Major Japanese brands cut ties with a J-pop giant over a sexual abuse scandal.

Hello, and you're listening to the Marketplace Morning Report.

Live from the BBC World Service, I'm Liana Burr, and thanks for joining us.

It's a story that's sent shock waves to Japan's entertainment landscape.

Now the country's biggest companies are responding.

Major Japanese brands like Toyota are severing ties with the nation's largest talent agency,

Johnny and Associates, following a serious sexual abuse scandal.

So we have our reporter, Mariko Oy, in Singapore for us on this story.

Hi, Mariko.

Hi there.

Listen, Mariko, can you just give me the background on Johnny and Associates

and its significance to Japan's entertainment industry?

Sure.

I mean, it goes back many, many decades.

Ever since I was a child, a Johnny's and Associates,

there were basically the dominant agent for male only boy bands

and all of their celebrities, they dominated TV programs,

but also commercials and so on and so on.

Now, they have almost always been allegations that its founder,

the late founder, Johnny Kitagawa, has sexually abused some of the younger boys

who joined the agent.

Now, it was once proven in court, but it didn't really get anywhere.

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