TV announcer Miku Natsume has been fired after a particularly obscene photograph of her with a condom was leaked.
The shocking photograph at the centre of the scandal:
The 26-year-old TV presenter began appearing on TV in 2007, working on a variety of programmes.
In 2009 the photographs above were somehow leaked (presumably by the usual “scumbag ex-boyfriend” channel) to and then published by a Tokyo scandal rag, and she soon found all her TV appearances cancelled and subsequently ended up on paid leave, which expired recently. She then resigned.
Although technically a resignation, hounding an unwanted employee out of a job without actually going through the legally difficult business of firing them outright (traditionally by removing them from their core duties and giving them a worthless position with no prospects, and then waiting for them to crack and resign “voluntarily”) is an established Japanese employment practice, so it appears to be a dismissal in all but name.
Presumably this will be the end of her career in show business, as no TV station will want to employ a woman so slatternly as to use a contraceptive.
2ch is uncharacteristically sympathetic:
“Come on – a condom should be fine, it’s not like it was a sex tape.”
“She’s not even a seiyuu… the people who bash these women for having sex lives are crazy.”
“She isn’t even an idol. Why is there a problem with her having sex?”
“It seems TV stations are treating their announcers like idols these days.”
“Poor girl.”
“How did this get leaked anyway?”
“She lost so much through just that 1 pic…”
“Now we can await her porn star debut.”
“Her TV bosses are as tough on sex as you lot are.”
“She got fired over something this trivial?”
“If they don’t like it, then they shouldn’t put anyone but virgins and children on TV.”
“Can’t she sue them?”
“Her ex-boyfriend is the one she should sue…”
“Blame it on those weekly rags who published the pics.”
“This is unfair dismissal.”
“There must be another reason behind all this…”
“So it’s not just creepy otaku, our entire society is a bunch of creepy virgin hunters.”
“Everyone made a fuss about creepy otaku whining about Nagi and Aya, but really, is our wider society any better?”
“What is wrong with using a condom?”
“She is doing a public service by promoting safe sex – she should be praised!”
“This is retarded. If condoms are bad because they are associated with people having sex, shouldn’t people with children also be barred from TV as they are also associated with sex?”
“I could understand if it was a pic of her face dripping with semen, but this is just ridiculous…”
I can see the Virginity hatred on this post is over 9000!!!
“She isn’t even an idol. Why is there a problem with her having sex?”
– this mean that if you want to become an idol or seiyuu you have to give up your sex life?
You use it, not take photos of it…
Id fire her for being stupid…
That’s just … retarded.
But then again, it’s coming from a country that has been putting mosaic on genitals for over 50 years …
Pfff, the network’s just freaked out that she might be having SEX and SEX means not a virgin and they want a “pure” image. I swear, people in charge will go to great lengths to fire someone.