Being an idol in Japan means being constantly judged on both your looks and the personality you project during your singing and dancing performances, so anyone who dares to enter the industry will definitely benefit not only from having a pretty face , but also a strong attitude towards criticism. When people make hurtful comments about a particular artist, their only course of action is often to stay strong and not let it affect them, but recently, a lot of hatred was generated online by an idol fan, so much so that led to problems with the law.
The Tokyo Police Department reported the arrest of a 50-year-old man named Akihiro Kaku, a resident of the Nishi Ochiai neighborhood near Shinjuku. Kaku's arrest came as a result of a series of Twitter posts he made in May 2019.
Among the comments that Kaku made through the social network was one related to Marina Nishigata, a member of the NGT48 idol group based in Nigata Prefecture. "The use of stimulants has ruined her thought process and her sense of humanity, so no matter what you tell her, it doesn't make sense," Kaku wrote of the artist, with the term "stimulants" referring to the use of methamphetamines. Other comments from Kaku hinted that NGT48 members Minami Kato, Yuka Ogino, Ayaka Tano and Eno Yamada were also illegal drug users.新年一発目の握手会ありがとうございました！！！！すっごく楽しかったです😭✨おやすみメールが送れなかったので...今からSRします！よかったら遊びに来てください😭💓 pic.twitter.com/A2fgSmE3kI— 西潟 茉莉奈 (@marina_ngt48n) January 6, 2019
After learning of these comments, the representative agency of the NGT48 group requested assistance in the recognition of the identity of the user who made this series of publications, with the investigation leading to Kaku, who was arrested on July 21 on charges of defamation. Kaku admitted the charges saying, “I suspected that all five were involved in the assault of another NGT48 member, and so I never trusted them. My goal was precisely to damage their public images. "
Although he did not mention his name, Kaku certainly refers to Maho Yamaguchi, who was attacked by two men at his home on December 8, 2018. Although the NGT48 group representation company asked him at the time to wait to go public. This incident, Yamaguchi decided to break the silence by herself only a month later. After his announcement, it was speculated among fans that the other members of the group had leaked their address and / or the time Yamaguchi was at their home to the attackers, and Kaku apparently is sure that the five members he accused of Using drugs in their tweets was definitely responsible, even though police and investigative team members determined that no NGT48 member had any involvement in this event.
As unfortunate as Kaku's motivation has been, some may be surprised that in Japan you can be arrested for accusing a celebrity on Twitter of using drugs. However, the entertainment industry in Japan takes an extremely strict anti-drug stance, with studios and music-producing companies quickly severing ties even with very popular artists if they are found to have been in possession of illegal substances and often also ruin the artist for life. As a result, Kaku's accusations of drug use had great potential to severely damage the careers and livelihoods of the group's idols, meaning that, as hard as it may be to believe, the careers of artists in Japan. they really hang on a thread held by their own fans.
Source: SoraNews24
