In December of last year, Masahiro Nakai, 53, a former member of the popular idol group SMAP, was reported by “Josei Seven” and “Shukan Bunshun” for his troubles with women. The following month, in January of this year, Nakai announced his retirement from the entertainment industry. The following month, in January of this year, Mr. Nakai announced his retirement from show business. Then, at the end of March, a third-party committee established by Fuji Television recognized Mr. Nakai’s conduct toward a former female Fuji Television announcer as “sexual violence. “At the time of his retirement, Mr. Nakai was living between his hometown of Shonan and his home in Tokyo,” said an acquaintance of Mr. Nakai. I was called to the Shonan area to attend Nakai-san’s drinking parties. The members were very selective and only trusted people were invited. The drinking parties were held several times, and all of them were “outside meals” at izakaya (Japanese-style pubs) and other places. Nakai, despite his concern about being seen, did not drink at home. “The first time I was summoned to see Mr. Nakai after his retirement, I met him for the first time in a long time and was surprised to see that he had lost a lot of weight,” he recalls. That same month, Nakai took “certain actions. On May 12, Mr. Nakai, who had remained silent in response to the “sexual violence” finding by the third-party committee in March, suddenly responded to the committee’s investigation report. Mr. Nakai’s side of the story is that although he responded to the committee’s hearing in good faith for about six hours, his comments were not reflected in the report. They also claimed that they did not find any violent or forceful sexual acts, which are generally associated with the Japanese word “sexual violence. Furthermore, Mr. Nakai’s side demanded the disclosure of evidence and the basis for the finding of sexual violence, but the committee refused to disclose the evidence, claiming that “the fact finding was appropriate. Mr. Nakai’s side then made two rebuttals, but the committee terminated the negotiations, citing the risk of causing secondary damage to the victim. Nakai says that he decided to fight back because he “can’t turn my back on the people who have supported me and my fans. However, the wind changed in late August when Fuji Television Network filed a lawsuit against former president Koichi Minato, 73, and former senior managing director and former president of Kansai Television, Ryo Ohta, 67, demanding that they jointly pay 5 billion yen in damages. The reason for the toning down of the rebuttal may be that the Fuji side was concerned about the risk of a lawsuit against Mr. Nakai. In addition, Nakai’s series of rebuttals have embarrassed those around him, and an increasing number of people, including business associates and co-stars who had previously been close to him, have distanced themselves from him. (The entertainment source mentioned above.) In the meantime, according to the entertainment source mentioned above, Mr. Nakai is “back in Tokyo. Indeed, “Josei Seven” also caught sight of Nakai moving around Tokyo in early November, and there has clearly been an increase in sightings of Nakai in Tokyo over the past month. An entertainment journalist commented, “Nakai has been spotted in his hometown of Shonan. When Mr. Nakai was in and out of his hometown of Shonan, he must have had most of his “private” meetings. Now that he has returned to Tokyo as his base of operations, he may be holding more work-related meetings.
