Former J-Pop Idols-in-Training Seek New Law on Child Sex Abuse

Former teen performers who say they were sexually abused by Japanese impresario Johnny Kitagawa are asking politicians to strengthen the country’s laws against child sexual abuse.

Yasushi Hashida, now 37, was a pop-star trainee with Kitagawa’s talent agency, Johnny & Associates, from the time he was 12 until he was 19. He said he was 13 when Kitagawa first abused him.