Remember when we reported on two former idols in Aoyama Saint Hachamecha High School (Mechahai) in 2014, who were being sued by their managers for dating fans?
Well, now the sorry state of Japan's idol industry gets worse.
When a 17-year-old girl who was a member of an unnamed idol group (allegedly Dokidoki) was found to have "breached" her group's rules against dating, it meant the management apparently was forced to disband the entire idol group.
The management then sued the teenager and her family for around ¥5.1 million (over $40,000) in damages.
The courts ruled on the suit on ...
At last, the first major Nogizaka46 scandal!
The idol group's Sayuri Matsumura has been snapped kissing a man. But unlike her peers in AKB48 who tend to have affairs with their managers or with their otaku fans, Sayuri has opted for a guy in his thirties already married with a kid!
The tabloid Shukan Bungei ran the photos this week showing Sayuri on the street in the arms of the man.
Way to piss off your management, "betray" your fans, AND play up to the fantasies of older male admirers all at the same time, Sayuri!
The 22-year-old Sayuri has tearfully apologized but we ...
Why do all the Japanese hotties go with sports stars?
From news readers to pop singers, everyone seems to want a sportsman for a husband. Cute ex-Morning Musume member Rika Ishikawa is no different.
After it was reported in some tabloids she has confirmed the rumors on her blog, and crushed our fantasies. She is indeed dating Seibu Lions pitcher Ryoma Nogami.
Nogami is a mere 27 to Rika's 29 -- the dangerous age when girls get serious about you-know-what.
These day the former Musume is named as a tarento rather than singer or idol. Sadly, with her career on the wane, Rika ...
Yasushi Akimoto, the producer behind AKB48 and its cohorts, never misses an opportunity to make money, even when the stimulus is safety and a nearly tragic event.
After the saw attack incident that saw two AKB48 idols Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama hospitalized, along with a male member of staff, and a maddened "fan" taken in custody by police, many predicted the end of the group's famous hand-shaking events. AKB has always promoted itself as "idols you can meet" but were they now just too big to be safe from madcap young men?
What to do?
Metal scanners? Checks on all bags ...
She may well have only come second this year but she still has her die-hard fans.
Exiled former AKB48 idol Rino Sashihara finished runner-up in the AKB48 General Election last weekend but this was in spite of the best efforts of a farmer, who voted for her 4,600 times.
A strawberry farmer apparently with money to burn was personally responsible for over 3% of Sashihara's winning 150,570 votes last year.
He claimed he would get at least 4,600 votes for her this year, despite having a wife and two children of his own. Regardless, it didn't help as Mayu Watanabe beat Sashiko to the ...
As spotted by Kotaku and now doing the rounds on the Internet to much hilarity, ex-Morning Musume idol cutie Ai Takahashi has been photographed posing innocently with a t-shirt that says boldly "I am a whore".
Another Morning Musume graduate, Yuko Nakasawa, had the offending image of Ai Takahashi taken when the 27-year-old Takahashi visited Fukuoka for some filming. After it was then uploaded to her blog it quickly went viral and Ai Takahashi's reputation as a sweet girl-next-door-type immediately went out the window.
Takahashi also uploaded it to her blog (both posts now long ...
An otaku has made a shocking confession that he bought 3,000 CDs due to his obsession with Rina Ikoma, the 18-year-old idol and member of girl group Nogizaka46.
Naturally he is also a regular attendant at Nogizaka46 handshaking events.
These meet-and-greet sessions are where they can have a few seconds of bliss stroking the hand of the idols they adore.
He told Rina what he had done at a recent handshaking event.
Unfortunately he was less than impressed with her muted response to his confession, crushing his dreams of happiness with the teenaged idol.
He now claims to ...
The year is almost over. It's time to look back over the past twelve months at the ladies who made the biggest impression.
Here are our picks, in alphabetical order.
Haruka Ayase
The former idol is now a respected actress and one who confidently assured the country that she need not be typecast in the ditzy girl-next-door roles anymore when she took the lead in the year-long Taiga drama, "Yae no Sakura". We still love her curves, though.
Mitsu Dan
Another big year for the thirtysomething curvy lady. She seemed to be on everyone's lips, figuratively speaking. She even ...
Following the orbital rise of Korean girl unit Girls Generation, Japanese pop has been searching for who can combat the continental ladies' incredible leg power.
This answer, it is being touted, is this new group, Bikyaku Jidai -- literally "Beautiful Legs Era" -- who have been formed for this express purpose.
The main qualification for the seven ladies in the group was that they had lovely legs.
With such single-minded approach we suspect their musical success may be rather limited. This is one of their masterpieces.
By way of comparison, here are the Korean ladies in ...
Maki Goto is proof that you can have a life after being part of a multi-member pop band. A former Morning Musume starlet, Maki is one of the few who has made that transition to soledom with some degree of success.
Around a year ago, though, sadly she basically retired from showbiz, but not before posing for some nice risque ...
