Idol and J-pop entertainer 菊地彩香 / Ayaka Kikuchi (15), of group AKB48, announced on her blog that she has been given the chop after a tryst with her boyfriend came to light, with this news coming on the heels of the earlier compromising photos of her that were spread on the net.
The first scandal ensued when she committed the gross indiscretion of appearing with her boyfriend in a purikura, “print club”, one of the booth machines in which a gaudily decorated photograph can be had for some coin.
This is the offending item, reading “Always together for 3 months”:
After it became public she took a break from performing, or, in other words, was suspended.
The cause of this leak? Her boyfriend posted the photo on his online profile; the career destroying scamp then later proceeded to brag online about sleeping with her, creating a major scandal, as Japanese 15-year-olds are well known for guarding their chastity and being paragons of virtue in this respect.
Fans raised their voices in indignation at the prospect of some schoolboy laying hands on their pure and virginal idol, citing it as being a deterioration of the group’s public morals, and thus damaging to the image of their precious group of pretty young virgins, although insightful observers might cite a somewhat different reason for their consternation.
To further add to the trouble, someone thought to be a friend of hers started repeatedly trolling the rabid fans, calling them a creepy bunch, and then upping the ante by posting spurious threats of taking a hand grenade to an AKB event.
Then, in response to all this and but a few days ago, she announced her “retirement”: “It’s clear to me that I committed a rash and thoughtless deed, so on the 14th I withdrew.” The announcement from her agency was less indirect: “We cancelled our exclusive use contract with her”.
I leave it to you to decide who the most sordid participants in this sorry tale are.
Regarding these kinds of fans, you may recall that their untoward actions towards the objects of their obsession are legend; only recently we hear of an idol being deliberately ignored into tears at a handshaking event, for the disgusting impropriety of having a boyfriend…
The girl in question, full of charisma:
More conclusive evidence, as if you needed any, of why digital cameras, personal blogs, etc., can be a disastrous combination for idols, undoing the carefully constructed aura of feminine unattainability with a few artless V-signs and a lot of inane grinning, to say nothing of the lack of Photoshop enhancements.
Source, and a 2ch thread is preserved here.
I know this is old old old news, but you guys realize that not all idol fans are like this, right? In fact, most dedicated fans would support their favorite idol even past this. When (then) Morning Musume member Fujimoto Miki was revealed to be dating her now husband, and she confirmed that she was dating him, the fans raged NOT at her, but at the tabloid that revealed it, because they knew it would harm her career.
The no-boyfriend rule is just so deeply ingrained in the idol system (and in their contracts, mind you) that it’d be really difficult to dispose of now.
She has already rejoined the group and was just recently promoted to a full member of one of the three main teams again. Also, a tip for future articles: don’t publish 2ch posts as fact on your blog. It makes you look like some sort of wapanese Fox News.
Slacker, look at the original post date for the blog. As of that date, these were the known published facts.
Advice for young idols: Be cute, be sweet and be discreet. But most importantly, don’t date a moron.
Gotta thanks her boyfriend for destroying her career, a real jerkward.
This is the way it is, she had to chose between her fame, or dating some guy she apparently didn’t know enough about. She chose the latter and now she has to live with the consequences.