Asian Junkie Asian pop. Without discretion.
AKB48‘s Minegishi Minami was recently outed by tabloid Shukan Bunshun for staying over at the house of GENERATIONS member Shirahama Alan, and I guess the AKB48 head honchos have figured out their punishment for her, which includes demoting her and shaving her head.
Shukan Bunshun reported with their latest issue published on January 31st, that AKB48 member Minegishi Minami spent a night at the house of GENERATION member Shirahama Alan. Now, on AKB48’s official blog, it was announced that she will be demoted to Kenkyuusei starting on February 1, 2013.
It also says that they will announce further details on Minegishi’s activities when it’s decided.
I am very sorry for worrying the members, you fans, staff members, my family, and many people for the article about me on a weekly magazine that will be released today.
As the first generation member of AKB48 that was formed back in 2005, I was supposed to be in the position where I always had to act as a role model for the junior members. However, what I have done was such a thoughtless and a lack of self-awareness behavior.
Since my mind is still in blank, I did not know what to do or what I can do, but as I just saw the magazine, I could not sit still, so I decided all by myself to shave my head without even telling the members or my agency.
I do not expect that I would be forgiven by doing this, but what I first thought was that I did not want to quit AKB48.
I was unable to think of leaving AKB48 now where the members I love and spent my youth together, and you warm fans are. I know this is being over‐optimistic, but I want to stay as Minegishi Minami of AKB48 if possible.
It was all my fault about this. I am very sorry.
I will leave everything to Akimoto-sensei’s and the management’s judgement. Though I haven’t been able to sort out my feelings, I just wanted to tell you how I was feeling right now.
Thank you.
Okay, first of all, I’m not a fan of her, so I have no inherent emotional reaction to this. However, as a HUMAN FUCKING BEING, how the fuck is this allowed?
Holy shit, she’s 20 and she maybe fucked a guy or is dating a guy, so she shaves her head and gets shitted on all the way back down to trainee? I mean, wow, how delusional do fans have to be to believe that she belongs to them?
It doesn’t matter to me whether or not she shaved her head or they made her do it. Either way, it’s bullshit, because they either forced her to humiliate herself or she choose to humiliate herself because she’s been brainwashed into believing it’s the appropriate response and that she knows what’s coming if she doesn’t make herself seem sympathetic/remorseful.
It’s fucking ridiculous. Anybody who can watch that video or just look at her and think that’s appropriate punishment is a gigantic piece of shit. Worse yet, they put it on their official channel for everybody to gawk at (including me), so the company absolutely endorses this bullshit.
I feared that she would be demoted or kicked out or burned in effigy, but this is honestly probably the worst thing I’ve seen happen to an idol, and if there’s something worse, I can’t think of it right now. Why? Because it’s an in-your-face visual representation of all the bullshit that surrounds being an idol in Japan and what the wota/otaku fucks make them go through.
Fuck you wotas, fuck you “fans”, fuck you delusional assholes. Look at the culture you created. Fucking idiots.
Disgusting.
Fuck….
Just awful.
This article is EXACTLY how I felt when I watched the video. I’m sorry, but I can’t even understand how her staying at some guy’s house has to come to this. It pisses me off to NO end when fans get into petty and pissy arguments about how their idols belong to THEM, and no one else. Fans fail to understand that an idol is still HUMAN, with HUMAN desires, emotions, capabilities, etc. This is why no matter how much I would love to meet my favorite Kpop groups in person, I also think it’s best if I stay afar, for our interests. They already put up enough shit, they don’t deserve any of this. Also, the ideology of retribution has become so twisted and extreme that it needs to stop.
As I’ve been saying all day on other articles about this I do not know how anyone can watch this and not be outraged at her company for this bullshit. I understand that that being pure and managing your image is what they expect but that standard is outdated and needs to change. This humiliation is to appease rabid fan boys nothing more.
The trainee thing is purely symbolic, it will have no effect on her standing in the group whatsoever as she’s too popular to drop from variety shows. She may have to miss the senbatsu once or twice but no more. The hair thing was entirely her own choice. She knew the rules and it’s not like she’s under a really nasty K-Pop style contract which forces her to stay, she can leave whenever she wants. Her fans have spent large sums of money on their relationship with her, while most of them aren’t under any illusions that it is in any way real the least they feel they can expect for their money is for her to correctly play the part. What it comes down to is that she broke the cardinal AKB rule and instead of quitting chose to show that she was sorry and work to do better, nothing wrong with that IMO.
It’s supposed to be better if it’s her own choice?
Please.
It’s one of the most common way of showing extreme remorse in Japanese culture, she felt what she did warranted it. As with all things Japanese culture comes as a package and it’s impossible to say that Japanese group ethic and work rate is great, but the hair cutting is stupid because they all interlink. This is just the way they do it there and cherry picking elements of moral superiority accounts for large parts of the issues that the US (don’t know if you’re american but whatever) finds itself in.
You’re missing the point.
Your argument is centered around semantics, while I’m arguing the utility of her feeling shame itself.
Why does she have to show that she was sorry and can work to do better? In what way? By being less human?
Her fans aren’t fans of her if they’re made happier by this. They’re just delusional. Period. I’m not supporting that.
It’s all about the social indebtedness they have there, you do something wrong and you have to make up for it. The fans won’t be made happy by it, indeed many of them are upset but it’s a fact of Japanese culture that they all accept is necessary. So rather than dissuading her from doing it, they’ll support her through the difficult decision to atone as best they can. If they make an exception for social indebtedness for even one person, then the whole system comes crashing. WHich in fact makes it even more important that a high profile public figure follows it.
“If they make an exception for social indebtedness for even one person, then the whole system comes crashing.”
ROFL
You making this out to be a social issue is hilarious. This isn’t a fucking politician scamming the public out of money. It’s an idol maybe or maybe not fucking a dude.
Yeah, if she didn’t do this, the entire system comes crashing down.
Get a grip.
This will be my last comment as arguing over the internet rarely has any expediency. I’m of course not referring to just her, but the Japanese are very invested in this system so if she had done nothing and contravened it, she would have lost half her fan base and her entire media career overnight. That left her with two options, quit or do something else to show remorse and she chose this path. Whilst this may not be a social issue on the scale of a politician and indeed 80% of Japanese people won’t really care in the slightest the 20% count immensely.
Unlike most K-Pop groups or even most J-Pop groups, the social element of AKB48 is incredibly important. Their whole popularity is based on the ‘Idols you can meet philosophy which Akimoto implemented from the start. Otaku are willing to spend hundreds of yen on their oshimen because of the fact that AKB members are essentially surrogate girlfriends. Whatever you think of that as a concept it means that their cashflow is entirely dependant on them maintaining their veil of availability. Once you remove that all that’s left is some average looking girls who can’t dance and sing crappy music. AKB is great because the relationship with the members is so much closer than anything else I’ve ever seen. When you both financially and emotionally invest so much in another human being if she then was to do nothing and get away with having done it AKB would suffer as a whole because the strict rules of lie which everyone is entertaining have been broken.
Anyway, I love the site and whatever so I look forward to a more deserving case being ridiculed/lambasted.
Why are you writing to me like I’m some ignorant hick American that has no familiarity with Asian culture or Japanese culture? Just one comment ago you tried to make a serious point about how if she didn’t do this, then the entire apology culture/society of Japan would chip away. Is that real life? Then you say, “Welp, arguing is pointless, so this is all for me.” Like I said, get a grip.
I simultaneously acknowledge everything you say and also believe it’s ridiculous. There’s a line between obsessive fans who think they own idols and being a fan because you like the idols’ persona. I enjoy AKB48 for the exact reasons given, but there’s room for sanity in there, and appealing to the people who aren’t sane isn’t and shouldn’t be a business plan. I’ve believed this all along, but this is just the perfect example of what I mean.
I have no vested stake in their monetary interests, so I couldn’t care less if they would lose revenue as a result of appealing to rationality. Celebrity culture, in general, is exactly what you describe, including in America, but there’s a line that most people draw, and this will cross it for many.
A more deserving case? Anybody with half a brain is going to be rallying against this shameful display of abuse, whether it’s implied or direct is inconsequential.
By the way, most people tend to love this site until it goes after the illogical bullshit that one of their own favorites perpetuates. That’s how it works. Some people can deal with that being thrown in their face, some can’t.
I might be wrong but I think IATFB is a white person who just grew up around a lot of Asians
@Boo He’s obviously Peruvian, DUH.
Dammit, replied to the wrong one. FAIL
The whole cult around idols in Asia is so backwards and out of date with the rest of their society that it’s maddening.
I do not believe it was her choice to cut her hair for 1 sec. It’s a publicity stunt and it is disturbing.
I think the entire point is that she should not be shamed at all for her actions, that it is backwards of her management and of Japanese society to shame her for something that is perfectly and utterly reasonable. Despite the fact that many Christians view premarital sex as bad and corrupting American morals, a large majority do it regardless (with regards to Christians).
Basically, its not that cutting her hair is an unfair punishment for a crime or transgression of moral values, its that she did nothing to begin with. You mention the 20% to which this will matter immensely. Whether or not that is 20%, they have no basis to be mad. Yes, the idol is a product that is manufactured to be the sexual ideal for an individual. Regardless, it is unfair and also frightening to hold them to contracts they signed as minors, and ones that take away from their basic liberty of expression that does not offend anyone except those feeling an unjust sense of entitlement to her. In short, those 20% are mad because they believed in the product that was unfairly created in the first place: that she is a commodity that is solely for the viewer, and that they are entitled to her. It’s bullshit, and the whole shaming is ridiculous.
For what it’s worth, apparently 2chan wasn’t even that mad about it, so all of this seems just cruel.
“Will they include her hair as an extra in their next CD?”
Agreed. I mean, I understand that it was part of her contract, but this kind of humiliation was hardly necessary.
Shirahama Alan’s agency released a statement: “We leave his private life up to him.”
That’s it, no reprimand for him.
Utterly sickening.
Not surprising, he’s not an idol.
Nothing to do with male/female.
Ueto Aya’s agency said as much about her and EXILE’s HIRO.
Not so much sickening that he doesn’t get any reprimand as the fact that she DID, right?
What the fuck is wrong with them? I can kinda sorta understand the getting demoted part, but why shave her head? And why force her to make a video of her apology? I could barely watch it… Omg. :(
Same here – just listening to her gasping everytime she says “wa” – I can’t tell if she’s having to play it up for the wotas or if she really can barely speak she’s so distressed. Either way it’s fucking horrible to listen to…she should have been able to do a written statement instead and maybe a video later when the issue is less stressful for her :(
Only in asia :D
Double standards as usual, all the blame goes towards the girl while the guy gets away scott free.
Can’t wait for the day one of the idols shows them the middle finger and tells them to go fuck themselves or find/buy a fucking woman to bang.
I wish Gyuri did this. She seems to be bitchy enough to be able to pull it off.
I’ve been saying this all the time. They wouldn’t want me as an idol. They’ll go old school medieval style on my ass to get rid of me.
gyuri isn’t even like that, she even admits it at one point that all her straightforward talk is a persona she carries for tv. You shouldn’t think someones personality on tv is the same as when they’re off camera, you’ll be fairly disappointed. Oh and idols already have been doing that but most of them have no power to go against their respective companies,
ex. Jin Akanishi(although id lose everything too if i could get meisa).
Wow – and one must also understand how fucking terrible and traumatizing it is for a woman to shave her head, taking away some of her femininity. I know chicks who are on the verge of crying if the hair dresser has to cut some cm of their hair lol – it’s like we have a deep bond with it. Like guys and their balls or guys and their PS3.
Also this might be totally fucked up to compare but I can’t help but be reminded of some haunting pictures they showed of women in concentration camps.
She looks like she is ready to star in Schindler’s List 2 there…..
It doesn’t help that she looked so frail in an oversized sweater either.
But to have the girl cut off her hair like that…
while i get how that would in some way mend the supposed betrayal of the fans/ otakus/ crazy-rapid-wotas i still don’t see why this is necessary. Japanese culture or not, this is just too fcking much.
DID YOU JUST COMPARE A WOMENS HAIR TO A MANS BALLS? HAIR GROWS BACK, BALLS DONT. PS3 COSTS MONEY.. ANYONE WOULD BE FUCKING PISSED IF IT GOT TAKEN AWAY.ALIEN. A probably equivalent would to take a guys pants/shorts pockets away from him.
“Guys and their PS3″…I really feel like you were taking a shot at me
I knew someone would feel addressed. :o
“ I do not expect that I would be forgiven by doing this, but what I first thought was that I did not want to quit AKB48. ”
…
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1bcl6uAxA1qbxaxw.gif
Seriously. I’m not a very big fan of her but from what I’ve seen/heard it seems like she could keep herself afloat by becoming an MC or something. I don’t see why she feels she needs to continue to be an idol, especially if she would have to start all over again as a trainee.
i think Akimoto was mad jelly that she was out giving it up to some other guy and not him…he and Johnny Kitagawa must be best friends.
poor girl. shame that she puts up with the bullshit just to be an idol.
Fucking. Ugh. :/ It’s seriously sad that she has to apologize to the frikkin’ fans about this, it’s not even. :[
You hit the nail on the head with this one IATFB . Its one of the most disturbing new story’s about an idol I have heard in a long time.
She felt she had to do this to stay in the group WTF ?
Asian idols need to look at the likes of Scooter Braun and Simon Cowell. They let their idols date and make a killing with easy publicity in news story’s on celeb blog sites every day about whose dating who. It keeps them in the news and is good business.
Its might annoy many trying to read these celeb blogs but fuck it, it does not lead to idols shaving their heads and begging for forgiveness. This is like something from the middle ages.
It’s good that some of her colleagues are showing support. lol at the finger horns.
http://mediacdn.disqus.com/uploads/mediaembed/images/425/3129/original.jpg
Wow…
I have a feeling this might be big enough to get picked up by the western media.
This shouldn’t be dismissed as a “cultural” thing. This falls more under the category of basic human rights.
That video gave me the hardcore willies, it seriously looks like she’s filming it from an AKB holding facility. That is what it looks like when your life doesn’t belong to you. Creepy, creepy shit.
This so much, I got the willies when she started crying.
*Applauds*
Just when you thought the “developed” parts of Asia were making some progress, they elect Park Geun-hye and Abe Shinzo and now this happens!
Cheers Japan, you’ve achieved another victory for social justice everywhere.
I really do feel sorry for her. She looks absolutely miserable in that photo/video, and like she genuinely believes she did something wrong and deserves to be punished for it.
Yuck! I couldn’t even finish watching the video. It boggles my mind that there are people so vicious and psycho that they say, with a straight face, that ”she deserves this” type of punishment. This is very low and disgusting.
You know that someone’s mental slavery is absolute when they choose to punish themselves before consulting their master.
this shit is a cult, can’t be apart of that
What I truly cannot understand, in both Kpop and Jpop, is why exactly aren’t idols allowed to date/have sex/w.e? I mean, yes, they are marketed towards people who will “obsess over them” and bring in revenue but are those fans that screwed in the head that they cannot grasp reality? I mean don’t they date, or have sex because last time I checked idols are just like these fans, aka, freaking humans.
It gives fans a glimpse of hope at least, I suppose. An idol who’s single means that s/he’s still free and is still “up for grabs”, meaning that no one really owns them and as an ordinary fan you can go ahead and try. There’s also the argument that this rule keeps them grounded; no knocked up girls and whatnots.
I would like to see a cost/benefit analysis run, as far as how much revenue they would even project to lose if they ditched this rule.
Miichan is my kamioshi. You have no idea how heartbroken it is to see your favorite JPop idol crying in front of the camera with a shaved head, bowing so low to apologize for something that is oh so human. And this is Miichan we’re talking about. First gen Miichan, which, by default, would be one of AkiP’s favorites and would be consider safe from being kicked out. Sasshi did worse, and all she got was being transferred to a sister group (some say that this was planned before the scandal anyway), so Miichan, who has more seniority and has been in the group for seven years since she was thirteen, should have gotten away with a lighter punishment than being demoted to a KKS. Furthermore, Miichan was the last girl in terms of popularity from the first gen, and the gap is pretty wide. She even has a song written for her that basically says, “It’s okay bro, people go forward with their own paces; you’ll get there someday”, so it’s just really fucking sad that she’s reduced to a kenyuusei after everything.
On the bright side, Takamina and other first gen girls +Acchan seem to be supporting her. And some predict that this will boost up her popularity in the upcoming senbatsu; as disgusting as it sounds, people would think that she’s so humble and has taken the “right” action by shaving her head in shame, and would sympathize with her more. Idk.
So the people criticizing her for not seeming remorseful enough are the minority, I assume? Within the fandom, I mean.
If you go to AKB English language fansites you can find people referencing seppuku and manga in the same breath in an attempt to justify why baka gaijins would never understand why this girl felt the need to shave her head. Also tons of “if you blame the rule instead of the rule-breaker it’s just like blaming the law instead of the criminal!” Idol otaku are the scum of the earth.
How far removed from any sense of self-awareness do you have to be to seriously espouse something as backwards and fucked up as the no dating rule? Celebrity fantasies are normal enough, but if you’re dreaming of boning a celebrity nothing changes if the real person is in reality getting some. They don’t come into your private fantasy and stop you from dreaming whatever fucked up shit you want to dream. Purity? Fucking please asshole, a human isn’t less pure because they’re in love or because they want to have sex. If celebrities MERELY BEING SEEN WITH A MEMBER OF THE OPPOSITE GENDER OUTSIDE OF THEIR FAMILY makes you mad then you need to get some whiskey and sit down in front of a mirror and have a long, hard look at your life and why you are such a fuck up degenerate.
If it was solely Minegishi’s choice to cut her hair or it was the management’s choice or a group decision – none of that matters, because any way you slice it this is a disgusting action done to appease a group of 40 year old men who dream of fucking a complete stranger who is a teenager and get upset when those teens might show interest in a man other than themselves.
“It’s a rule she agreed to” means nothing when people are arguing that that rule is backwards and fucked up and not appropriate. A lot of people would agree to some pretty heinous shit but we as a society don’t let individuals officially sell themselves into slavery or other such things because society realizes that that’s not okay and that individuals shouldn’t be allowed to do that regardless of their situation. Some day in the future, probably far off, things like this fucked up idol culture will change because of the countless discussions taking place on the issue. It’s how societal change works. It’s slow and it’s painful and throwing your hands up and saying “that’s the status quo! stop getting angry at the way the world is!” is stupid at best.
Seeing a lot of “that’s the culture” justifications, as if normal Japanese people think wota/otaku are legit.
Seriously laughable.
I want to know where their limit is on punishment.
Where would “she agreed to it” stop and “boy, that’s fucked up” start?
I wonder.
Well said. Especially the last paragraph. I’ve made the same argument about the stupid K-pop dating bans and have been blown off by people with the “those are the rules they agreed to” bullshit, too.
Shit like that shouldn’t be in any contract.
I try, but fail to understand how this rumor became such a big deal that the girl felt she had to let herself be humiliated like that. I honestly doubt it was really her own decision to go to that extent, especially because when the news first came out, AKB fans were sure nothing would happen to her since she’s a popular member and LDH fans just shrugged it off because HIRO obviously doesn’t care if any of his boys or girls get some.
To be honest, if I were her I would have stood up the instant they asked me to apologize and leave with my dignity intact.
But above all, I don’t get the fans of AKB. Them saying she deserved it, that it was to be expected since she broke the rule, and asking for Alan to be punished too although LDH doesn’t have any love date ban are beyond ridiculous. It’s like they are shifting the blame to everyone but AKB’s management who are really the ones who blew this out of proportion. To an extent, it’s scary how they don’t seem to be able to think rationally and instead keep finding justifications to support this type of idiocy.
Thank you for the translation IATFB. I’m not to good with Spanish :-(
Western media is starting to pick this story up:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/music-news/9841441/Japanese-pop-star-shaves-head-in-penance-for-sex-scandal.html
http://perezhilton.com/2013-01-31-japanese-pop-star-shaves-head-sex-akb48-minegishi-minami#.UQvIdr9EGRM
Nice. I hope to see more articles like these, with more enlightening on how fucked up the whole issue is. But some of those fuckers, who think they are Japanese culture experts, trying to explain to “standard Americans” that it’s normal thing in the East, and she deserved it, uuggh, they piss me off
Like this?
http://www.asianjunkie.com/2013/02/akb48s-minegishi-minamis-public-shaming-rebutting-the-excuses/
I wrote it for that exact reason.
Their justifications are weak and idiotic.
In my country where a lot of people are religious extremists, she would be dead already, so yeah, Japan is still far better regarding this case.
Not sure that’s the standard we want to be aiming for here.
A lot of articles have mentioned Japan’s ranking as 101 out of the all the world’s countries when it comes to gender equality. Obviously it sucks more to be 102, or at the bottom of the list, but that’s not really relevant to the discussion.
I agree completely. This practice is humiliating. No woman should ever be made to shave her head.
But I wonder, is this really a human rights issue?
I don’t have any evidence to suggest she was coerced into this extreme haircut.
Anyone who has been following idols knows that the “no dating” policy is central to whole system.
I will not pass judgement on the system, since I quite enjoy idol and idol entertainment.
I personally think she had a choice: she could have quite AKB. I don’t think there is anything wrong with this option. I can’t imagine a young woman would want to stay in a group that stifles her sexuality and womanhood. Choosing to stay in AKB is saying, “There too much money at stake for me to just quit.”
I honestly have the best interest of Minegishi Minami in mind when I say that she should have just quit AKB.
What the actual f….
Just curious, so what happens to kpop idols who are outed by the media for fucking around?