Married Japanese voice actor Toru Furuya has voiced some iconic fictional characters, including Tuxedo Mask from “Sailor Moon” and Sabo from “One Piece.” But the actor recently made headlines after admitting to having an abusive affair and coercing his much younger mistress into an abortion when she was five weeks pregnant with his child.
The media outlet Weekly Bunshun exposed the affair in a lengthy interview with Furuya’s anonymous mistress in which she gave a detailed account of their relationship. Furuya admitted to the affair and the abortion, posting an apology on social media.
“I had an affair with a female fan for four and a half years, from 2019 until last September,” he said according to VN Expressed. “In the course of our relationship, there was one time when we had a dispute and I resorted to violence against her.”
He continued, “I also made an unforgivable error by compelling her to terminate a pregnancy. I deeply regret causing her both physical and emotional harm.”
Furuya added that he felt he had disgraced the fictional characters that he had portrayed, and pleaded with his fans for forgiveness.
週刊誌報道について謹んでお詫びとご報告申し上げます。 pic.twitter.com/GRu7QJIEWP
— 古谷 徹 Toru Furuya (@torushome) May 22, 2024
Toru Furuya translation of a post on X.
In an interview with the anonymous woman, she made accusations of abuse against Furuya, including that he struck her. She recounted the moment she told him she was pregnant in an interview translated by Zeonic Republic.
“It was my first pregnancy. Yet he casually sent a LINE message saying, ‘I’m sorry! I should have been more careful,’” she explained. “When I called him, the first words out of his mouth were, ‘I want you to get an abortion’… I wanted him to consider my feelings first. No matter how much we discussed it, he stubbornly insisted, ‘I want you to abort it.’” She added that he questioned whether it was a life.
At the moment of fertilization, a new human organism comes into being, with its own DNA, distinct from that of his or her parents. This human being is alive, and is a life. According to the Endowment for Human Development:
This brand new embryo contains the original copy of a new individual’s complete genetic code. Gender, eye color, and other traits are determined at… fertilization. Most significant developmental milestones occur long before birth during the first eight weeks following conception when most body parts and all body systems appear and begin to function.
The main divisions of the body, such as the head, chest, abdomen and pelvis, and arms and legs are established by about four weeks after conception. Eight weeks after conception, except for the small size, the developing human’s overall appearance and many internal structures closely resemble the newborn.
After being pressured into the procedure, the woman alleged that Furuya used the abortion against her in several arguments.
“Once again, we got into a heated argument about our future. Both of our tempers flared… He was angrier than I’d ever seen him. He brought up the abortion, saying, ‘I signed the consent form, didn’t I?!’ and ‘You knew I was married when you got involved with me.’ I couldn’t help but wonder if those were his true feelings. I was overwhelmed with a sense of frustration and betrayal,” she said, noting he broke off the longstanding affair soon after.
READ: Britney Spears had an ‘excruciating’ experience with abortion pills. She’s not alone.
When questioned about the affair, Furuya seemingly confirmed the abuse and that he coerced her into having an abortion, questioning whether the child was a life. “She was about five weeks along at the time, and that was my thinking back then. But I said it intending to console her, as she was struggling with the situation,” he claimed.
The Tokyo Weekender noted, “Relationships with fans are generally frowned upon in Japan, and in most parts of the world, as the power imbalance between a celebrity and his fan can result in the latter being taken advantage of. The two incidents Furuya referenced on X and in the interview certainly paint a troubling picture.”
As Live Action News has reported, “Studies have previously shown that 64% of post-abortive women felt pressured to abort. At the same time, 67% received no counseling before undergoing the abortion. Often, mothers face pressure from parents, boyfriends, employers, and friends to undergo an abortion. Research published November 1, 2021, in the journal Obstetrics & Gynecology revealed that a leading cause of death among pregnant women is homicide. The study found that homicide during pregnancy ‘exceeded all the leading causes of maternal mortality.’”
According to Tell, a support and counseling service in Japan, abortion is legal in Japan up to 21 weeks and six days of pregnancy and after 22 weeks when it is deemed medically necessary (though induced abortion — the direct and intentional killing of a preborn child — is not medically necessary). Typically, a woman must visit the hospital three times for an abortion. The first is for a general consultation and exam. The second is for the abortion procedure, and the third is for a follow-up. A consent form must be signed by the baby’s father as well and for those under age 18, parental consent must be given.
