Tourism on Samui is recovering, despite the recent change in policy on visa exemption for Chinese visitors, because the main market remains German, French, and British travelers.
Ratchaporn Poolsawat, the head of the Samui Tourism Promotion Association, revealed that tourism on the island during the peak season from July to August has rebounded to pre-COVID-19 levels, comparable to 2019.
Tourist numbers are expected to increase in the fourth quarter of 2023, even beyond the New Year vacations.
Ratchaporn Poolsawat, the head of the Samui Tourism Promotion Association
Before the COVID -19 situation, 90 percent of the tourists visiting Samui were from Germany, France, Britain, Israel and Australia, and Thai tourists accounted for about 10 percent. This year, the composition of foreign tourists is expected to remain similar, but there is a decrease in Indian tourists, while Thai tourists have increased to about 20 percent.
“It is estimated that Samui will receive about 2.2 to 2.3 million tourists this year, which is similar to the 2019 numbers,” Ratchaporn said.
As for the supply of tourist facilities, there are currently about 25,000 hotel rooms, which is the level before COVID. About 600 hotels have registered. During COVID, only about 5,000 rooms were available. Currently, hotels are experiencing occupancy rates of about 80 percent during the past tourist season, although there may be some oversupply of rooms.
As for the government’s new policy of granting free visas to Chinese tourists, Ratchaporn explained that while this could have an impact on tourism overall, Samui will not benefit significantly, as only 10 percent of foreign tourists on Samui are Chinese.
That’s because Samui is not focused on quantity and Chinese tourists tend to head to destinations with better infrastructure. Samui is not a large island, so Chinese tourists visiting Samui generally prefer independent travel (FIT).
Currently, there are about 40 flights per day to Samui, a decrease from the peak of 50 flights per day in the past. It is suggested that the government encourage traffic, such as by expanding the airport and creating different flight routes while increasing marketing efforts.
FILE - A Taiwan national flag flutters near the Taipei 101 building at the National Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying, File)
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — China’s military sent 103 warplanes toward Taiwan in a 24-hour period in what the island’s defense ministry said Monday was a daily record in recent times.
The planes were detected between 6 a.m. on Sunday and 6 a.m. on Monday, the ministry said. As is customary, they turned back before reaching Taiwan.
China, which claims Taiwan as part of its territory, has conducted increasingly large military drills in the air and waters around Taiwan as tensions have grown between the two and with the United States. The U.S. is Taiwan’s main supplier of arms and opposes any attempt to change Taiwan’s status by force.
FILE – The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson (DDG 114) conducts routine underway operations in the Taiwan Strait, on Sept. 9, 2023. (Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Jamaal Liddell/U.S. Navy via AP)
Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said that 40 of the planes crossed the symbolic halfway point between mainland China and the island. It also reported nine naval vessels in the previous 24 hours.
The ministry called the Chinese military action “harassment” that it warned could escalate in the current tense atmosphere. “We urge the Beijing authorities to bear responsibility and immediately stop such kind of destructive military activities,” it said in a statement.”
China last week sent a flotilla of ships including the aircraft carrier Shandong into waters near Taiwan. The drills came shortly after the U.S. and Canada sailed warships through the Taiwan Strait, the waters that separate the island from the mainland.
FILE – In this photo released by the Taiwan Ministry of National Defense, Taiwanese navy ship Keelung, foreground, a U.S. made Kidd Class destroyer, monitors the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong, background, near the Taiwanese waters in September 2023. (Taiwan Ministry of National Defense via AP)
China also unveiled a plan for an integrated development demonstration zone with Taiwan in China’s nearby Fujian province, trying to entice Taiwan while also warning it in what experts say is China’s long-running carrot and stick approach.
The recent actions may be an attempt to sway Taiwan’s presidential election in January. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, which leans toward formal independence for the island, is anathema to the Chinese government. China favors opposition candidates who advocate working with the mainland.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 when the communists took control of China during a civil war. The losing Nationalists fled to Taiwan and set up their own government on the island.
The island is self-governing, though only a few foreign nations give it official diplomatic recognition. The U.S. among others has formal ties with China while maintaining a representative office in Taiwan.
One of Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin’s plans to boost tourism in Chiang Mai is to build the second airport, while Chiang Mai aims to be the best destination for workcation.
PM Srettha told locals in Chiang Mai’s Tah Hia Subdistrict on Sunday, September 17, that he’s eyeing pushing for a second airport to solve the problem of capacity or passenger congestion at Chiang Mai Airport and reach the target of 20 million passengers per year.
Prior to PM Srettha’s visit to Chiang Mai, the province’s administrators convened to discuss plans to position Chiang Mai as the best destination for workcation, aiming to attract international visitors to spend in Thailand, both in the short and long term.
Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin visits Chiang Mai on September 17, 2023.
Nirat Pongsittithaworn, the governor of Chiang Mai province, held discussions on the issue with representatives of relevant agencies and officials from the Office of the National Council for Economic and Social Development.
They also explored how to use the “soft power” of the fact that Chiang Mai has communities that are consistent with its identity and local wisdom as a tourist destination.
Doi Inthanon, Chiang Mai.
If the implementation of this project is successful, it is expected to attract more international tourists, boost the economy in Thailand, and significantly strengthen the local economy in Chiang Mai.
As a result of the negotiations, the focus will be on pushing for changes in regulations, rules or the creation of special visas tailored to the target group, such as foreign travelers or digital nomads who want to work from Thailand. This will include ensuring that all aspects such as travel, health, accommodation and tourism security are fully addressed.
Tell es-Sultan archaeological near Jericho, West Bank, site is seen Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
JERICHO, West Bank (AP) — A U.N. conference voted Sunday to list prehistoric ruins near the ancient West Bank city of Jericho as a World Heritage Site in Palestine, a decision likely to anger Israel, which controls the territory and does not recognize a Palestinian state.
Jericho is one of the oldest continually inhabited cities on earth, World Heritageand is in a part of the Israeli-occupied West Bank that is administered by the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority. The listing refers to the Tell es-Sultan archaeological site nearby, which contains prehistoric ruins dating back to the ninth millennium B.C. and is outside the ancient city itself.
The decision was taken at a meeting of the U.N. World Heritage Committee in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.
Tell es-Sultan archaeological near Jericho, West Bank, site is seen Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. .(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Israel quit UNESCO in 2019, accusing it of being biased against it and of diminishing its connection to the Holy Land. Israel also objected to UNESCO’s acceptance of Palestine as a member state in 2011. But Israel remains a party to the World Heritage Convention, and it sent a delegation to the meeting in Riyadh.
Israel captured the West Bank, along with Gaza and east Jerusalem, in the 1967 Mideast war. The Palestinians want all three territories for their future state. Israel views the West Bank as the biblical and cultural heartland of the Jewish people.
There have been no serious or substantive peace negotiations in over a decade, and Israel is currently led by the most nationalist and religious government in its history, making any move toward Palestinian statehood nearly unimaginable.
The modern city of Jericho is a major draw for tourism to the Palestinian territories, both because of its historical sites and proximity to the Dead Sea. In 2021, the Palestinian Authority unveiled major renovations to one of the largest mosaics in the Middle East, in a Jericho palace dating back to the 8th century.
Tell es-Sultan archaeological near Jericho, West Bank, site is seen Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023. A U.N. conference voted Sunday to list the site as a World Heritage Site in Palestine, a decision likely to anger Israel, which controls the territory and does not recognize a Palestinian state.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Tell es-Sultan, an oval-shaped mound, contains evidence of one of humanity’s first-known villages and an important Bronze-Age town dating back to 2600 B.C. It is around 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the remains of the first city of Jericho, which contains ruins of importance to Jewish history, including a synagogue dating back to the first century B.C.
UNESCO, which refers to the site as Ancient Jericho/Tell es-Sultan, took pains to clarify that the two are distinct.
“The property proposed for nomination is the prehistoric archaeological site of Tell es-Sultan located outside the antique site of Jericho,” Ernesto Ottone, UNESCO’s assistant director general, said during the meeting to discuss the site.
“Later historical developments, which span over millennia and are demonstrated by material remains beyond the boundaries of Tell as-Sultan, constitute a rich cultural context, worth of historical interest and preservation, covering among others, Jewish and Christian heritage. However, this is not the focus of the proposed nomination.”
Tell es-Sultan archaeological near Jericho, West Bank, site is seen Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023.(AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean)
Historical heritage has long been among the many flashpoints in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, with both sides using archaeology and conservation to demonstrate what they say is their own unique connection to the Holy Land.
The Palestinian Authority, recognized a decade ago by the United Nations as a nonmember observer state, welcomed the designation of Tell es-Sultan.
President Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement that it “testifies to the authenticity and history of the Palestinian people,” adding that “the state of Palestine is committed to preserving this unique site for the benefit of mankind.”
There was no immediate comment from Israel.
Paris-based UNESCO began the World Heritage List in 1978. It includes a broad array of over 1,000 sites — from the Acropolis in Athens to the Great Wall of China — nominated by their respective nations.
Police escort Praween Chankhlai, or Kamnan Nok, to the Criminal Court on Sept. 9, 2023.
The new Srettha Thavisin government has declared war on influential figures and mafias following the recent killing of Pol. Maj. Sivakorn Saibua by a gunman allegedly working for a local sub-district chief (Kamnan) in Nakhon Pathom province, who is believed to be a local influential figure.
Influential figure basically means you have more power and influence than your formal job title or profession suggests. Many kamnans, technically lower in rank that district chief, or Nai Amphur, are more influential and powerful than district chief because the former are local people chosen by the locals, while the latter appointed from by the Interior Ministry in Bangkok and most often are outsider who will only be in the area for a few years.
Some, like the late Kaman Poh of Chon Buri province, was arguably once the most influential man in the province, even considered a mafia by not a few, was so successful that he eventually formed a political dynasty with some of his children successfully become mayor of Pattaya and eventually Cabinet ministers like former Culture Minister Ittiphol Kunpluem, who served under Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha administration and is now wanted for illegally signing a construction permit while the mayor of Pattaya.
Ittiphol, whose name in Thai aptly means “influential” is now believed by the authorities to have fled to Cambodia just before his arrest warrant was issued.
Moving away from local influential figures, we could say the military, which is also a state within a state, is a kind of mafia or influential organization. The covet position of army chief has for many decades been known to be more powerful than the post of supreme commander and even defense minister as it is vital in staging a successful military coup and in controlling army troops.
Nevertheless, if you think that these are the only group of influential figures in Thailand, you are very wrong. In fact, the more powerful some of these influential figures or mafias are, the less likely you will feel safe calling them mafia or influential figures due to their dark and threatening influence. Often you will call them something else, like Big (literally big man) something or Sia (rich man), with the title preceding the name, often their nickname.
Factors enabling influential figures to thrive in Thai society include low salaries for rank and file and even middle-ranking officials and officers. This tempts them to rely on earning supplementary income through corruption by serving these influential figures. Many Thai police for example, is widely regarded to be ‘compromised’ in a systematic way, where some lower ranking officers had to be part of a corrupt system to extort, collect protecting money from various businesses, particularly shady businesses, serve them, and dispatch tea money to their commanders up the command chain.
If you are a cop and found yourself in such a working environment, you have a choice of either going with the flow, turning a blind eye or being treated as an enemy of your colleagues who are corrupt police officers.
This is why in the case of the killing of a Pol. Maj. Sivakorn, six police officers were ordered to be arrested by the court and believed to play part in aiding the killing of Sivakorn and destroying evidence of the crime.
Patronage system, widespread in Thailand, is deeply rooted particularly in rural areas and among the powerful. It enables influential figures and mafias and those too powerful to be called influential figures or mafia to thrive.
These people exist and operate in Thai society like the informal sector of the Thai economy – in tandem with the formal sector. It is as if the formal sector cannot offer what these people seek and the formal sector cannot really eradicate them for, they are too numerous, powerful, and too much an integral part of the fabric of Thai society itself.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, center right, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, and Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy, center left, visit the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate of the Russian navy in the port of Vladivostok, Russian Far East. The visit was part of Kim's trip across Russia's Far East that has featured talks with Russian President Vlaidmir Putin and sparked Western concerns about an arms deal between the two old allies.(Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held discussions with Russia’s defense minister on strengthening “strategic and tactical coordination” between the countries’ militaries, the North’s state media said Sunday, as Kim continued a visit to Russia’s Far East that has raised concerns about an arms alliance that would fuel Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
The talks with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu came after Kim on Friday was shown some of Russia’s most advanced weapons systems deployed for its war on Ukraine, including nuclear-capable bombers and hypersonic missiles, and a key warship of its Pacific fleet, the Korean Central News Agency said.
People look at the newspaper “Rodongsinmun” reporting that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visit the Komsomolsk-on-Amur Yuri Gagarin Aviation Plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia, in the Kaeson Station of Pyongyang Metro in Pyongyang, on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Cha Song Ho)
Kim’s trip, highlighted by a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, has underscored how their interests are aligning in the face of separate, intensifying confrontations with the West. U.S. and South Korean officials have said North Korea could provide badly needed munitions for Putin’s war on Ukraine in exchange for sophisticated Russian weapons technology that would advance Kim’s nuclear ambitions.
While his predominant focus is on military cooperation, Kim also appears to be using his trip to encourage broader exchanges between the countries as he tries to break out of diplomatic isolation.
The governor of Russia’s Primorye region, which includes Vladivostok, said he plans to meet with Kim on Sunday. Gov. Oleg Kozhemyako said on his messaging app channel they would discuss exchange programs for schoolchildren to attend summer camps in one another’s country and other ways to cooperate in sports, tourism and culture. Russian media said Kim may also visit food industry businesses in Primorye.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, right, points while speaking to Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, during inspecting Russian warplanes at the Vladivostok International airport in Vladivostok, Russian Far East on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
A day after visiting an aircraft plant in Komsomolsk-on-Amur that produces Russia’s most powerful fighter jets, Kim on Saturday traveled to an airport near the port city of Vladivostok, where Shoigu and other senior military officials gave him an up-close look at Russia’s strategic bombers and other warplanes.
All the Russian warplanes shown to Kim were among the types that have seen active use in the war in Ukraine, including the Tu-160, Tu-95 and Tu-22 bombers that have regularly launched cruise missiles.
During Kim’s visit, Shoigu and Lt. Gen. Sergei Kobylash, the commander of the Russian long-range bomber force, confirmed for the first time that the Tu-160 had recently received new cruise missiles with a range of more than 6,500 kilometers (over 4,040 miles).
Shoigu, who had met Kim during a rare visit to North Korea in July, also showed Kim another of Russia’s latest missiles, the hypersonic Kinzhal, carried by the MiG-31 fighter jet, that saw its first combat during the war in Ukraine.
Kim and Shoigu later traveled to Vladivostok, where they inspected the Admiral Shaposhnikov frigate. Russia’s navy commander, Adm. Nikolai Yevmenov, briefed Kim on the ship’s capabilities and weapons, which include long-range Kalibr cruise missiles that Russian warships have regularly fired at targets in Ukraine.
KCNA, which has reported Kim’s activities in Russia a day late while crafting the details to meet government propaganda purposes, said Kim was accompanied on Saturday’s visits by his top military officials, including his defense minister and the top commanders of his air force and navy.
Following a luncheon, Kim and Shoigu talked about the regional security environment and exchanged views on “practical issues arising in further strengthening the strategic and tactical coordination, cooperation and mutual exchange between the armed forces of the two countries,” KCNA said.
In their July meeting, Kim gave Shoigu a similar inspection of North Korean weapons systems before inviting him to a massive parade in the capital, Pyongyang, where he rolled out his most powerful intercontinental ballistic missiles designed to target the United States.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un, center, and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, left, arrive to inspect Russian warplanes at the Vladivostok International airport in Vladivostok, Russian Far East on Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
Kim’s visits to military and technology sites this week possibly hint at what he wants from Russia, perhaps in exchange for supplying munitions to refill Putin’s declining reserves as his invasion of Ukraine becomes a drawn-out war of attrition.
Kim’s meeting with Putin was held at Russia’s main spaceport, a location that pointed to his desire for Russian assistance in his efforts to acquire space-based reconnaissance assets and missile technologies.
Experts have said potential military cooperation between the countries could include efforts to modernize North Korea’s outdated air force, which relies on warplanes sent from the Soviet Union in the 1980s.
Kim in recent months has also refocused on strengthening the country’s navy, which analysts say could be driven by ambitions to obtain Russia’s sophisticated technologies for ballistic missile submarines and nuclear-propelled submarines as well as to initiate joint naval exercises between Russia and North Korea.
Later Saturday, Kim visited a local theater to watch Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty ballet performance. KCNA said Kim received a rousing ovation by people at the theater and expressed “deep thanks to the performers and the theater for their impressive and elegant ballet of high artistic value.”
Russia’s RIA Novosti state news agency said Kim left after the first act.
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KIM TONG-HYUNG and HYUNG-JIN KIM reported from Seoul.
A backhoe tractor became an elephant’s enemy. It was another incident showing the conflict between wildlife and humans.
A wild elephant named “Pang Chatri” (Pang means female elephant), who was about 10 years old, attempted to attack the eucalyptus cutting workers at the Lat Krathing Plantation, Village No. 5, Lat Krathing Subdistrict, Sanam Chai Khet District, Chachoengsao Province on Saturday, September 16.
The workers first noticed the elephant coming closer, so they kept shouting until all of them ran away; only the backhoe tractor driver remained. At that moment, the elephant charged the car and attempted to push it in order to attack the driver, who was stranded inside.
Even the workers set off firecrackers and noisy ping-pong bombs in the hopes of scaring away the elephant. Pang Chatri, on the other hand, circled the backhoe tractor for more than three hours. The elephant later walked into the jungle near the vehicle, but the driver could not risk coming down.
Khao Ang Rue Nai Wildlife Sanctuary officials deployed forces about 6:00 p.m. to assist in stopping the elephant from running out and assaulting them. They used infrared heat-sensing drones to search for her. Finally, officials were able to assist the backhoe tractor driver in escaping.
Later, officials continued to use infrared thermal drones to search for hiding spots of Pang Chatri, to monitor and prevent her not to enter the communities late at night. They also warned villagers living in the surrounding vicinity.
Officials suspect that the elephant was stressed during the incident. They thought she should gradually calm down.
Chachoengsao is one of the provinces where there is conflict between elephants and people as towns expand and encroach on elephants’ natural habitat.
Members of the Chinese delegation pose after the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games Village in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Sept. 16, 2023. (Xinhua/Du Yu)
HANGZHOU, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) — The opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games Village, which also served as the team welcome ceremony for the sports delegation of hosts China, was held here on Saturday.
Village mayor Li Huolin addressed the audience with a welcome speech, saying the volunteers and other employees will do their best to provide high-level services and make it home to all, safe, warm and comfortable.
Photo taken on Sept. 16, 2023 shows a view of the Hangzhou Asian Games Village in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province. The Village was opened to the athletes on Saturday. (Xinhua/Huang Zongzhi)The Chinese delegation arrives for the opening ceremony of the Hangzhou Asian Games Village in Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, Sept. 16, 2023. (Xinhua/Xue Yuge)
The Asiad village, consisting of athletes’ village, technical officials’ village and media village, is the largest non-competition venue of the Hangzhou Asian Games.
During the 19th Asian Games, the village will provide accommodation, catering, transportation, medical services, etc., for more than 20,000 athletes, team officials, technical officials and journalists.
Five sub-villages in Ningbo, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Tonglu and Chun’an, as well as three athletes reception hotels in Shaoxing, Lin’an and Xiaoshan, also opened on the same day.
The suspect, Phuwadon, was charged with intentionally reporting false information to the police.
The man who caused an innocent friend to be misunderstood by the police and sentenced to 80 days was apprehended after 4 months.
Phuwadon Pitiputthaphon, 25, was arrested at 1:00 a.m. on September 16 in the parking lot of The Publish Restaurant & Bar, Prasertmanukit Road, Lat Phrao District, Bangkok, for making a false report to the police.
Phuwadon was first detained in a drug case on August 23, 2020, according to the inquiry. At the moment, Phuwadon told the cops that he forgot to carry his ID card, so they just took his fingerprints.
Phuwadol, who had facial surgery, admitted that he was the same person on the arrest warrant.
The following day, Phuwadon’s mother requested an ID card from a friend named Anucha, a 26-year-old air conditioner technician who claimed to be making bail for Phuwadon. Instead, Phuwadon handed it to the police as his identification card. As a result, the suspect’s name and residence were listed as Anucha by the police.
After receiving bail, Phuwadon disregarded the court’s order to report himself. The court issued an arrest warrant for Anucha based on the information provided by the police. Anucha was arrested by police at Khok Kram Police Station and taken to the Bangkok Remand Prison for custody. He was there for up to 80 days beginning June 13, 2023.
Parents embrace Anucha as they sob in relief. Their son freed from prison on August 29, 2023 after the police were shown to have mistakenly detained the wrong person.
During that time, Anucha’s parents attempted seven times to complain about the facts and request bail for their son, but each time they were denied because it was noted that he had previously escaped.
Anucha’s parents then took their grievances to the media, via the Saimai Must Survive Fackbook page. As a result, the police investigated until they realised they had arrested the wrong suspect. As a result, they requested Anucha’s release on August 29, 2023.
At the same time, police were still looking for Phuwadon, who had facial surgery to avoid arrest and worked as a male host until he was caught. He admitted that he was the same person on the arrest warrant.
Kauan Okamoto, left top, a musician also a former member of Japanese pop group Johnny's Junior, speaks during a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Wednesday, April 12, 2023, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
TOKYO – Japan’s top male talent agency Johnny & Associates Inc. has acknowledged that its late founder Johnny Kitagawa sexually abused aspiring teenage pop singers for decades. But the question remains: how was he able to get away with it for so long?
While an overconcentration of power within the agency’s founding family has been cited as a major factor in the long-term coverup of the abuse, Japanese mainstream media also long turned a blind eye.
A third-party body set up by the agency to investigate the scandal said in a report in August that it believed Japanese media refrained from reporting the allegations out of fear they would no longer be able to secure appearances by talent represented by Johnny’s, as the firm is widely known.
In 2019, the Japan Fair Trade Commission had warned Johnny’s over suspicions that it had pressured media networks not to feature former members of idol group SMAP who left the agency following the band’s dissolution.
FILE – A roadside screen in Tokyo’s Yurakucho area reports on July 10, 2019, the death of Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates Inc. (Kyodo)
Kitagawa, who founded the agency in 1962, was one of the Japanese entertainment industry’s most powerful figures, propelling numerous groups such as SMAP and Arashi to stardom before his death in 2019.
Junya Hiramoto, 57, was one of the first talents once represented by the agency to expose sexual abuse by Kitagawa, publishing a book in 1996 that detailed his experiences of being touched and forced to engage in sex acts with the pop mogul.
The Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun in 1999 later published a series detailing accusations that several boys had been abused and sexually exploited. Kitagawa, who was never charged with any crimes on the basis of the allegations, sued the Shukan Bunshun and was awarded damages.
But even in 2003, when the judgment was partially overturned after the Tokyo High Court ruled the magazine had sufficient reason to publish the allegations, mainstream media remained largely silent.
Such allegations only garnered wide public attention after the BBC aired a documentary in March this year that included interviews with victims.
The agency in May issued a video and written public apology from its current president Julie Keiko Fujishima, but it was only on Sept. 7 when it held its first press conference on the issue.
Julie Keiko Fujishima (R), former president of Johnny & Associates Inc., attends a Tokyo press conference on Sept. 7, 2023, alongside new president Noriyuki Higashiyama, amid allegations of sexual abuse by the agency’s late founder and her uncle, Johnny Kitagawa, against aspiring teenage pop singers over decades. (Kyodo)
Noriyuki Higashiyama, a veteran TV personality long represented by the agency, took over the helm after Fujishima, Kitagawa’s niece, acknowledged the scandal and stepped down as president.
“I think Mr. Kitagawa and the agency as a whole were in the wrong,” said Higashiyama, 56, when asked at the press conference about self-censorship by the Japanese media over the sexual abuse cases.
Yoshihiko Inohara, president of the agency’s subsidiary Johnnys’ Island, who also attended the press conference, called for a change in media attitudes, saying, “Self-censorship is rampant in Japan. It is really tough to eliminate, and it is a problem that we need to work on together.”
But some have questioned whether the appointment of Higashiyama as the new president constitutes the kind of internal organizational reform recommended by the firm’s external probe, also partly because he himself faces allegations of sexual abuse, revealed in a tell-all book by a former agency member years ago.
Higashiyama denied the allegations when they were raised at the press conference.
Asahi Omori, a public relations and crisis management consultant, said a new president should have been chosen from outside the firm.
Despite acknowledging the scandal, the agency has decided to retain its name “Johnny & Associates.”
Dancer Yasushi Hashida (L) and singer Kauan Okamoto attend a hearing conducted by the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan in Tokyo on May 16, 2023. They spoke about alleged sexual assault committed by Johnny Kitagawa, who died in 2019. (Masanori Genko/AP PHOTO)
A series of major companies ranging from beverage firms and an airline to an automaker has since started to distance themselves from the agency.
Asahi Group Holdings Ltd., Kirin Holdings Co. and Nissan Motor Co. have announced they will not use talents from Johnny’s in future promotional material, while Japan Airlines Co. has said it will refrain from using Johnny’s talents in promotional material until appropriate measures are taken.
Tokyo Shoko Research said Wednesday that 226 firms do business with the agency and its group companies, of which more than 10 percent are listed. It has warned that firms will likely review the use of Johnny’s talent for compliance reasons for fear of being seen as tolerating sexual misconduct.
Takeshi Niinami, president of Suntory Holdings Ltd., which has decided not to seal any new contracts with Johnny’s talents, took a critical view of the way Johnny’s has handled the issue.
“Using the agency’s talent would mean we are tolerating child abuse,” Niinami, who is chairman of the Japan Association of Corporate Executives, a major business lobby, said at a press conference.
Johnny’s has said that as part of efforts to take responsibility for the scandal, it will not seek management fees from advertisers, TV networks and other clients for a year, allowing its talents to collect all the payments for their use.
The move comes as Johnny’s has been seeing growing number of talents quit the agency even from before the scandal broke in the media. Competition from boy groups from other agencies, meanwhile, remains fierce.
Nevertheless, for some programs, there still remains a “wall” for performers other than those from Johnny’s, an industry source said.
“It would be great if this becomes an opportunity to drastically change the structure of the entertainment industry. In a way, it’s a chance,” the source said.
Takahiko Kageyama, a professor of media studies at Doshisha Women’s College of Liberal Arts, said self-censorship by the media could occur in dealings with any party in the entertainment industry.
“Every network needs to create investigative programs and thoroughly reflect on the situation. Only then will the relationship between the entertainment industry and TV stations become healthier,” Kageyama said.
The focus is now shifting to the issue of compensation for victims and the agency’s future survival.
Nearly a week after its press conference, Johnny’s announced it has set up an independent victim relief panel made up of three former judges who will determine the amount of compensation to be paid as it assesses the claims of alleged victims.
