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INTEREST: KATACOTO*BANK Member Momoka Tojo Required to Post Solo Goodnight Photo For One Year


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malvarez1



Joined: 17 Nov 2008
Posts: 2133
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 11:03 am Reply with quote
So much of idol culture is a big yikes.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 815
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 12:17 pm Reply with quote
This is so... Primitive.

A prohibition of romance and/or sexuality is indeed, a violation of Human Rights, Bodily Autonomy and Self-determination, and this matters more than the Otaku idiots who forget idols are living, breathing Human beings.
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ShugoYotsuba



Joined: 26 Feb 2008
Posts: 154
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 12:19 pm Reply with quote
Funny that something this hella dated happens even though we live in an age where this rule ain't really enforced much these days (unless if you're in Korea)

But also an age where two actve idols (Kanako Momota & Mirin Furukawa) are not only married, but the latter even has a child

malvarez1 wrote:
So much of idol culture is a big yikes.


It's the entertainment industry, everything about it is a big yikes
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Top Gun



Joined: 28 Sep 2007
Posts: 4818
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 12:53 pm Reply with quote
How in God's name are any of these disgusting contracts even remotely legally enforceable? It's so damn gross.
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LukaTheLancer



Joined: 20 Nov 2023
Posts: 82
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:42 pm Reply with quote
when ever i read stuff like this i just sigh, because how screwed can it be not to let people be people, i don't get the whole pure thing at all, maybe it is a culture thing. Bu i am like is this even legal, and i keep thinking just how scary accurate Oshi No Ko is sometimes.

I feel so bad for the women and men in the whole idol/entertaitment indostry.
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Vee-Tee



Joined: 12 Aug 2015
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:55 pm Reply with quote
This is ridiculous and I hope she’s able to get out of her contract. This is way too punitive and for what? Why does SHE have to bear the onus of whatever tabloid scandal was caused by her being photographed with a guy who’s not a family member, when surely the tabloid could have chosen to not run that story? Good grief.

Have to wonder if this ever happens with male idols. Or does nobody care because the double standard that this degree of behaviour is expected (‘boys will be boys’) for guys, while for girls it’s some kind of unforgivable sin to not curate your image so that Mr Tanaka from Kobe who comes to your meet and greets gets to believe you actually care about him as a person and are some innocent singleton who was born to make him happy a la Britney Spears.
Again, why is it so important for these J-pop record labels to coddle the feelings of some idol otaku partaking in the fantasy about their oshii loving them back as much as they love them? I imagine even if I were the biggest Taylor Swift fan in the world, I am in no way entitled to get to meet her or dictate who she has as a boyfriend or anything like that.

I remember several instances of idols and seiyu (Hirano Aya comes to mind) having their images supposedly ruined for having boyfriends or something like that. Tearfully apologising on TV, shaving their heads… and why?


Last edited by Vee-Tee on Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:59 pm; edited 1 time in total
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MyMasterMatthew



Joined: 16 Nov 2008
Posts: 183
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:57 pm Reply with quote
They look so happy in those photos, too. I'll never understand idol culture. On the bright side, at least SOME of her fans were willing to be happy for her.

The punishment seems kinda.... unenforceable. Couldn't she just take a selfie while her boyfriend is in the room? It's probably not a good idea to do that if she wants to keep her job, cause one mistep could ruin everything, but I don't see how taking a photo to "prove" that you're alone actually proves anything.
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Nayrael



Joined: 05 Dec 2010
Posts: 28
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 1:59 pm Reply with quote
Vee-Tee wrote:
Have to wonder if this ever happens with male idols


From what I have seen, yes. In some cases, they are not even allowed to be straight. Fujoshi and female fans are no less bad than male ones.
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Vee-Tee



Joined: 12 Aug 2015
Posts: 140
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:02 pm Reply with quote
Nayrael wrote:
Vee-Tee wrote:
Have to wonder if this ever happens with male idols


From what I have seen, yes. In some cases, they are not even allowed to be straight. Fujoshi and female fans are no less bad than male ones.


Ah okay. I’m not in the idol fandom space so had no clue.

It’s still strange to me that idols and voice performers often go on hiatus for a few years or withdraw from fan things and then announce they’re married to someone, and yet fans are fine with it if you take that approach to announcing marriage or pregnancy etc. Maybe because they’ve moved on to stanning somebody or something else by that point.
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Nayrael



Joined: 05 Dec 2010
Posts: 28
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:06 pm Reply with quote
MyMasterMatthew wrote:
The punishment seems kinda.... unenforceable. Couldn't she just take a selfie while her boyfriend is in the room? It's probably not a good idea to do that if she wants to keep her job, cause one mistep could ruin everything, but I don't see how taking a photo to "prove" that you're alone actually proves anything.


That's no doubt what they are doing. Basically all idols actually have normal sex lives, I believe that even their fans know it, but they have to keep it hidden for the sake of upholding fantasies. They probably know this punishment means nothing, but they can fantasize that it matters. The entire idol culture is all about fantasies tbh.
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joemuszynski



Joined: 09 Apr 2020
Posts: 58
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:13 pm Reply with quote
Creepy.
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Ming Yi



Joined: 20 Dec 2005
Posts: 216
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:32 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
TV personality Becky in 2016


Becky's scandal blew up the way it did because she was dating Enon Kawatani (from the band Gesu no Kiwami Otome) and he was married at the time. It has little to do with her being punished merely because she had a boyfriend, but moreso who her boyfriend was at the time. That said, her career hasn't recovered as quickly as Kawatani's.

Vee-Tee wrote:

Have to wonder if this ever happens with male idols.


It depends on who you're contracted to, or what circumstance. During the 2000s and 2010s, Johnny's idols were frequent on tabloids, but nothing really happened to their career, probably because Johnny Kitagawa had a huge influence on the media. I feel that most people who got dropped from Johnny's was because of drug-related scandals (such as Ryutaro Morimoto's underage smoking scandal).

Also, compare this: Ryosuke Hashimoto (a Johnny's Jr., so basically a trainee) and Kanna Arihara (member of Cute, which had debuted for several years now) were caught on a movie date together. Nothing really happened to Hashimoto but Arihara got so much backlash that she eventually got put on a hiatus -- it was said she was getting treatment for her bunion, but she never returned from the hiatus and quietly left the agency without getting a farewell concert.

This isn't to say fans won't have the same reaction to male celebrities. I remember the thing where people were accusing Hikaru Midorikawa of dating a female fan because they wore the same bracelets, or the reactions people had when Hiroshi Kamiya was photographed by a tabloid carrying a baby.


Last edited by Ming Yi on Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Doubleclouder



Joined: 07 Jan 2024
Posts: 80
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 2:47 pm Reply with quote
Top Gun wrote:
How in God's name are any of these disgusting contracts even remotely legally enforceable? It's so damn gross.


Because that's what contracts are. You agree to do something and if you violate the terms of a contract you get punished for doing so. You act like people are forced into signing these things and it's not completely optional or their choice to turn down the job and find something else.

Part of certain idol companies is the image of a performer being available to their fans so if they do something to violate that image then they're at fault of their contract. It's simply business. If someone is hired to be a sponsor of Pepsi and they say one time in public that Pepsi is bad and Coke is better when their contract says they're not allowed to do that then that would be a common example of violating a contract. People can argue about freedom or speech or of it's unethical to limit what people can say if they want but that doesn't mean the contract isn't enforceable since it was part of the agreement. Otherwise people would just violate contracts all the time so they can get the perks of signing one without having to do anything in return.
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TJ_Kat



Joined: 11 Jan 2007
Posts: 423
Location: Saskatoon, Canada
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 3:48 pm Reply with quote
TBH doesn't her having a boyfriend play even harder into the otaku power fantasy? That way they can fantasize that they're going to win her away from him. Missed marketing opportunity.

But in all seriousness, this perception of availability isn't even unique to the creepy Japanese idol industry. I remember seeing a Western cosplayer say that whenever she mentioned her boyfriend/fiancee on Twitter or Instagram, she could count on having a huge drop in followers immediately afterwards.
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ATastySub
Past ANN Contributor


Joined: 19 Jan 2012
Posts: 699
PostPosted: Tue Aug 06, 2024 3:50 pm Reply with quote
Doubleclouder wrote:
Top Gun wrote:
How in God's name are any of these disgusting contracts even remotely legally enforceable? It's so damn gross.


Because that's what contracts are. You agree to do something and if you violate the terms of a contract you get punished for doing so. You act like people are forced into signing these things and it's not completely optional or their choice to turn down the job and find something else.

Part of certain idol companies is the image of a performer being available to their fans so if they do something to violate that image then they're at fault of their contract. It's simply business. If someone is hired to be a sponsor of Pepsi and they say one time in public that Pepsi is bad and Coke is better when their contract says they're not allowed to do that then that would be a common example of violating a contract. People can argue about freedom or speech or of it's unethical to limit what people can say if they want but that doesn't mean the contract isn't enforceable since it was part of the agreement. Otherwise people would just violate contracts all the time so they can get the perks of signing one without having to do anything in return.

Contracts still have limits on what is enforceable or not. That may be shocking to you considering the libertarian logic of your post, but there's a huge difference in promoting a rival soda and a human being living their life outside of their job.
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