TL;DR Momoka Tojo, a former member of Katacoto＊Bank, was forced to post a daily “good night” selfie for a year as punishment for posting a picture with her boyfriend. This punishment, deemed excessive by some, highlights the strict rules some Japanese talent agencies impose on their idols regarding relationships. Tojo apologized to her fans and expressed her commitment to being more mindful of her actions in the future.
by SkyInJapan
25 comments
These management companies are brutal. These are just kids!
I really hate this creepy Idol culture of Japan
One thing Oshi no Ko did right was show everyone how messed up this industry is. What I liked about it tho, was that it wasn’t trying to fix it. Because realistically you can’t.
Yes you can stop with stupid punishments and rules like this, but you cannot fix the underlying reason this stuff happens in the first place. Show business is always a big pile of lies and people will go over bodies to protect those lies.
The management company, the fans and the idols who go along with all that so they can be famous… I guess they all deserve each other.
This stuff is so damn creepy. Weirdos.
idol fans are weirdos
Make the money, do the work.
Wow. Very abusive.
Wtf…
Influencers, idols, followers are all a toxic mess from the top down.
The idol industry is disgusting.
I think the whole population needs therapy.
Cmiiw, it has been very long since I read up on it.
But wasn’t this a publicity stunt?
This is a thing? Like a scary soul crushing contract?
Couldn’t she have just said fuck that I’m not doing it ? Serious question
This is really an outlier. Not even the Sakamichi groups, the biggest Japanese idol groups in the world, do this shit. Nogizaka46 had this issue with Okamoto Hina and she was basically off for around a month before she returned. Hell, Aruno did even worse shit and barely got a slap on the wrist.
damn that company can go fuck itself and the fandom with it
This should be illegal.
Idol culture in Japan and Korea is so abusive and exploitative.
Both the fans and the management companies that perpetuate these perverse and demeaning rituals on talent are disgusting to say the least.
What really gets me is the thought that she probably knew from the start that her career was toast whether she did the punishment or not, and that her management company wouldn’t protect her/would probably drop her even if she followed their insane punishments to the letter… but that it probably STILL was the savvy move, if for no other reason than she can hope this will prevent the most terrible of her “fans” from bullying, stalking, and threatening her for who knows how long.
AND. I’m willing to bet she has still been bullied/stalked/threatened regardless, but probably it’s been less bad then it would have been otherwise.
It makes me really sad and frustrated to think about. ☹️
Dang, it’s been a year already? Time flies.
Pretty sure the punishment was kinda tongue-in-cheek since most idols post daily selfies and good morning/goodnight tweets anyway…
Things can be much much worse and there will still always be thousands upons thousands of people who know the deal they’re getting, do it willingly.
I saw an interview once where the girl was asked why she signed the unethical contract and put up with the abuse for many years.
Her reply was “I wanted to be famous and I’d rather be dead otherwise.”
This despicable industry is in dire need of regulation.
I could do 10 years of selfie good nights and for sure receive zero views …
Japan treats women terribly, I lived there for a year, discrimination in the workplace was nuts.