J-pop star Nakai to retire after sex misconduct allegations: media

One of Japan's biggest boy band stars and best-known television hosts announced his retirement on Thursday after being accused of sexual misconduct, Japanese media reported.

Masahiro Nakai told his paid fan club that he had "completed all discussions with TV stations, radio broadcasters, and sponsors regarding my termination, cancellation, removal, and contract annulment," the Mainichi newspaper said.

"I will continue to face all problems sincerely and respond wholeheartedly. I alone am responsible for everything," Nakai reportedly said.

AFP could not immediately confirm the announcement with Nakai's agency, and the star's website was overwhelmed with visitors.

Earlier this month, Fuji Television suspended a weekly show hosted by Nakai after media reports said he had paid a woman a lump sum of 90 million yen ($575,000).

This photo taken on January 17, 2025 shows the logo of the Japanese television station Fuji Television Network displayed on the company's head office building at Odaiba district in Tokyo. A growing number of top brands are pulling adverts from major Japanese broadcaster Fuji Television (Fuji TV) on January 20, 2025 over sexual misconduct allegations against a host and former J-Pop star Masahiro Nakai. Photo by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP

Other major television networks also said they were dropping the 52-year-old former member of the hugely popular group SMAP.

The allegations concern a 2023 encounter with the woman that leading tabloid magazine Shukan Bunshun said involved a closed-door setting and a "sexual act against her will."

Shukan Bunshun and other outlets have alleged that a Fuji TV executive was involved in organizing his meeting with the woman, and dozens of top brands, including Toyota and McDonald's, have pulled their adverts from the broadcaster.

Fuji TV denied those allegations but said it was probing the matter last week after a US activist investor said it was "outraged" by the company's lack of transparency.

The share price of Fuji Media was down 8.4 percent on Thursday.

The now-disbanded SMAP swept the charts in Japan and across Asia during the group's nearly 30 years of fame.

(FILES) Major TV networks have distanced themselves from one of Japan's biggest 1990s boy band stars after media reports said Masahiro Nakai paid a woman a large settlement related to alleged sexual misconduct. Photo by JIJI PRESS / AFP

The scandal comes after now-defunct boy band empire Johnny & Associates -- of which SMAP was long the defining face -- admitted in 2023 to sexual abuse allegations against its late founder.

Music mogul Johnny Kitagawa, who died aged 87 in 2019, had for decades sexually assaulted teenage boys and young men seeking stardom, the agency said.

Japan's showbiz industry was then rocked by another bombshell sexual assault scandal against Hitoshi Matsumoto, one of the country's most popular comedians.

In November, Matsumoto said he was withdrawing a libel case against the Shukan Bunshun magazine that published the allegations, including that he forced oral sex on one woman and forcibly kissed another.