Ryuichi Hirokawa has covered war, AIDS from contaminated blood products, nuclear power plant accidents, and other societal problems on the front lines for half a century as a photojournalist advocating human rights. The weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun published an article in its issue that went on sale on December 26 (January 3-10, 2019 issue) revealing that Hirokawa abused his superior position to engage in non-consensual sexual activities with, take nude photographs of, and otherwise sexually exploit aspiring female photojournalists under his tutelage.