TV Report On The U-15 (Junior Idol) Boom In Japan
NTV’s Real Time News aired a report on the U-15 idol phenomenon, in which companies are producing photo books and DVD’s of girls under the age of 15 in skimpy clothing and sexually suggestive poses. The anchors describe this new trend as a problem and the report takes a critical look at the junior idol business. Here it is in two parts:
Part 1
Summary:
A news crew follows around 6th grader Mai Sasaki, an 11-year-old junior idol whose father films and creates her photo books and DVD’s. In one particularly creepy scene, the cameraman father tells a lingerie-clad Mai to get on a bed and make a “lion pose.” He later jokes about how big her breasts have become. His blurred-out face and NTV’s background music only add to his creepy image. The report then shows us some newspapers that have questioned the U-15 idol boom, with headlines such is “Is it really OK for them to do that?”
We are taken to the mecca of junior idol fandom, Akihabara, where there are shops specifically specializing in U-15 idol goods and even events where fans can meet and take pictures of certain idols. A trip to a larger store even reveals that some U-15 idol stuff is for sale, and an employee of the store tells them that there have been some concerns about the products, and certain items might be refused and returned to publishers.
They return to Mai Sasaki’s father, who is looking at internet sites devoted to junior idols. He mentions that some of the U-15 idol photos and DVD’s are practically porn. Apparently he doesn’t want to turn his daughter into such an idol, but he must make her photos and DVD’s a bit sexy if he wants them to sell…
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