Okada Nana (Naachan) / 14th Generation

'Asymmetry' track sampler (part 1) with comments from Naachan:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Part 2:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

Interview with 'Music Voice':
https://www.musicvoice.jp/news/264084/


if the video does not show watch the video here

The same channel has very belatedly posted a video of her Christmas lighting ceremony participation last month in Osaka:


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE/ATTEMPTED SUICIDE

Spoiler

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Naachan overdosed yesterday. They had a mental breakdown a few days ago. In their fan blog today, they mentioned they woke up in hospital today, so luckily, they're alive. They've mentioned they were taken in by an ambulance, and thanked some people in their life, such as their mother, Yuiri, Michieda Saki, as well as Hachi (the fandom) and manager-san.

Some people are angry at their brother, who is a physician and apparently at one point or another told them how much of a burden it is to healthcare professionals when someone commits suicide. This is a really dangerous statement to make. The Japanese general attitude towards mental struggles is still that of "power through, don't burden anyone with your problems," which is sad because Japan's suicide rate is unfortunately pretty high. I hope things can change slowly.

Naachan themselves said if they met someone who was at that point in their lives, Naa would hug them and say, "That must've been hard, right? I'm sorry." I hope they have someone in their life who can do that to them. I personally left a comment in Naachan's fanclub chatroom to say, 'Always prioritise your health. If you take it slow and have a break, that's okay!'

I really hope things can improve
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Putting my next post in a spoiler tag because the topic is still pretty heavy. If you feel suicidal or suffer from depression or anything like that, please use caution when reading the post. It deals with mention of suicide, depression, feeling burdened and worthless.

Spoiler: Update

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Nana has posted notes they wrote on paper during their hospital stay over the last few days and I'm really, really worried about them. One sentence that stood out positively was that they said "For the sake of my beloved fans, I will not choose the option 'death,' I promise you." But besides that, the notes are really worrying - such as feeling burdened towards the hospital staff, being told they can't leave the hospital room, or one paragraph that mentioned how there's no curtains and the window doesn't open (both of which are reasonable tbf for a suicide ward patient), and this section that followed;

"'My stomach hurts,' I told the nurse and I told my brother. 'I understand, please be patient a little longer.' My eyes teared up when I was told that. After that, another female nurse came to my room and I wanted something warm to be put on my stomach. She gently placed it there." < it makes me sad that some hospital staff were just ignoring some of Naa's requests. They also touched upon this in their notes, saying nurses also have good and bad days as they're just humans but still...

Additionally, Naachan's phone was taken away so they had no sense of time or day. At first, they didn't realise how long they'd been in hospital - based on the missing blog update for one day, it was just that, and since then, they've been staying with their parents.

"Hospital note 3" was the most worrying. Although it is also the one where Naachan mentioned that they won't choose death, the preceding paragraphs are about how they "should've just died" in the ambulance ride, that they want to disappear into ashes and that it feels like for as long as they'll be alive, they'll continue to be slandered. They noted, if Naachan were to kill themselves, the antis who'd been telling them to do so, would either just delete their accounts so the police wouldn't be able to find them, or might be pleased and post something like "Thanks for dying haha."
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Naachan also said they will leave twitter and instagram, which I think is for the best. I hope they also won't create a private account 'cause haters won't leave the platform just because they do - and I don't want Naa to see anymore of the spiteful things people continue to post.

YuuNaaMogiOn con is only a few days away and Naachan really wants to stand on stage. If I heard correctly, the day before that is a meet & greet (although I don't know if it's virtual or in person). It's really tough, I wish the concert could be postponed... YNMO fans should be the first to be understanding of that, no?

If you use insta or twitter, maybe it would be nice to send them a gentle message before they're gone 'cause that's clearly what they want the most. Something about being forgiven, about loving her, that it's okay to take a break or feel vulnerable/weak.

EDIT: Correction, the YuuNaaMogiOn concert is on January 8th. Naachan has two solo concerts scheduled for December 30th and 31st respectively.

 

God this is just awful. Im so worried about Naachan. I hope getting off of social media helps give them some peace of mind

Thank you for the trigger warnings, I appreciate your consideration!

Sent from my SM-A525F using Tapatalk

 

i feel extremely uncomfortable with someone apparently trying to overdose and then directly appealing to a public audience.

 

That's not what happened. Naachan didn't update the blog for a day, which is extremely unusual, so they informed their fans on a closed platform about what happened. There are no "public appeals" - Naachan didn't make any posts on their public social media about the situation, didn't ask for help or support of any kind, but updated the fans on a closed platform after they expressed worry over the lack of updates.

Naachan's last twitter post was on December 12th, 5 days before the hospitalisation. As for instagram, they posted about Miki's wedding on the 6th, and then three days ago, there was a picture spam of all the last photos Naachan wanted to release before removing themselves from the platform. They're mostly just images from their time in AKB, together with Yuiri, or off-shots from the album creation for Asymmetry. None of the captions mention the hospitalisation or anything related to the incident at all.

The blog posts were mostly trying to appease worrying fans, posting photos of the food they've been eating while staying at their parents' house, mentioning how they were annoyed they missed their radio appearance, and then later on saying they were glad they managed to go to voice training after all. I highlighted the worrying parts in my summary because, well, I'm worried.

Naachan and their fans are very open with each other. I mean, I've personally spoken to other fans who've told Naachan about their own mental health issues, treatment they face as POC or members of the LGBT community, abuse they've faced for one reason or another... and Naachan has always lent an open ear to hear their worries. When Naachan graduated from being an idol, and the whole message of the Asymmetry album, is that they won't pretend to be happy, easy-going anymore but instead have a mutually exclusive relationship with their fans where they openly discuss problems instead of trying to cover them up.

TL;DR: There was no public appeal for help/support from Naachan. In fact, publicly, they haven't mentioned this at all. It was only explained in the fan club, never even explicitly called an overdose, while simultaneously trying to let fans know that they were okay and getting better so they wouldn't worry.

 

I am not bothered about the act of informing a worried fanbase about a health problem.

I am bothered about "For the sake of my beloved fans, I will not choose the option 'death,' I promise you."-phrase.

I dont know if that overdose was accidental, or if she has changed her mind after being hospitalized, so i will not speculate about it. But i understand the sentence as "if not for the fans, i would be rather dead", which has a self-sacrificial connotation to it which i feel is inapprobiate. It also puts a burden on her loyal fans, to rather not leave her.
And if true, its a really worrysome statement, as i truly wish her a more substantiated motivation to carry on with her life; something that must be coming from deep within our innermost, to fill the emptiness in us which most of us stare at, most of the time in our mostly miserable life.

So with all due respect to all the suffering she has and had to endure, this statement made me feel really uncomfortable on several levels.

That said, i wish her a quick recovery, all the support she needs and a brighter future. Depression is a lifetime challenge.
And happy holidays to all of you.

 

Yeah I can understand that. I can't fully blame Naachan for it cause in previous blogs (even before this incident), they mentioned how their doctor and mother used that kind of rhetoric to motivate them to live - mainly, they're being told to keep on living for the sake of their puppy (Tenshi), the family who would be devastated and the fans who care.

I can totally see where you're coming from with this explanation, but given that, it feels more like, "I'm aware of the responsibility I have towards you guys so I'll continue to live." I also agree with you that they need to feel like life is worth living for themselves, their own sake and because life is enjoyable, so I also wish things were different.

Happy holidays to you too

 

The New Year's parties/solo events on the 30th and 31st of December have been cancelled. Naachan is continuing to receive treatment and spending the days either at their parents' house or in the hospital, so that's hopefully a good thing.

Sharing the full contents of the blog would've avoided misunderstandings but I was trying to be mindful of the fact that you shouldn't be sharing photos/translations.

 

Japan is very severe when it comes to post content from paid services, but even they have no problem tweeting or 5ching stuff from mobame or other services as long it's not a full copy paste of the text and there's no images. There are hashtags for that, some of them decided by the idols themselves. We live in a globalized world. To think something can't be known except for a small group of people is a bit naïve and destroys the point of our current society.

 

I can see your point but Naachan is no longer using public SNS because of the antis and haters. It's not because Naachan doesn't want to share stuff with the world and their fans but because the fanclub means if there is an anti, the moderating team or Naachan's management can find that person through payment details and have full control over who to ban. If it's an anti on twitter or instagram, Naachan can block that person & they can be reported for malicious comments, but they can continue making new accounts. If that happens on the FC, first of all they'd have to spend money every single time they create a new account and secondly, thanks to linking payment details, they could actually be found and brought to justice through a court.

I think differentiating between these reasons is important and makes a difference too. If there is content Naachan doesn't want shared outside of the fanclub, they would also explicitly mention this (just like @dutchie said Miichan does, or you yourself witnessed at Ran-chan's birthday event in October), and I'd also respect that.

 

No fanblog update or chat comment for 2 days now so fans are worried. This is the first time this has happened since the blog has been created. I feel bad for Naachan cause this "disappearance" of 2 days must be putting a lot of pressure on them to take the rest they probably need. Many fans are speculating that they're back in hospital with no phone access.

However, the public Okada Nana site by Avex has received an update:

https://okada-nana.com/news/detail.php?id=1113602

The YuuNaaMogiOn concert on January 8th will go ahead as planned, however, Naachan will only make a limited appearance. The update mentions that there were discussions of cancelling/postponing the event, but Naachan insisted it should go ahead.

As sad as it is, the update is at least a sign of life and Naachan still has their same old determination to keep things going at work, so I'm a little relieved.

 

On the day after my post, Naachan started posting on the fanclub again. A lot of it were old photos etc.

Naachan made a brief appearance at the Yuu(Naa)MogiOn concert today, as promised. While watching the concert, sometimes you could tell which songs were supposed to include Naachan. Obviously the songs where YMO performed together, but also during the unit bit, it seemed like Priority was supposed to me a Mogi x Naachan unit, but it was performed by Mogi alone. That also leads to believe that Kimi ga Omotteru yori... was meant to be a Mion x Naachan, since there were no solo songs during the unit corner.

Naachan did actually perform Coin Toss together with Yuiri, which surprised me. I thought Naa would only appear at MC, but I'm grateful for this! You could tell though Naachan wasn't at their peak physical condition because there was pretty much no movement during the song; Coin Toss doesn't really have a big choreo in the first place but still.

During the challenge corner bit (quickly changing uniform showdown and blindfolded NmHmR dance that turned into a Mion dokkiri where only Mion actually danced with a blindfold on), Naachan either took a break or acted as judge, but it was still really nice to see.

Naachan basically appeared for these segments:
MC1 - quick chat, then Mogi alone
Coin Toss - unit with Yuiri
MC2 - Naachan as judge for the challenge corner
Namida wa Ato Mawashi - only appeared during last chorus
Encore MC - YNMO 4th anniversary celebration with really cute cake
Encore: Hisashiburi no Lip Gloss - final song, all

 

Naachan was admitted into hospital earlier this week to undergo long-term treatment for their current condition (they didn't disclose any diagnosis), instead of staying with their parents as they have done so over the last few weeks. As the treatment would last minimum one month in the best case scenario, the tour planned for February/March is cancelled. Ticket holders are asked to hold onto their tickets and await refund process information to be released in due course.

https://okada-nana.com/news/detail.php?id=1113826

 

I am curious why didnt naachan express her gratitude to mogi and mion? She also didnt do her *alleged* duet with mogi and mion, but she did with yuiri?