The scandal, which first broke in December through Japanese magazine exposés ... Associates once managed Nakai’s mega-popular boy band SMAP. Nakai announced his retirement from show business ...

Fuji Television Network Inc. and its parent company have established a third-party panel based on guidelines of the Japan Federation ... The focus of the scandal, however, has already outgrown ...

The scandal centers on Masahiro Nakai, a former leader of Japan’s once-hugely popular boy band SMAP, and his costly settlement with a woman over the alleged sex assault at a 2023 dinner party.

The scandal stems from reports that ... a five-member singing and dancing male band, which debuted in 1988 and quickly surged to stardom in Japan and across Asia until it was disbanded in 2016.