Gradually, he became influential enough to have a say in personnel matters within the entire group. Even after he left the post of FujiTV's chairman in 2017 and became its advisor, it is said that his influence has not waned at all as insiders claim that management positions need his endorsement.

- Even with the exodus of sponsors for now, FujiTV looks like it won't go under anytime soon.
Shueisha Online mentioned in its article that FujiTV's broadcasting revenue in the second half of the previous fiscal year was about JPY 77 billion. Even if sales of around JPY 50 billion were gone in the second half of this fiscal year, it would only account for about 8.4% of the projected full-year sales of JPY 598.3 billion for this fiscal year.
Besides, Fuji Media Holdings has close to JPY 90 billion in cash and more than JPY 400 billion in share holdings of companies such as Kikoman and Tokyo Electric Power Company. Assuming if advertisement revenue does dry up, it can still sell its shares to get money for its operations.
Moreover, the group is known for having a lucrative real estate business with valuable assets such as the Tokyo Sankei Building (JPY 97 billion), Wangan Studios (JPY 34.3 billion) and FujiTV's HQ building (JPY 10.1 billion). It also has various hospitality facilities like hotels and resorts which are currently buoyed by Japan's tourism boom. As such, the real estate business brings in about double of what the TV business earns.

- While there have been calls to withdraw FujiTV's broadcasting license due to this scandal, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications is not expected to go down this path unless the TV station has indeed committed a crime. Nonetheless, the government is already paying attention to how things are developing which could then lead to further actions taken against FujiTV or the broadcasting industry as a whole.
During the Diet meeting on 27 Jan, Kamei Akiko from the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan brought up the issue and asked about the government's stand and approach about this in terms of human rights for women and corporate governance. In response, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru shared that the government is intending to take action such as asking for the submission of information about the issue under the Broadcasting Act and then review how to take rectification measures for the entire broadcasting industry through the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications which had already instructed FujiTV on 23 Jan to begin the set-up of its third party investigation committee. As for the issues pertaining to human rights, the Japan Commercial Broadcasting Federation is considering setting up a committee to investigate if there are similar issues across the industry.

- The worst case scenario for FujiTV would be it not being able to regain the viewers' trust for a long period of time, poor ratings and becoming unprofitable thus leading to its staff leaving for other TV stations and the decreasing quality of its programmes.
FujiTV's average household rating in 2023 was 4.4% which was lower than NTV's 6.1% and TV Asahi's 6.3%. Broadcasting revenue was also lower than its competitors at JPY 147.3 billion vs. NTV's JPY 226.1 billion and TV Asahi's JPY 166.8 billion. Even though it used to be the top in terms of ratings until 2009, the 2011 and 2012 anti-Korean entertainment demonstrations in protest of FujiTV's overly heavy weightage of such content in its programming marked a turning point in its ratings trend and led to lower profitability. In response to the TV station's poor performance, there was a motion filed during the 2014 general shareholders' meeting for directors to retire once they turned 75 years old and that was seen as a bid to oust Hieda who was already 76 at that time. However, that motion was rejected in the end and this led to FujiTV's management structure of being dominated by older managers for a long time.


Key points from FujiTV's second press conference on 27 Jan 2025
  • Duration - 4pm on 27 Jan 2025 to 2.24am on 28 Jan 2025 = 10 hours and 24 minutes. There was a 10-minute break from 9.55pm onwards.
  • Registration for media representatives began at 2pm and there were strict security checks of bags and belongings including a metal detector. Hundreds of bottles of water were prepared for the journalists present probably due to the expectation that this event would take quite a long time. Since the press conference was held at level 22 of the building, employees were stationed at the lifts to prevent anyone from heading to other floors without permission. 
  • 437 people from 191 media outlets attended the press conference. All of them were allowed to ask at least one question / maximum 2 so this was one reason why the press conference took so long. However, some of the journalists did ask more questions or took a very long time when it was their turn thus adding on to the delay. By the time the press conference reached the 6th hour mark, the number of empty seats at the back of the hall became more noticeable so an estimated 70% to 80% of the original audience was still around by then.
  • Live streaming was done via FNN Prime Online and TVer with a delay of 10 mins from the Q & A section. This was to accommodate post-editing of audio to protect the privacy of related parties. However, there was a YouTuber who refused to abide by the rule of no live streaming and continued to do so via TikTok despite being stopped by staff members. In the end, he was escorted out of the venue.
  • Prior to the Q & A session, the MC had asked the media representatives not to raise questions that mentioned names, job positions, departments of affiliation etc. which could lead to the identification of specific individuals. The audience was also asked to refrain from making comments of a defamatory nature which could lead to infringement of human rights. Despite so, there were multiple occasions when the MC had to step in and ask reporters from going against these "house rules".
  • Due to the event going on for much longer than expected, the evening programming schedule of FujiTV was all affected with broadcasts of dramas such as "119 Emergency Call" and "Himitsu ~ THE TOP SECRET ~" being postponed to next week instead.
  • According to Video Research, the household average rating for the press conference between 7pm and 9pm was 13.1% and the individual average rating was 7.5% (Kanto region) thus reflecting the public's interest in the ongoing issue.
  • Attended by outgoing FujiTV president Minato Koichi, outgoing FujiTV chairman Kanou Shuuji, vice-chairman Endo Ryuunosuke and president of Fuji Media Holdings president Kanemitsu Osamu. New president Shimizu Kenji joined slightly later after his posting was announced.
  • Shimizu revealed that all negotiations for new CM contracts from April onwards have been suspended for now.
  • Minato admitted that he was the one who made the final decision on how FujiTV's first press conference was handled and that he accepted the criticism that the TV station had been less than forthcoming and transparent about explaining this issue.
  • Minato, Kanou and Endo were reported by some media outlets as having expressed their intention to resign to Hieda on 23 Jan before the employee briefing but were supposedly told that they "shouldn't be defeated because of something like this". In the end though, Minato and Kanou announced their resignations minutes prior to the second press conference.
  • Other TV stations reported the news of the top management's resignations in different ways. FujiTV, TBS and NTV all mentioned this during the start of their respective programmes while TV Asahi brought forward their show to 3.50pm and started their coverage with footage of President Minato leaving his house to head to FujiTV. NHK was covering the Diet meeting at the time of the press conference while TV Tokyo, true to its usual style of not letting anything interrupt its programming, showed the news through a telop at 3.49pm.
  • Minato was informed of the incident in Aug 2023. Only a few people including executives and directors knew about this.
  • The management were in contact with X-san via phone and text messages since her health condition did not allow them to meet her directly. 
  • As the incident was of a sensitive nature and only Nakai and X-san knew what had happened, it was difficult for FujiTV to step in and get involved in the resolution process. It was even more challenging to do so after both parties reached a settlement.
  • Since "Matsumoto Nakai" only started in Apr 2023, choosing to end it as soon as it started would have caused speculation over the reason. The management did acknowledge that when Matsumoto Hitoshi left the show for his own issue, it would have been a suitable timing to end the programme. Despite so, the show's title was changed and Nakai continued to appear in this as well as other once-off programmes that were produced over the last 1.5 years. This was because information about his incident with X-san was not public knowledge. As such, the investigation would try to ascertain if this decision of continuing to engage Nakai and their treatment of him during this period were appropriate.
  • When asked about some media reports revealing that X-san showed disgust towards A-san during a meeting between X-san and FujiTV in Jul 2024 to talk about this incident, the management said that there was nothing to indicate that A-san had been involved in the "relationship" between X-san and Nakai so they didn't see the need to ask A-san about what happened in the first place. A-san's supposed role in the incident only came to light through media reports late last year. However, after speaking to A-san and checking communications records such as LINE messages, there was no proof suggesting A-san had done anything to organise the gathering in question.
  • FujiTV then embarked on an investigation to find out the facts after seeking advice from its lawyers and employees in its compliance department. A-san said that he did not know that there was a meal gathering that day, nor was he involved in setting things up or canceling his supposed attendance at that event. Nakai himself also stated that A-san was not involved at all thus the company indicated so in its 27 Dec 2024 statement.
  • One of the most controversial moments was when vice-chairman Endo had mentioned that there was "a difference in how Nakai and X-san had interpreted the incident which happened". It was revealed that Nakai told FujiTV management about what happened in Jul after the incident happened in Jun. Following that, they spoke to Nakai on several occasions about this. When asked by the media what he meant by "difference in interpretation", Endo said that Nakai thought that he "had the approval of X-san when the sexual act was committed" but this was apparently not what she had in mind. However, soon after Endo made this comment, the PR department issued a written statement saying that he/FujiTV had withdrawn this comment and replaced it as "unable to answer" with regard to this question. This led to some journalists shouting that FujiTV "should get their act together and stop this nonsense". Moreover, FujiTV kept saying that they couldn't reveal specifics about the incident due to the ongoing investigation or to protect the privacy of related parties yet they had talked freely about whether there was "agreement" involved in what happened.
  • While FujiTV had cited various reasons to date about why they did not end "Dare ka to Nakai" over the past 1.5 years since the incident happened, a journalist asked if the decision was ultimately for the sake of ratings. It was pointed out that to replace Matsumoto Hitoshi who had suspended his career to his own scandal, FujiTV had gotten Ninomiya Kazunari to be Nakai's co-host since 4 Feb 2024, albeit for a short period of time and this was seemingly a move to tap on Ninomiya's popularity. However, the top management denied this accusation even though they were confronted with the comment that it was not logical to hire a new host for a programme which was about to be ended. Even so, they insisted that X-san's condition was their top priority for making the decision of whether to or when to end the show. It was also revealed that A-san had become the director of the programming department on 27 Jun 2023 which was after the Nakai incident happened and he became the programming strategy centre's director on 1 Jul 24. As such, A-san was in the position to make the decision of whether to end the show.
  • When asked if FujiTV will still hold events such as the Tokyo Odaiba Triennale scheduled to be held in autumn this year, Endo revealed that there have been some parties who expressed reservations about working with FujiTV so he believed that the event may not go ahead as planned.
  • With regard to some media reports about a FujiTV employee setting up another meal gathering for Nakai with female announcers from other TV stations about 6 months before the incident with X-san, Minato said that they had no knowledge of this and that they needed to look into this further.