Updates and new information from the Nakai Masahiro & FujiTV incident - 12 Feb 2025

- According to NTV's news feature programme "Shinsou Houdou Bankisha!" aired on 2 Feb 2025, it did a special on the Nakai & FujiTV incident which included coverage of the Fuji Media Holdings board of directors meeting on 30 Jan and the effects of the sponsor pullout and replacement with AC Japan's ads. Based on their investigation for the day of 31 Jan, 52 out of 942 ads shown during the 24 hour period were from companies, 140 ads were PR CMs for FujiTV's programmes, movies and events while the remaining of 750 were AC Japan ads. It is expected that FujiTV will lose at least JPY 23.3 billion in advertisement revenue. Production staff from external companies working with FujiTV were interviewed and said that they have to think of ways to lengthen the shows so as to cover for the reduced number of CMs and be extra careful with the use of words in things such as narrations while keeping a close eye on responses to the shows on social media.

- Gendai Business' report on 7 Feb 2025 revealed that more than 100 companies had pulled out their ads from FujiTV since 20 January based on internal documents it had obtained. These also included ads placed on BS FujiTV and FujiTV-related shows on TVer. A portion of the list was included in the report which included many major domestic and international companies.

- While many believe that FujiTV has the financial power to sustain itself for the time being despite what is happening, the same may not be possible for the production companies which rely on the TV station for work:

• There is increasing worry from the production companies about how the programme budgets will be reduced further or they may end up having no work at all if the situation continues worsening.
• There are no specific measures nor compensation plans communicated from FujiTV to these production companies other than repeated apologies for the inconvenience caused to them.
• Some production companies have started reviewing the amount of manpower allocated to FujiTV programmes in view of the tough working conditions for the time being at least until the third party investigation committee's report is out. 
• Some graduating students have also expressed concern about working in the TV industry now and asked the production companies about the current situation but there isn't much that they could share. As such, some students who received job offers have asked to cancel these even though it's already February. Typically, graduates join companies at the start of the financial year in April.
• With regard to having their revenue cut by the TV station, the Free Trade Commission's freelancer protection law and FujiTV's guidelines for partnerships with production companies should prevent huge cuts in principle. However, if the programmes get terminated, it would result in the total loss of income.

- Criminal journalist and former police officer Ogawa Taihei did an interview with former Metropolitan Police Department detective Sato Makoto where they shared various points about potential investigations by the police with regard to Nakai's case:

• While there is an existing settlement reached between Nakai and X-san, if this arrangement was forced upon the victim by anyone such as FujiTV executives, the settlement would not be valid legally. In such a situation, as long as the victim files a police report, the police can then begin investigations.
• As such, it is important for the chain of events and whether there was consent and intimidation involved to be established during the third party investigations.
• Things that should be done during the investigation include interviewing the parties involved and those related to them including the staff at the hospital where the victim had undergone treatment at. All communications records should be restored. Given the extent of information and effort required, they didn't think that FujiTV's investigation simply based on interviewing the parties involved would be sufficient in establishing the truth and that the police should get involved instead.
• However, if the victim doesn't file a report, the police cannot initiate an investigation on its own initiative.

- Meanwhile, the third party investigation committee's investigation has begun:

• A questionnaire from the committee was sent to FujiTV employees on 3 Feb 2025 via email.
• Only employees of FujiTV and its parent company i.e. Fuji Media Holdings received the questionnaire.
• The questionnaire's aim was stated as "to investigate the current problem and identify cases of a similar nature".
• There was also a disclaimer stating that content provided in the questionnaire may be quoted in the findings report prepared by the committee but these responses will be reported anonymously.
• There was a question asking if the employee was ever made to participate in any gathering with cast members, staff from talent agencies, production companies, sponsors, advertising firms etc. at the orders of executives and against their own will. 
• There was also another question asking for the identity of the person who gave the orders in relation to the above question.
• However, the questionnaire indicated that it may be difficult to investigate very old incidents so the answers should pertain to incidents that happened after April 2016.
• There will be a second round of questionnaires to be sent out which will focus on investigating the corporate culture of FujiTV.
• However, some have wondered why external production companies and freelancers who work with FujiTV were not included as the recipients of this questionnaire despite them being on the ground and should know the situation better than the TV station's employees especially those who are tasked with managing such external parties and do not get involved in the productions.
• On 10 Feb 2025, the committee announced the set-up of a hotline for external parties to provide information. The collection of responses will be conducted from 10 to 24 Feb and those who were former employees of FujiTV and Fuji Media Holdings or have business dealings with both companies can make use of this hotline.

- Fuji Media Holdings announced on 5 Feb 2025 that it has set up a FujiTV Rebirth Team (tentative name) which is under the direct control of the president and made up of "next-generation employees" in their 20s to 40s who are expected to lead FujiTV into a new era. There will be 2 to 3 representatives from each department. This team will not be waiting for the findings from the third party investigation committee and instead formulate and implement its own improvement measures proactively. 

- Association of All Japan TV Program Production Companies (ATP) released its request letter addressed to FujiTV's new president via its official website on 5 Feb 2025:

• It expressed the grave concerns from its member companies about the ongoing situation.
• The impact of having to re-edit completed programmes, cancellations of location shooting arrangements etc. will not only affect the production companies but also spillover to those involved in the photography and editing processes.
• Many ATP members are small-and-medium enterprises so any show or work cancellations can lead to them facing the prospect of immediate bankruptcy.
• It called upon FujiTV to ensure fairness in dealing with and take reasonable steps to compensate the companies it works with as a result of these changes without resorting to blanket and drastic cuts to the budgets.

- Recent media reports have suggested a potential link between FujiTV's move to its new Odaiba HQ in 1997 and the increasing disconnect between its management and the ground especially the production side of its business. This is said to be a key factor leading to various things such as the coup led by Hieda Hisashi in 1992, the management's poor handling of the current crisis, inaccurate reading of the public sentiment and worsening performance especially in the last decade or so:

• The HQ building was designed by the late Tange Kenzo and features two towers i.e. the office and the media towers. Total construction cost was about JPY 135 billion and the move was completed in 1997.
• A key difference between the Odaiba HQ and the former HQ at Kawada-cho in Shinjuku was the office layout. Back then, in order to promote a sense of unity and boost collaboration across different departments, everyone worked together in an open-office concept. 
• However, in Odaiba, departments were now segregated into different floors e.g. the programming side is on level 12 while the production side is on level 13. This then restricted communications between the departments and created silos within the organisation.
• According to Nomura Shuya, a lawyer and professor at Chuo University Law School when he appeared on ABC TV's "Oshiete! News Life Seigi no Mikata" on 1 Feb 2025, the new Odaiba HQ building was used an excuse to facilitate efforts in ousting the founding Shikanai family. Back then, in order to dilute the shareholdings of the Shikanais, there was a need to issue more shares but this required a proper justification. As such, the plan to create a huge and new HQ building for the TV station was conceived. When Nippon Housou, the parent company of FujiTV back then, went public and issued more of its own shares, this led to the further weakening of the Shikanais' control of FujiTV and the subsequent monopolisation of power by Hieda.

- The Nakai incident has also indirectly renewed scrutiny and interest into how TV stations are making money through other businesses despite the reduced advertisement income and how media outlets from different sectors are closely intertwined with one another:

• According to Dentsu's report of the Japanese advertising market in 2023, total advertisement income for that year was about JPY 7.31 trillion. Although this was higher than the previous year, TV commercials actually decreased by 3.7% to JPY 1.7 trillion. In contrast, Internet commercials jumped by 7.8% to JPY 2.6 trillion.
• From Fuji Media Holdings' financial report for FY 24 (the year ended Mar 2024), while the media contents business accounted for 74.5% of its revenue, its contribution to the operating gains was less than half i.e. 43.4%. However, the city development and tourism business segment contributed the second highest revenue at 22.1% yet accounted for 54% of the operating gains.
• Other TV stations also have their "sidelines" such as NTV's affiliation to Studio Ghibli to strengthen its media business, TBS's tie-up with Yaruki Switch Group which is in the education business and TV Asahi owning multi-purpose halls in Ariake and operating Tokyo Dream Park.
• All of the TV stations also have links to various newspapers because their establishments were made possible after WWII through the expertise and experience of these news publishers. However, the principles of eliminating mass media concentration under the Broadcasting Act prevent the TV stations and newspapers from coming together to become one company. In order to get around this rule, news publishers typically become minority shareholders in TV stations and/or hold shares together with other local companies which are largely led by alumni from such newspapers.
• As such, the current affiliation situation is: Yomiuri Shimbun - NTV, Asahi Shimbun - TV Asahi, Mainichi Shimbun - TBS, Sankei Shimbun - FujiTV and Nikkei Shimbun - TV Tokyo.
• However, as newspapers face a more difficult situation than TV stations nowadays in terms of their operating environments, there is more resistance from the TV stations when alumni from the newspapers are transferred to TV stations to take up executive positions. Their influence on TV stations have also weakened due to developments such as Mainichi Shimbun's bankruptcy in the 70s and having to sell its TBS shares for the sake of making a comeback and Asahi Shimbun having to get TV Asahi to buy its shares due to heritance issues of its shareholders. As such, the tables have turned now and newspaper agencies are sometimes reduced to merely being the "news department" of the media company as seen in Sankei Shimbun's role in Fuji Media Holdings.
• Nevertheless, as newspapers still command a huge influence and hold strong ties with the government and financial sectors, it is still essential for TV stations to provide support to these newspaper publishers since they need the broadcast rights from the government to operate.

- The Yokohama City Government requested for its name to be removed in the credits section of FujiTV's drama "119 Emergency Call" from Ep 3 onwards (shown on 3 Feb 2025). Up till then, the city government and Yokohama City Fire Department had been named in the credits for having provided support in the form of filming locations in the city, acting advice, lending equipment and premises for filming. Despite this development, it looks like the city will still continue with offering its support till the end. The decision to remove any mention of Yokohama City and its related organisations was first revealed on 28 Jan by the city mayor.

On 10 Feb, Oricon managed to secure confirmations from the Yokohama City Government and Yokohama City Fire Department that their support for this drama will remain until the end of its run although the decision to remove mentions of these organisations in the credits still stands.

- However, things may not look so good for the dramas in upcoming seasons:

• While this has not been officially announced as yet, the Spring 2025 season is said to see a sequel of "Saigo kara nibanme no koi" starring Koizumi Kyoko for the first time in 10 years which is expected to be aired in the Mondays 9pm timeslot. As the story is set in Kamakura City and had gotten support from the city government back then including getting its employees to be extras during the filming, whether the same arrangement can continue for this sequel is questionable as local governments are more reluctant to be working with FujiTV now.
• A reported collaboration with a major airline for the Summer 2025 timeslot is said to be facing difficulties and at risk of being cancelled. However, FujiTV refused to comment on this matter.
• There are also rumours about Suda Masaki refusing to appear in a FujiTV drama (said to be a sequel of "Mystery to iu nakare") and Matsumoto Jun possibly rejecting his lead role in a Summer 2025 drama where he is reportedly playing a police officer. However, the authenticity of these news have not been confirmed as yet.

- Variety shows and anime are also not spared from the impact of increasing reluctance from companies and government bodies to work with FujiTV:

• "Tousouchuu" which aired its pilot in 2004 and has become a regular fixture of FujiTV, is said to be facing difficulties in securing suitable places for the filming. This hide-and-seek style show features celebrities running away from "hunters dressed in black" within a designated time in order to win prize money and the setting of the game is usually in a large scale commercial facility like theme parks and shopping malls usually on the days when they are closed to the public. It used to be that the filming was done on the streets in places with a lot of human traffic such as Odaiba, Asakusa, Yokohama Chinatown and Ikebukuro. In the past three years, the show has been aired on a seasonal basis and won in the game show category of "Asia Television Awards" in 2009. It has since spawned other versions such as novels, movies and games and its remake rights sold to countries such as the US and China. However, the show also had its fair share of controversies such as the trouble it caused in March 2024 in Tokyo when a male resident found the entrance of his apartment building blocked by the filming crew without the residents' permission. After the resident posted about this on X, FujiTV and the production company's handling of the situation was viewed unfavourably and attracted a lot of criticism. As such, the current situation facing the show may also be partly due to the bad press it got in the past.
• The variety specials in spring are also at risk of being cancelled. Last spring, FujiTV made more than 20 variety SPs and more than 25 for the autumn season. These numbers look set to drop drastically this year.
• Popular anime series "Sazae-san" was left with no sponsors from 2 Feb onwards when the last sponsor i.e. baby-and-children goods maker Nishimatsuya stopped appearing in the credits list. It had announced its decision to pull off the ads on 28 Jan following FujiTV's second press conference on the previous day and its name as the sole remaining sponsor was last seen at the end of the anime broadcast on 26 Jan.
• "FNS 27 Jikan Terebi" which is a regular variety SP during summer, looks unlikely to go ahead. According to Sponichi, although this year's main host is supposed to be members of a popular idol group, insiders revealed that some of the celebrities scheduled to appear have already been informed about the situation since the lack of sponsors has resulted in difficulty to secure funding for the large number of celebrities appearing in this show and multiple location shootings. This show is an annual event since 1987 and was cancelled once before in 2020 due to COVID-19 and replaced with "FNS Love & Music" in 2021 and 2022. It was resurrected in 2023 as a pet project of previous president Minato Koichi.
• As reported by Sports Hochi on 5 Feb 2025, the February and March broadcasts of BS FujiTV's mini programme "Oishii kioku kikasete kudasai" sponsored by Kikkoman will be cancelled. Another programme sponsored by the same company on FujiTV i.e. "Kuishinbo Banzai!" also had its February broadcast cancelled. Kikkoman's ad placement on FujiTV will remain suspended until further notice as it reviews how the situation develops.

- US investment company Dalton Investments which holds more than 7% of Fuji Media Holdings, revealed its letter to the latter on 3 Feb 2025 where it pointed out faults with FujiTV's corporate governance, requested for the implementation of governance reforms to restore trust and called for Hieda's resignation. The investment company also demanded that Fuji Media Holdings should appoint external directors to form more than half of its board.

- The press conference for the April programming renewal has been cancelled as reported on 5 Feb 2025. The event scheduled on the first Monday of March was supposed to be attended by the media. It is expected that announcements of new programmes in spring will be made through individual press releases in time to come.

- FujiTV's vice chairman Endo Ryunosuke resigned from his post as the chairman of The Japan Commercial Broadcaster's Association as reported on 5 Feb 2025. He began serving as the chairman from Jun 2022 and was in the midst of his second term which would have ended in June 2026.

- Sushiro retracted its decision to take down Shofukutei Tsurube's CMs as reported on 6 Feb 2025 and apologised for its previous decision which it had taken based on "customer feedback" and news reports about his attendance at a barbecue in Nakai's house that was said to be the prelude to the incident. However, the backlash over their premature decision had caused inconvenience and unhappiness to Tsurube, his agency and the public so after negotiations with the related parties and internal discussions, a decision was made to resume the displaying of his ads.

- Bucking the trend of FujiTV's advertiser exodus is Kinliser, a gas-powered water heater producer, which updated its official X on 7 Feb 2025 to announce that it will resume placing ads on the scandal-plagued TV station. Upon seeing that there was a correction made to the media report (referring to Bunshun) and that it had spoken directly to FujiTV and understood that the current situation still has debatable points to be clarified, it decided that it will continue its relationship with FujiTV on account of its honest attitude and earnest handling of the issue. It hoped that the belief in FujiTV's future will help it to change for the better and move forward. While it acknowledged that there may be differing views about its decision, it wishes to look on favourably at FujiTV's journey going forward.

Responses to Kinliser's decision were mixed as expected. It subsequently put up an announcement on 10 Feb to address two key doubts and contention points raised by the public:

• Its decision should not be interpreted as condoning sexual violence and assault. As the facts have not been made known, it did not think that there was reason to attack FujiTV and its employees based on speculation and hearsay. It had decided to go ahead with the CMs because it was convinced by the honest interactions with FujiTV's staff who are trying to face up to the issue and resolve it. As such, this is a decision with the future in mind.
• It refuted allegations of having received entertainment favours from FujiTV and insisted that there was nothing fishy going on between both companies.

- Prior to Kinliser, Yume Group, a mail order company, had also voiced its support for FujiTV on 31 Jan by continuing to place ads with them. Surprisingly, while Kinliser got a lot of flak for its decision, Yume Group emerged from this relatively unscathed and actually got positive responses along with Takasu Clinic which also decided to stay put. As such, the same decision could be interpreted differently by the public which is why it's a difficult decision for companies to make.

- Another major project "Odaiba Boukenou" which was a pet project of former president Minato, also looks unlikely to proceed this year . Due to the popularity of the event which is held during the summer vacation, it attracts large crowds to the Odaiba area and had recorded total visitor numbers of about 2.5 million in 2024. With the potential cancellation, there is also a risk of nearby facilities being hit with low business. Especially since FujiTV is located in the Odaiba area which is essentially an "island" where you need to cross the Rainbow Bridge to get to, people are often reluctant to head there unless there is a major event or attraction. The area has also lost much of its shine due to the dwindling popularity of FujiTV itself as seen from the closure of facilities such as Venus Fort in 2022 and replaced by Immersive Fort Tokyo in March 2024 which is still struggling to attract visitors.

-  It was reported on 10 Feb 2025 that TV Asahi will be showing a new programme "Wide! Scramble" to replace the cancelled "Nakai Masahiro no douyoubi na kai" from April onwards. This show is the weekend edition of "Ooshita Yoko Wide! Scramble".

- A new crisis seems to be lurking in the background as "Bunshun Online" reported a past scandal involving FujiTV on 9 Feb 2025.

About 20 years ago, there was a late night variety show called "Taikutsu Kizoku". In a Jan 2004 broadcast, a man was shown walking on cardboxes drenched in kerosene which were then set on fire at a riverbank. However, during the shooting, the man had only walked about 10 steps due to the extreme pain and then stepped away from the fire. Despite the severe burns he suffered, staff members did not send the man to the hospital for treatment and instead sent him home via a taxi. The man who was 74 years old at that time, later passed away even after undergoing multiple surgeries. It was found that his burn injuries to his feet and thighs caused renal failure in the end.

The problem was how FujiTV dealt with the aftermath. After the footage was aired, there were complaints from viewers which then led to former president Minato and the programme's producer to visit the deceased man's brother and sister-in-law to apologise for the inadequate measures taken after the filming. However, the incident was never revealed to the public and those responsible for the programme were not punished in any way. In fact, Minato himself was promoted 6 months after this incident.