DASH!” on June 20 of this year, after having appeared on the show for about 30 years, due to multiple compliance issues that had been confirmed in the past. DASH! (Nippon Television Network), in which he has been on an indefinite hiatus, held a press conference on November 26 to apologize. The news of Kokubu’s resignation and indefinite suspension came so suddenly that fans were in despair. On June 25, five days after the announcement of his departure from “Tetsuwan DASH,” TOKIO, to which he belonged, disbanded. In addition, the programs in which Kokubu had appeared were cancelled one after another, and all six of his regular programs up to that point were terminated. The fact that NTV did not release any information beyond the “violation of compliancy,” citing “privacy protection” as the reason, caused a public outcry as to “what did Kokubu do? In October, Kokubu filed a petition for human rights relief with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations (Nichibenrenren), claiming that NTV had not explained the grounds for the punishment, and therefore could not provide an explanation to the public. Nittele, on the other hand, stated that they saw no problem with the procedures leading up to the suspension, and the two sides remained at loggerheads. Kokubu, appearing in public for the first time in about five months, expressed his feelings toward the injured parties, sponsors, fans, and others, bowing his head each time and saying, “I am truly sorry,” and referring to the circumstances surrounding his decision to step down. According to Kokubu’s explanation, he went to Nittele to say hello to the new head of production and producer of the program, and after a short conversation, he was told, “I would like to ask you a few questions about compliance. After a short conversation, he was told, “I would like to ask you a few questions about compliance. Mr. Kokubu said, “I think there is a possibility that NTV may have found my past behavior to be in violation of compliance,” but he had not received an explanation as to which specific behavior constituted a compliance violation and “I have not been able to answer the question. However, he has not received any explanation as to which specific actions amounted to a compliance violation, and “I have not yet been able to answer the question. He added that he had been reminded by the lawyer he consulted that he had engaged in conduct that could be considered harassment, and that “I was resting on my position and environment, and had not really kept up to date with the times. He also admitted that he had “been resting on his position and environment, and had not really updated himself with the times.” (A reporter from a sports newspaper) The press conference in which he also spoke of his feelings about having caused the breakup of TOKIO was the top story on the web news under the headline “Kokubun Taichi’s Press Conference: Tearful Apology. However, at exactly the same time as the tearful apology, X featured a different story.
