SHINOHARA TOMOE AND AKB48

I first saw Shinohara Tomoe on Japanese TV. She was one of a number of participants on the program Rabu Rabu Ai Shitteiru and she went around asking for, if not demanding, presents from the guests. Zany and outrageous in costumes that she designed herself, she was hard to refuse becxause she was not only insistent but also 'crazy'. This was her charm, this was her appeal. She was the epitome of the unstoppable and non-sensical Gya Gya Gyaru... And in a way she was the antithesis of the carefully groomed and demure pop idols that Japan produces generation after generation, of both sexes. Who can forget the rediculous Hikari Genji on their roller skates and TOKIO and SMAP with their impossible good looks? On the other side there have been the all gil idol groups Pink Ladies in the 70s, Puffy, Morning Musume and more recently AKB48. What is fascinating with these carefully produced idols is when they transgress. This is when the true nature of the organisations that they represent is exposed. Kusanagi from SMAP is a male idol in point. He was found naked wandering his local park after a big night out. There was some embarassment but little in the way of punishment apart from unwanted publicity. More seriously, a member of of the all girl idol group AKB48, Minami Minegishi's transgression was to date a boyfriend against company policy. The retribution was particularly swift and resolute.

 

 

She had her head shaved and had to make a public apology on Japanese television Where is Shinohara when you need her? Her rediculous antics exposed the ludicrous nature of Japanese popular culture whose toxic nature is explored more ruthlessly in the 1997 anime, Perfect Blue directed by Satoshi Kon. Sure, the Japanese idol industry is a factory producing visions of the perfect male and fenale for fans to fantasise about but the reality is even more ugly when it is exposed because there is so little room for human error, especially for females. While Hello Kitty and the kawaii school of cute rule Japanese popular culture the truth is  that the rules are inflexible and these girls (and guys to some extent) are skating on thin ice. It is a miracle Shinohara was able to cast her spell of nonsense for as long as did over the likes of Tamori and the other more faceless men of the industry