Third-party probe finds Shogakukan ‘encouraged’ human rights violations
The published hired a male manga artist who had committed sexual misconduct as an author for a new series under a different pseudonym.
A third-party investigation panel at Shogakukan has concluded that the publisher encouraged human rights violations. The panel found that Shogakukan's manga app editorial department supported the violation of the human rights of a female victim by hiring a male manga artist accused of sexual misconduct. The department altered the artist's pseudonym for two new series, "Jojin Kamen" and "Seiso no Shinrishi," despite the artist's prior conviction for sexually assaulting a teenage student.
The panel criticized the editor involved for participating in out-of-court settlement negotiations and approving the new series without adequate investigation. The panel concluded that Shogakukan's failure to comprehensively assess, manage, and supervise potential risks was problematic, as they did not sufficiently evaluate the potential human rights violations the artist might pose.
The company apologized for the incident, stating that they take the matter very seriously and will address their responsibilities sincerely.
Written by urgent.news from Japan Times's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
