Talent Agency Accepts Tainted Tokio Member Yamaguchi’s Exit

May 7, 2018

Tokyo- Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates said Sunday that it has accepted a resignation offer from Tatsuya Yamaguchi, a scandal-tainted member of all-male pop group Tokio.

Yamaguchi, 46, offered to leave Tokio when he met with the four other members of the group last Monday, according to the agency.

On Sunday, Yamaguchi again informed the talent agency of his strong intention to quit. Johnny Kitagawa, president of the company, and Tokio leader Shigeru Joshima held talks and decided to accept Yamaguchi's resignation offer, the agency said.

Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department recently sent papers on Yamaguchi to public prosecutors for his suspected indecent assault of a high school girl at his home in Minato Ward in the Japanese capital in February. The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office last Tuesday decided not to indict him, apparently because he has admitted to the allegations and reached a settlement with the girl's side.

In their joint statement on Sunday, Joshima, 47, and the other three members--Taichi Kokubun, 43, Masahiro Matsuoka, 41, and Tomoya Nagase, 39--said, "We will again go back to basics as Tokio, fully consider what we should do and move forward." Jiji Press