Masahiro Nakai, one of Japan's top TV hosts and a former pop star, says he is retiring to take responsibility over sexual assault allegations.

The spiralling controversy involves Masahiro Nakai, the 52-year-old media personality who was the leader of defunct male idol group Smap, and mainstream broadcaster Fuji Television. It also highlights the growing role that foreign activist shareholders are playing in compelling change in stuffy Japanese boardrooms.

Japanese TV network Fuji faces mass advertiser exodus after allegations of covering up sexual assault claims against host Masahiro Nakai of SMAP fame.

Observers say the former boy band member's fall from grace echoes music mogul Johnny Kitagawa's decades of sexual abuse Japan's Fuji Television Network has hired external lawyers to investigate a snowballing sex scandal surrounding pop star-turned-TV celebrity Masahiro Nakai,

Nakai, 52, reportedly paid a woman $791,000 after she alleged sexual misconduct. Read more at straitstimes.com.

The president and chairperson of Japanese network Fuji Television have resigned over a widening sex assault scandal linked to one of Japan's top TV celebrities. The scandal centers on Masahiro Nakai,

Former star of J-pop band SMAP Masahiro Nakai resigned after several damning reports and suspicions that broadcasting giant Fuji TV covered up the assault case. The scandal is part of a wave of sexual assault cases hitting the Japanese entertainment industry.

Fuji TV chairman Shuji Kano and president Koichi Minato stepped down to take responsibility for an alleged sexual assault by a TV host at a 2023 dinner that the Japanese network is alleged to helped organize.