AICHI (TR) – Tokai TV this week held a press conference to announce that the chairman of the company had resigned from his position amid reports of sexual harassment, reports TV Asahi (Dec. 25).
Last month, weekly tabloid Shukan Shincho (Nov. 20) published a photo of Tokai TV chairman Hiroshi Kojima embracing female staff members at a dinner party.
Tokai TV is an affiliate of Fuji TV. After the publication of the article, an investigation by a committee commenced. The results of the investigation revealed that no harassment was found.
In the image published by the magazine, Kojima is shown with his arms around one woman with another woman between the two of them.
“While the report did not find any harassment, we take seriously the fact that inappropriate behavior as a manager occurred,” said president Yasutaka Hayashi. “As of December 23, chairman Kojima is no longer the director and representative director.”
“Never felt sexually harassed”
In reaching the conclusion that “sexual harassment was not found,” the committee cited statements from the women in question during interviews. One woman said, “I never felt sexually harassed.”
Hayashi continued regarding chairman Kojima’s resignation, “Even if harassment is not recognized, there is no denying that he was naive about human rights issues as the head of a media organization.”
Hayashi was also present at the banquet in question. He reflected on his failure to stop Chairman Kojima from embracing the women. “I was naive,” he said.
When asked about whether being naive is a personal matter or a related to the corporate culture at Tokai TV, Hayashi said, “It is not based on corporate culture. It was a personal decision.”
“Take a long time”
The committee was made up of Tokai TV’s full-time auditor and three other people, including a lawyer.
Tokai TV managing director Tatsumi Fukagawa headed the committee. When asked why a third-party committee did not conduct the investigation, Fukagawa said, “An investigation by a third-party committee would likely take a long time. We felt that the problem would be that the company’s response and comments would be delayed.”
