The silent majority and the power of social constructs: how the Kitagawa scandal perpetuated sexual violence

Abstract This study examines Japan’s prolonged public silence despite widespread awareness of Johnny Kitagawa’s decades-long sexual abuse, a prominent business magnate, and talent producer. The case demonstrates that conventional gender-based explanations for silence are insufficient, particularly in contexts involving male victims. The analysis highlights socially embedded mechanisms in Japan that shape individual and collective behaviour. The primary focus is the social construct of seken (often translated as ‘society’), which provides the normative framework that underpins the social order. In addition, social scripts, such as kūki o yomu (‘reading the mood or situation’) and sontaku (‘anticipatory obedience’), are equally significant. These practices generate implicit expectations of conformity, thereby contributing to the maintenance of the social order of seken. Rather than treating them solely as cultural traits, this study conceptualizes them as mechanisms through which social norms are enacted and complicity is reinforced. By examining these micro-social dynamics, the study clarifies how avoidance, indirectness, and compliance are normalized, sustaining public silence. This framework offers a more rigorous lens for analysing societal responses to sexual abuse in Japan and contributes to broader debates on the social conditions that perpetuate silence and enable abuse.