Miyawaki Sakura (Sakura) / 1st Generation

Bambam of GOT7 revealed to pay down payment for the house for his family with contract signing fee. I'm not a pro realtor but I guess the house costed roughly 4 - 4.5m THB. The down payment costed 5-10% of the whole price = 250 - 450k THB. Thus, his signing fee possibly was 15 - 20m won. And, Bambam was a nobody trainee when he signed. With inflation and her pre-existing fame in regard, Sakura must get multiple times more for her signature. I guess it may be up to 200 - 300m won. Actually, signing fee is commonplace in K-pop. Way of Crayon Pop revealed she got a chunk of money when she signed to debut and many agencies paid this fee.

China is a very lucrative yet volatile market. Who knows how long it will take before USA's Asian lap dog will bite and infuriate China. Japan even has been a member of the "Quad", whose very purpose of formation is anti-China. The gate to Chinese market may be shut at any moment. Besides, the agency Sakura is supposed to Join is HYBE, whose main foreign interests are Japan and USA.

Sakura definitely fits S.M's standard. S.M has just dropped a music video (aespa's Next Level) in which is a CG character that looks so much alike her.
(mod edit: oversized photo removed)
S.M also has been being speculated to launch a new girl group named "Pink Blood". This is possibly a virtual digital counterpart of aespa.

YG's new girl group, Baemon, to debut late this year has been officially sited to have a "different" style from YG's any precedent groups.

HYBE's new girl group project may suffer a hiccup. Gfriend's abrupt departure is coincident with a mass outflow of employees. Something happened behind the closed door.

K-pop girl group circle has been in sexiness drought. There is only one active top to mid level sexy girl group, Brave Girls, 2 if you count Twice too. HYBE, where Sakura supposedly going to, isn't into sexy concept either. Sakura more likely will get a cringe Biblical/Roman mythological concept than blatant sexy one.

And, indeed, sexiness is far more convoluted than that bull statement of yours. Brave Girls promoted in attires similar to what you may see a random girls wearing in summer yet, they were 10x sexier than Dreamcatcher, which promoted in tight scanty costumes and grind the hip too. A sane one won't put Dreamcatcher in sexy category. AKB48 indeed is designed after Japanese standard of sexiness. And, some HKT48/AKB48's costumes are really scanty.

Different cultures have different criteria of what is sexy. They are also the difference between sexy for women and sexy for men. For example, WJSN - The Black is made after women's idea of sexiness. Of course, women tend to be more comfortable to do women's kind of sexiness.

K-pop female idols being stick thin is another hint of K-pop being female catering. Men don't so obsess with how small a woman's waist is, if she has abs. It's female obsession. You can also see skinniness obsession in fashion model business, whose target is primarily women. On the other hand, Playboy's models are less skinny in general.

The thin body does have some functional purpose beyond aesthetic. K-pop is dance oriented and any excess fat may diminish stamina and agility and increase the risk of injury because of the more weight onto the knee and the ankle. You can see that athletes of sports requiring stamina and high agility, badminton, volleyball etc. tend to be very thin. All sport dancers must keep themselves skinny.

Whatsoever, sexiness more likely is not Sakura's main concern. She willingly put herself in some sexy performances. (Her "Kuroi Tenshi" performance on PD 48 was iconic. ) It's more of Sakura growing out of cute girly style. K-pop venture made her love for non-bubbly concept even stronger.

There must be reasons why minors are prohibited to make consent for such activities in most parts of the world.

So classy coming from an admin.

I was banned for ages for saying AKB48 was declining and must take note from K-pop, for its marketing especially. Look how the discussion went after AKB48 was rejected from Kouhaku months later.

 

This. It's not about "K-pop" taking over in Japan. It's about using the tools and strategies those companies use to portray your culture to a wider audience. I believe some Japanese companies have figured it out by now.

I don't get into the culture wars because all cultures have their pluses and minuses, and arguing over minutiae is a waste of time in my opinion.

I think Sakura sees this, and wants to join up with people who at worse, match her ambition. But end of the day, she'll still be a child of Japan.

 

Please I think it was pretty obvious about idols here... Korea music industry is also not only idols I didn’t think it was necessary to mention that’s why I didn’t lol

 

- how is she made the group latest single an afterthought? the single was announced in Dec 21, 2020 and got released in May 12, 2021. If she announced her graduation in these 2 dates than i understand where you're come from, but she literally announced her graduation in a theater through a live stream with her 1st Gen friends after all the single promotions ended. If people don't pay any attention to the single after all the promotions Mercury gives than maybe the people don't care enough for the group in the first place.

- again, Madoka announced her grad in Mar 6 and will have a gradcon in May 29, plus she already got a solo song in the latest single. If Sakura announced her grad in these 2 dates then i will also have a problem with that, but she didn't. Even if Sakura didn't announced her grad back then, news of her returning to HKT already stole the spotlight simply because Sakura is the bigger star between the two of them.

- well, the people who is not a even a fan keep coming to her thread making snide comments and assumptions based on nothing. Sakura herself and management haven't said anything about her future plans, whether she's going back to S. Korea or stay in Japan. Who knows, maybe she decided to stay in Japan and signed with Ohta Pro or something.

- The public don't really care tbh. There are worse problem in the country the public care about. The people who care about this are idol fans. Juri graduating from AKB then make a career in S. Korea, and i don't see the public witchhunting her or banned her from the country. It's not that serious.

- The comments in youtube videos? people actually care about that? Those comments won't help or hinder Sakura or the group at all. Those comments are insignificant.

Every 48G members graduated because they wanted to and they do it for herself, not for the group (unless the graduating member caused a scandal and need to leave so the hate doesn't transfer to the group). They are done with the group and want to moved on to other things they want to pursue.

So stop these fake concerns for HKT48 because they're doing just fine. Just say you hate Sakura and go.

 

Correct, and initially it should have been released sooner in march. So no way "you know who" could have been part of it in the 1st place. (See the single thread)

I think the leaked Vivi page also mentions that she plans to leave Japan again.
Anyway we'll see when the said interview will be available in better quality.

 

@claymore - You realize the single's promotional period hasn't ended yet right? For Japan singles tend to have a promotional period that lasts for anywhere from 4-10 weeks after the single's release in addition to the fact the promotional period starts the moment the single is announced. It isn't even that different in K-pop so I really shouldn't have to tell you this. And that Madoka should be in the spotlight right now as these weeks in May the last of Spring are part of the period that should be her last hurrah. Also please do not put words in my mouth. I do not hate Sakura.

 

Actually, it was not that they didn't but they couldn't. Due to the Olympics, the government wants to improve Japan's image so they have been putting a restriction on having underage girls appear on anime, manga, and magazines, especially idol groups who are being recognized by the public like AKB. Aside from having no AKB's underage member appear in any magazine, a lot of well known ecchi mangas that featured underage girls already got axed by the publishers for the past years.
For team 8, it's more likely that their former boss, Toyota, didn't want their girls to take gravure shoots. After all, they are a part of AKB but also not a part of AKB, if you know what I mean.

Also, the difference between Kpop and AKB48's system (not JPOP cz I definitely sure that AKB doesn't represent the entire JPOP) is nothing but culture references. For KPOP, idols are supposed to be pretty and full of talents while AKB's fans enjoy seeing unperfect girls grow up little by little as time goes by.

Sakura is an ambitious girl. After staying under AKB's system for 8 years, I'm sure she will want to pursue new things, new challenges. I'm sure you all know how happy she was when she heard people said something like Kkura is getting better and better after every comeback. I'm sure you all know how happy she was when she started learning how to write songs or how she got the chance to be able to participate in IZONE's singles. I'm sure you all know how happy she was when she would perform the breakdance in Secret Story of the Swan along with IZONE's dance line, especially just 2 years ago, a lot of people still mocked her b/c of her dancing skill. And you all know how excited she was when she could do a cover of Monster.

She has been discovered a lot of new things in the past 2.5 years with IZONE, things that she would never be able to do or try under AKB's system. And I'm sure that she wants to achieve even more than what she already did with IZONE.

So instead of criticizing her, we should wish her the best of luck.

 

So you admit Kpop does do sexiness. Point proven.

So you admit companies pressure their idols to stay thin mostly for aesthetic reasons not for "skill" reasons. Point proven. Even your claimed functional purpose serves to make it easier for them to grind their hips alluringly and dance sexily (which you don't deny they do).

Not sure why you'd write such a long-winded response when you agree with me. A simple "Yep" would have sufficed.

I understand your point. But you'd be shocked by some idol fans' IQs

 

i feel like some people are really putting Jpop and Kpop in these extreme positions when the lines are actually more blurry than that.
Some Kpop groups DO cater to the exact same audiences as 48G (TWICE before 2019, GFriend and a loooong list of groups who are known for having an overwhelming male audience actually pretty similar to the japanese wotas), and some Jpop idol groups like E-GIRLS, FLOWER etc are radically different to the 48G.

Also, both genres have "problematic" ways of catering their target audiences, 48G with gravure and Kpop with their unhealthy, almost irreal beauty standards that drive their idols to depression. Both countries have different ways of sexualizing their idols, and truth is that IN KOREA there are thousands and thousands of wota that are exactly like their Japanese counterparts, and entertainment companies know and exploit this.

As for Sakura having to wait for Madoka to graduate to announce this... Her talks with HYBE leaked, her graduation announcement leaked etc etc Most of the hype around Sakura right now is coming from outside HKT48, not from within, she had to say something. I also dont see how the two things overlap, Madoka's graduation is mostly an HKT48 event with not much of an impact outside, while Sakura's graduation has a different scale. It's not like newspapers and Kpop media outlets stopped covering Madoka's graduation to cover Sakura's, I'm sure the group of people who were paying attention to Madoka's sendoff are still there.

 

You're right, she shoud give up her idol career alltogether and open a twitter account named HKTDefense to respond to 15 year old Kpoppers

 

Yep. The fundamental nature of idols is more or less the same regardless of country. Bringing it back to Sakura, her beauty would make her a popular idol whichever country she became an idol in as we've seen already.

 

Sakura, of course, talked about her graduation announcement on the latest Saku no Ki episode.

https://twitter.com/fujii_itsuki/status/1395088360868225026

I think you really can't fault her logic. She's appreciating that HKT48 has moved on and feels like she doesn't fit the image anymore. Simultaneously, she's found something else she wants to do.

Coincidentally, I remember reading a Kashiwagi Yuki interview a while ago, where she said she might want to challenge being an idol in her 40s or even 50s. Let's see what Sakura will say about that in 10 years' time That makes me wonder, though, what Sakura is really planning to do. She doesn't consider being an idol a long-term career, but based on current rumours, isn't that what's going to happen? I guess Kpop idol groups have a more direct shelf life, what with most of them lasting up to 7 years (with some exceptions, don't quote me adding groups like BTS, SNSD or Shinee).

If that might be the case for Sakura's new girl group, she'd be 30 by that time, which might be the perfect opportunity to move on into a new field, if that's how she sees idol life.

 

what if she did get a good money offer? Sakura is an adult who have been in the industry for almost 10 year, surely, you'd think that she's going to take the best offer for her

also people who are complaining about her choices, are you going to take responsibility for her financial well-being? regardless of what will happen at least it's her own choice.

it's funny to me that years ago when things were great with the 48g, the general attitude towards graduating members were so different.

 

The gradcon date is on HKT management. They knew that Sakura and Nako were coming back sometime in May and speculation on their futures would suck in attention away from Madoka's gradcon, yet continued on anyway for whatever reason.

 

Sakura's new agency were probably like, "We've got to get Sakura prepared for our new group, you (Mercury) have 2 months to get everything wrapped up and close out her contract with HKT"

 

Here’s a better wording of her post graduation plan.

https://twitter.com/fujii_itsuki/status/1395410054803689483

Perhaps she might similarly do what Juri did and announce her next agency at the graduation concert.

 

"it's female obsession" wow it's been a while since ive read something that more blatantly screams "this was written by a man" lmaooo. Idk how to tell you that the standards to which women's bodies are held, especially entertainers, are almost entirely driven by what men want. The obsession with skinniness in the fashion industry? Skinny sells, because that's what society has held above all else. (Fashion is, btw, also a male-dominated industry, so. lmao)

Yep, that's why Jurina has been in such good health during her time in 48G! /s


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Yeah, no. Madoka announced in Spring and is graduating by the end of Spring. That timing is sensical. Take notice of how Nako also returned, but hasn't gotten any kind of heat from anyone. The return alone is not the problem. Literally everyone and their mother knew when Izone's activities would end and when to expect the Japanese girls from it to come home to their original groups. After the leak Sakura was pretty much left with a wide open opportunity of when to confirm the leak to be true or when to crush it as false. She chose a poor time to do it. Again if she had waited until after Madoka's graduation whether she was leaving or not would've been just One of Several hot topics surrounding HKT for people to talk about instead of THE hot topic surrounding HKT for people to talk about.

PS: To give another example of a Nako/Sakura situation from the front of returning from being away. Iriyama Anna over in AKB went to live in Mexico to film for a Telenovela. She was away for a little over 15 months, but when she returned there was no interruption to what AKB was doing at the time simply from her coming home from Mexico.

 

OK we get that you're butthurt but enough already. You talk about controversy but you seem to be the only one here that's actually angry about it.

 

If she had more time, she would have waited longer to graduate, you know, to get to center a single and to get a grad song, and maybe to let the pandemic situation get better so that she can have a more packed venue, etc, I'm sure she would love that. But no, she probably had no choice but to graduate on June 19. And I don't think it's the smartest idea to announce graduation on May 30 when your gradcon date would be less than 3 weeks away.