TOKYO – Millions across Asia have swooned over heart-throbs like Takuya Kimura of iconic group Smap or Kazunari Ninomiya of boyband Arashi, two of Japan’s top idols whose meteoric rise was orchestrated by their talent management agency, Johnny and Associates.

The firm was affectionately known as Johnny’s, a word that is now unsavoury since probes concluded in August that its founder Hiromu “Johnny” Kitagawa, who died of a stroke at 87 in 2019, had routinely preyed on boys.