Popular actor Teruyuki Kagawa apologizes for groping Ginza hostess

It’s not just top businessmen and politicians who frequent the pricey hostess bars of Ginza and elsewhere. Male celebrities also have expensive tastes, including spending time with the attractive younger ladies who (as long as you keep buying them over-priced drinks) will pretend to find your conversation interesting and hint that they might be willing to sleep with you.

However, large consumption of alcohol and the sense of privilege that comes from paying for a woman’s time can lead to trouble.

One of Japan’s most famous and popular actors, Teruyuki Kagawa, was forced to apologize on August 26 after a weekly tabloid magazine published a scoop that he had gone too far on a trip to a Ginza hostess bar.

Kagawa allegedly took off her bra — without her consent — and touched and kissed her breasts. The 56-year-old had to open a TV show he hosts on Friday morning with an apology and promise to try harder in the future.

“I will continue to work diligently, earnestly, and to the best of my ability on the tasks that I am given. Above all, I would like to spend my time without forgetting to be grateful that I’ve been given another day like this,” he told viewers, though declined to actually specify what he was apologizing for.

Kagawa is the face of various brands and these scandals often impact a celebrity’s appearance in promotional campaigns. TV commercials are sometimes suspended until the scandal blows over.

The hostess is reported to be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, though it seems that the magazine was still able to persuade her to discuss her ordeal for its readers. The incident, it should be noted, is not recent, but apparently happened in 2019 (which makes both the scandal and Kagawa’s contrition rather belated). The hostess sued the club owner and Kagawa in 2020, though the suit was withdrawn in 2021.

Ironically, the scandal might have been stronger if the incident had happened after the pandemic started, when hostess clubs were demonized and visiting one was seen as, at best, foolhardy and, at worst, reprehensible.

Still, Teruyuki Kagawa is far from the first Japanese thespian to run into trouble with a hostess. Hollywood star Ken Watanabe took a dent to his reputation when an affair with a younger, former hostess was exposed in 2017, when his second wife was recovering from cancer.