Sometimes, things do have a happy ending.
When AKB48's Minami Minegishi shaved her head back in 2013 to apologize for a sex scandal, it prompted immense controversy over the control that management has over idols' private/person lives, and sparked headlines around the world. Her tearful video, head shaven like a nun, was painful to watch (though images of Miichan seeming to pose happily for photos with her peers either just before or after suggested to some that the video was purely performative).
As a 20-year-old, she had to undergo a traumatic and humiliating experience in public just for ...
The New Year (Oshogatsu) period in Japan is characterized by the various household decorations people put up, the special food that is cooked for consumption on January 1, and the TV marathons that people indulge in, largely for lack of anything else to do.
But there are rays of hope underneath the dregs: occasional shows that contain segments almost expressly designed to make the male members of the household sit up and take notice.
Former AKB48 idol and model Haruna Kojima, who we featured in our recent roundup of New Year tiger cosplay, was part of the cast of a January 1 nighttime show, ...
It's an open secret that "compensated dating" (援助交際, enjo kosai) is common in the Japanese idol world, even among mainstream entertainers and celebrities.
Just as the casting couch exists, so too does the dating table. Idols don't earn that much money and their careers are fickle, so they boost their income with dates.
There doesn't always sex involved, it should be added, but it's surely not impossible. It's like a hostess "dohan" date (where the hostess accompanies you for dining before going to the club together) or services offered by "dating clubs" (交際クラブ, kosai ...
More images have emerged from Minami Minegishi's new photo book.
There was some initial buzz about it last month over a preview "hand bra" picture that appeared.
Now some other images have appeared and they show Minami Minegishi at her slinky best.
Watashi wa Watashi (I am Me) is shot by famed nude photographer Meisa Fujishiro.
It went on release on July 12 but so far hasn't been selling well. In fact, the major AKB48 photo book releases from Rino Sashihara and Haruna Kojima sold much better.
Now that Haruna Kojima will graduate AKB, the last original member left is ...
Ahead of the release in July of her new photo book, a preview image of Minami Minegishi has come out showing the slinky idol doing the classic semi-nude "hand bra" (tebura) pose.
While pretty tame considering what some AKB48 graduates get up to, this kind of photo shoot has become something of a rite of passage for AKB48 idols.
Haruna Kojima did it, covering her gorgeous pale flesh with her tiny hands. Likewise, Atsuko Maeda has done a tebura and so did Yuko Oshima in a Mika Ninagawa shoot.
Most notoriously, Tomomi Kasai's tebura was so controversial it led Kodansha to cancel ...
First she shaved off her hair in a penitence for having sex. Now she is getting fat.
AKB48's Minami Minegishi has gained weight to pose for this "chubby" idol picture.
Why? Because it is a campaign for the luxury fitness gym RIZAP, which runs intensive programs for getting metropolitan people into shape.
Here is Minegishi in her buff form again.
If you live in Tokyo, you would be familiar with RIZAP for the loud advertising trucks they drive around city, depicting before-and-after images of unhealthy bodies transforming into muscular ones.
The gym has ...
Yasushi Akimoto, the dictator producer behind AKB48, has made some bizarre comments during a radio interview that seems to backtrack on everything he has created in his idol army.
Following the recent outrage over Minimi Minegishi's shaven head scandal after she dared to have sex, he seems to have adopted the age-old practice of any politician -- the u-turn.
"I don't really want to say because it'll produce misunderstandings... But the ban on romance is something we use in the songs and what we say, but it's not really the case that romance is banned."
He elaborated...
"It's ...
The scandal resulting from Minami Minegishi's outrageous decision to have a relationship with dancer Alan Shirahama has brought immense publicity to AKB48 and turned what was a tabloid scoop into an ad giving the name power of the group's "brand" a major push overseas.
All publicity is good publicity, after all.
But doubt over the sincerity of Minegish's "apology" has been cast after photos emerged showing a happy Miichan posing sans signs of contrition with the other main AKB ladies -- for now, themselves sex-free and scandal-free -- shortly after having her head shorn in the style of the ...
Oh, god. Just when you think AKB48 couldn't get any lower. Then this happens.
Following rumors that she had -- shock! -- been on dates and slept at someone's place, minor AKB48 idol Minami Minegishi (20) has been demoted from active member to a kenkyusei (research student) position -- one short of being sacked.
But she also made a bizarre tearful video apology with her head shaved as a sign of penance.
The painful video was uploaded last night and has at time of writing this already been viewed 1.6 million times.
This is so distasteful. Shaving someone's head is what locals did to ...
