Japanese pop star Taichi Kokubun apologized Wednesday for a compliance violation that led to his removal from a Nippon Television Network program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to express my sincere apologies to those I have hurt,\u201d Kokubun, 51, told a news conference in Tokyo. It was his first public appearance since his removal from Nippon TV\u2019s popular variety show \u201cThe Tetsuwan Dash\u201d in June.<\/p>\n
The broadcaster has declined to provide specifics about Kokubun\u2019s problematic acts, citing \u201cprivacy protection.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the day when his removal was disclosed, Kokubun announced that he would halt his entertainment activities indefinitely. Male pop group Tokio, of which he was a member, disbanded five days later.<\/p>\n
In October, Kokubun filed for human rights relief with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, claiming problems with Nippon TV\u2019s procedures that led to his removal from the show.<\/p>\n
He said he has \u201cno intention of fighting Nippon TV,\u201d explaining, \u201cI want to check which of my actions were deemed a compliance violation, learn the facts and properly face the issue and those involved.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis situation arose from my lack of awareness of my own position and circumstances,\u201d Kokubun said in tears. \u201cI think there was a part of me that was being complacent in the position and environment I found myself in during my long career.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI must understand my position, responsibility and trust, and face the matter head on,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Following the news conference, Nippon TV effectively declined to give Kokubun an opportunity to discuss what was wrong with his behavior, saying that victims \u201cfeel a strong fear of \u2018secondary harm\u2019 that could be inflicted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Japanese pop star Taichi Kokubun apologized Wednesday for a compliance violation that led to his removal from a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":156242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,103464,111,139,103461,69,103462,103463],"class_list":["post-156241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-japanese-tv","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-ntv","tag-nz","tag-taichi-kokubun","tag-tokio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}