As I've said before in this thread, I'm afraid NGT as a whole is just.. done for by now. No matter if/who transfers or if people are suspended, people won't forget this.
Yeah I have to agree. I've wanted to listen to the other 48 groups apart from AKB, NMB and HKT who I follow but I do have to say with whats happened I don't really want to follow NGT. It's hard because there are probably some lovely members like Maho who want to work hard, but then these other members who have broken the rules and have bullied ruin it so I don't want to support them.
If you're asking my opinion, yes .... I think the only one who is solid enough in her career is Sasshii, because speaking out kinda fits her image, and you can't turn on a tv on Japan or Sasshi is in some kind of variety program. Maybe Sayanee could as she seems to have her career mapped out pretty well as well. For Yukirin it would be risky as she needs a good post AKB career launch I think Miichan .... the backlash might undo all her hard work after her scandal .. or she might gain public support ... but still piss of the people pulling the strings and find she won't get any variety work. Shiichan ... however much as I like her, I don't think her voice has much weight ... and to be honest, I want her to enjoy her moment in the sun she's having right now. (and maybe a cop out, but apart from Yukirin they aren't that involved with NGT I guess) A valid question would be why no one of the original gens spoke out of course as well.
Tokyo-based journalist Jake Adelstein who in the past has penned some negative articles about idol culture has co-writen this piece published today in the Daily Beast : https://www.thedailybeast.com/look-...he-weird-dangerous-world-of-japans-girl-idols
Well, he drags just about everything in that he can find, doesn't he While that's factually correct ... so far it there only been one incident involving going bosu and it was years ago, but by clever wording you can make it sound like it's a frequently occurring incident As far as I can tell that said more about the disillusionment of people with society in Japan, and feeling of abandonment people felt after the tsunami in stead as a statement over idol culture, as the assailant so far as we know didn't specifically target idols 'Sweaty young and old males', 'for a price' .... not insinuating anything here right? .. ow, and putting handshaking events in quotes sorry, the guy is imho a hack, you can write a just a poignant/relevant article without resorting to innuendo and half truths and he doesn't even dig into the mechanics of what allegedly happened either edit: fixed some weird looking sentences edit 2: I adjust my assessment ... he's a lazy hack
The Daily Beast is just as bad as The Guardian imo (Surprise "Slate" hasn't put up a BS article yet).
"It’s a 48-girl ensemble..." And this is how you know the writer of the article barely did any research.
Since we have come so far and considering the fact that the conclusion of this question is far from being near, I think it's about time for me to release a translation (since providing the original text is forbidden over here) of what was inside of those three mobame she sent before falling silent, instead of referring to them indirectly. I believe I should have done it sooner, but I feared that some sentences inside would have gone on to be misjudged back in December, but now with the full context out there I believe it's not the case anymore, so for the sake of disclosure it's no use to keep anything private. It's nothing that wasn't already told much more into detail later through Twitter, but you could still see a hint of the details were starting to surface even back then, just in a very roundabout way. It's absurd how right now I am seeing everyone and their dog on Japanese media being given a say on the matter (in particular to save their asses or someone else's), except for the person concerned herself. It's also absurd how these same people are taking the moral high ground while doing this, by calling for not making judgements based only on "speculations", when the only ones actually aware of the full facts are Maho, the attackers (although they'll have things to hide) and possibly some members who came in for help much later. Meh. Spoiler: 2018-12-10 Mobame 2018-12-10 16:43:00 Subject: Mahore [note: semi-official name for Maho's fans, a wordplay between "Maho" and "amore"] To all Mahore, and to you, my reader, I really like you all. I really like you all, but perhaps I am not able to convey that well enough, the way I could get to before. I really wanted to talk some more with everyone of you, yesterday too. I wanted to smile together with everyone. Sorry for being so weak. But the fact is still that I truly cherish you and all Mahore, in any case. This is the sole thing I hope you'll never forget. Even though my way of interacting with you all may be going to change from now on, please remember that I'm actually wishing to return to smile together with everyone as we had been doing before in the past. Please don't forget all the memories we have had until now. I am going to take a break from social media for a while, but don't worry, I'm still alive. Don't forget about it. I'm sorry. Just be patient and wait a little until my emotions have calmed down again. There's so many fun memories, so many wonderful memories we had. No matter what, they're all precious treasures to me, as I read through the letter and the mail replies that I received, I can't help recalling all of that. It's because there are those happy memories, that I am able to keep on doing my best. But since I appreciate my fans and they are so precious to me, I also can't help feeling frustratred. I can't stop thinking why it had to come to this. It's thanks to everyone of you that I have come to appreciate other people, more so than I used to do in the past, and I have become a stronger person myself along with that, I really think so, but I can't stop crying when I am alone on my own. Because of the terror, the hatred, and the sadness, I don't know anymore what it will be of me. I want to tell everything, but I have my companions in Team G that I also feel the need to protect. I believe that right now, it's not the right time to make anything known, therefore I'd like to take a short break from social media. Sorry, and a sincere thank you as always. With you, my readers, being there as well as all of you Mahore, I feel truly blessed. If I hadn't become an idol, I would have never been able to savour so many joyful moments. Therefore, I feel happy for having become an idol. I'll do what I can to be able to walk forward along with you all, even from there on. Be patient and wait, just for a little moment. Spoiler: 2018-12-13 Mobame 2018-12-13 22:52:00 Subject: Appearance I will not make an appearance at the AKB Kouhaku. Anyone who knows about me ever since the beginning should know that already, from reading the interviews I had thus far, but when it comes to idols, I am absolutely a supporter of the love ban. This is something that has never changed until now, and never will. "There's a God up above who is watching you if you do anything bad" I was raised while being taught that, and for this reason I engaged in my activities while carrying with me a strong sentiment, that I don't want to ever do anything that will leave me with a guilty conscience. And even so, this carrying myself diligently, eventually got me to live such moments of fear. I would have never expected that working with diligence would have ended up not being rewarded at all, I have no idea about who is worth trusting anymore. But in spite of that, Team G and my family are there right now to give me their support. Even Riko's mom came to offer me her assistance. I am honest in saying that inside of Riko's house, everyone in her family are gentle persons, the fact that they shed tears for me had really left me amazed. That someone's mother would ever cry for another person's daughter, made me realize what a gentle-hearted mother she has to be, and at the same time, that's when I understood how a person such as Riko could have been born. For the rest of my life, I'll live on while never forgetting about the favor I received. I'm determined to go on day after day without ever forgetting the favor I owe to the other members as well. The fact I have people standing close to me during such harsh moments has made me understand how much dependable they are, until the day will come when I too will be of help to those girls, I'll never forget about the favor given. I believe that I can count on you as well, who is reading this. I am not going to surrender. As such, let's meet again at the next theater show! Since this is going to be Tsugu's Seitansai, however, I would wish for as many fans of Tsugu as possible to come, so, while being mindful about this, I'd prefer if we could meet each other again through the screen instead, via DMM or otherwise. I feel truly mortified to everyone of you who were looking forward to the AKB Kouhaku. But because you are there with me, because Team G's member are there with me, I myself can engage in my life with more and more tenacity. So, let's go back smiling together again, do you promise me? --- Translator's note: in the original mail, "renai kinshi"/"love ban" is written in full hiragana clearly to get around the word filter Spoiler: 2018-12-14 Mobame 2018-12-14 22:02:00 Subject: Good evening I am not undergoing any punishment of sorts, myself and neither anything scandalous regarding me is going to come up, of course, so please do not worry about that. The fact is that I am feeling heartbroken at the moment, and I am feeling afraid of the world around me, only that. There are many things I'd want to tell, but first of all, I have my Team G members who I desire to protect and who I know can be trusted, so I'll work hard in preparation for Tsugu-chan's Seitansai. Therefore, just wait a little bit more, please. You can feel free to put your trust on me with confidence, so at least in that regard, do not feel worried. See you soon. --- Translator's note: in the original mail, "punishment" and "scandalous" were written in full hiragana also in order to get around the world filter
Got it in one. No-one should expect an objective report from Adelstein, he's just rehashing some old lazy articles he wrote with a couple of extra badly researched paragraphs pretty much lifted from other publications added on top. Adelstein is just an edgy guy larping as a "cool western journalist in Japan". There is a great story to be written about this but it hasn't really come out yet, it's Maho + the fans who have come closest to the truth so far I think.
Second indirect Maho reference, Rika posted this Insta story of Team G. (I don't have an Instagram account so can't double-check.)
What I hate about incidents like this within the idol/48 world, except for the fact that Maho has been the victim of an assault and everything (obviously), is that people like this simply see it as a perfect opportunity to further their agenda. They try to portray the idol world as some sort of slave market where all the girls are brutally victimized (as a normal and accepted circumstance) only to please sweaty old male fans. This is so far from the truth yet the average reader of The Daily Beast would probably just eat these sensationalist articles up because they don't know better and here in the West, whenever someone writes something completely outrageous about Japan, it's gotta be true since Japan is sOoOoO wacky. /sarcasm It's sad. Idols are so much more than whatever he's spewing out.
I dislike that too.They don't actually care about any victims. It's not even exclusive to j-idols. It's kind of like schadenfreude but then applied to industries (such as the j-idol industry). Because they have no stake in it (not a fan of j-idols) - and maybe even hate it - they leap at scandals like this to smear the entire industry in a bad light and/or make it out to be a systemic problem instead of an outlier case.
“Only to pleasure sweaty old male fans” Fixed that for you Well, there is a systemic problem, but it’s not confined to the idol industry. let me clarify this, no society is without problems, and for Japan to name some: the suicide rate in Japan is atrocious the fact that special cars for women are needed on the subway during rush hour is ridiculous the level of overtime is a problem I think most Japanese people see the aforementioned issues as problems as well. otoh, there is on the other hand a lot to like about Japan as well (and yeah ... that is way of topic)
Hello everyone. This is @qc_bb from Twitter. I was doing a routine check of my mentions and hashtags and saw that my translations were discussed here. Thanks for reading the stuff I post on Twitter. I started out just volunteering my time to bring awareness and connect the dialogue between East and West. It's good to know that people trust my translations. My agenda, if I had to say one, is not to catch the criminals, but to bring context in Japanese social media and the public sphere to overseas readers. If we only look at official tweets or Bunshun, then we won't see the bigger picture. If you have any concerns regarding my work, feel free to reply to me on Twitter or DM me here (I check S48 about twice a year) Thanks.
Personally appreciate your agenda. Seeing your translation which connected the "criminals" group with various 4648G(not just NGT) and witnessing how JP fans vigilante action got silenced, I agree that this is beyond our scoop as gaijin fans to solve things. Still, wont hurt to expose their rash action to keep us aware of their danger. Keep up the good work, but careful with translating 5ch (and NanJ) as last I checked, they got infiltrated by the gang henchman to spread misinformation to distract us and keep us leashed on members witch hunt instead. Also, thank you and stay unbiased.
