Idol's Paternity Test Revealed That His Son, Who Resembles His Group Member, Isn't His

A veteran idol held a press conference after the results from a paternity test changed his family forever. According to the test results, he is not his son’s biological father.

mikio-osawa-son-not-his--7 — Osawa Mikio in his youth | *Johnny & Associates*

Osawa Mikio is one of Japan’s first idols, having debuted in the late 1980s as a member of Hikaru Genji, a boy group managed by Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates. In 1996, Osawa married actress Kitajima Mai, after she became pregnant with their son, Osawa Reiji.

Over the years, Osawa began to notice that he and his son didn’t look or act much alike. His doubts led him to take a paternity test, and he received the results in February 2013. At the time, Reiji was 16, and Osawa and Kitajima were divorced. Kitajima had been given custody of their son when she and Osawa divorced in 2005.

mikio-osawa-son-not-his--5 — Osawa Mikio and teenage Osawa Reiji | *TodayOnline*

In 2014, Osawa fielded questions about his paternity test at a press conference. He told reporters that he’d wanted the test because of how different his and Reiji’s personalities were, but also because of health concerns. According to Osawa, Reiji had been born with a health condition, and Osawa’s second child–whom he had fathered with his second wife–was stillborn. Because of this, Osawa had wanted a DNA test to see if his children had inherited genetic defects from him.

todayonline — Osawa Mikio at his press conference | *TodayOnline*

Osawa told reporters that he felt more shocked than betrayed by the test results, and he acknowledged that his ex-wife must be going through struggles that he couldn’t fully understand. Although Osawa expressed his desire to know who the biological father is, he said it was up to Reiji to decide whether or not to look into it.

renote — Osawa Mikio and his ex-wife Kitajima Mai | *Renote*

The story doesn’t end there. As years passed, netizens reportedly began to notice similarities between Osawa’s son and Osawa’s former Hikaru Genji member, Akira Akasaka. In 2020, when Reiji was 23 years old, rumors circulated that he was actually the son of Akira, but Akira is just one of several celebrities netizens have speculated could be Reiji’s father. As for Osawa’s ex-wife, she has claimed that the paternity test results were incorrect and that Reiji is, in fact, Osawa’s biological son.