Japanese entertainment agency Johnny & Associates has drastically changed since founder Johnny Kitagawa died in 2019. This past weekend, the talent powerhouse made its biggest shift yet when it addressed the recurring allegations of sexual assault levelled at Kitagawa by former male entertainers from the agency.

Kitagawa’s niece and current Johnny’s president, Julie Keiko Fujishima, released a written and video statement on the company’s official website Sunday night. The message walks a tightrope, offering apologies to the alleged victims while also refraining from verifying their claims. However, there’s still a feeling of regret that runs through the statement, with Fujishima emphasizing efforts to launch an internal investigation and change how the agency functions moving forward.

The true impact of the statement is in it existing at all. Allegations of sexual assault linked to Kitagawa first emerged in 1988, after former Johnny’s talent Koji Kita wrote a book that included details about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Kitagawa. The book sold well and was later cited as a reason for a decline in sales for Johnny’s groups, but Kita’s claims were largely ignored by the mainstream media. In the following years, more victims came forward. Domestic publications such as the tabloid Shukan Bunshun and foreign outlets such as The New York Times and The Guardian wrote about the allegations; yet, mainstream Japanese media continued to avoid reporting on the topic. Many of those who followed the story suggested this was due to the talent agency’s formidable position in the entertainment industry: If an outlet mentioned a hint of scandal, they supposed, Johnny’s might retaliate by barring its popular performers from appearing on the station’s other TV programs or in the publisher’s other publications.

Such aggressive gatekeeping could only happen in the pre-social-media age. Johnny’s wielded outsized power because it sat at the apex of the 20th-century model of entertainment: Japan’s insular media environment, made up of only a few major outlets, relied on the agency for any and all access to its talent.

The internet, particularly the rise of social media, changed that. The allegations against Kitagawa have circulated online for years, and when the J-pop titan died of a stroke in 2019, the difference between old and new media became clear. Morning news shows transformed into memorial services for Kitagawa, with Johnny’s performers eulogizing him on air. Online, however, social media users approached his legacy with much more skepticism, bringing up the sexual assault allegations that were completely ignored on TV.

While Johnny’s itself was never pressed to directly address the matter of Kitagawa’s alleged abuse, two developments this year put enough pressure on the agency to finally face the situation. In March, the BBC aired “Predator: The Secret Scandal of J-pop,” a documentary looking into the allegations against Kitagawa and how Japanese media largely ignored them. A month later, Shukan Bunshun spoke to former Johnny’s Jr. trainee Kauan Okamoto, who detailed even more claims of sexual abuse by Kitagawa. He also held a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan to further spread his story. Last week, Johnny’s fans submitted a petition with roughly 16,000 signatures demanding that the firm investigate the allegations of sexual abuse.

These developments — and Okamoto’s brave decision to come forward publicly in particular — made the claims a constant piece of discussion online, and eventually beyond. NHK, a media outlet that had long stayed silent on Kitagawa, reported on Okamoto’s press conference and the sexual assault allegations, which was a major change. While plenty of TV stations and outlets have remained quiet, others have begun covering the topic. The media world Johnny’s once controlled has vanished.

This renewed attention on Kitagawa’s actions puts the agency at a crossroads. Long known for shunning the internet, Johnny’s has moved to embrace digital platforms since its founder’s passing by sharing content on social media and allowing its acts to launch their own accounts. The company has become more active internationally, too, making greater efforts to promote acts outside of Japan and letting the group Travis Japan sign a deal with Capitol Records for its international debut. Yet the history of the talent agency’s namesake still lingers.

To truly move forward, Johnny’s has to recognize its past. While Fujishima’s statement doesn’t declare anything about Kitagawa himself, she peppers in references to her regrets over how the company used to be run — specifically how Kitagawa and Fujishima’s mother, Mary, controlled all major decisions. A large part of Fujishima’s message centers on new efforts to prevent incidents of abuse from happening in the future — at its heart, it aims to be about corporate responsibility and transparency.

Times have changed. As someone who has covered the Japanese music industry for over a decade, I was surprised to see the statement. Does it bring closure to the scandal or the damage done to Kitagawa’s alleged victims? No. However, admitting you even have a problem is the first step in becoming better. If Johnny’s can truly remember the past while building a new path forward, they can use their influence to shape a safer and all-around improved environment for Japanese entertainment.