Lessons (not) to learn from: Idols & Scandals Edition

WasshoiJ

Idol fan from Singapore. Fandom is great. It makes you do all kinds of things, have all kinds of fun, meet all kinds of people and know all kinds of idols.

40 Responses

  1. NF says:

    Lesson 1: thats just stupidity and over-jealousy from fans
    lesson 2 : okay
    lesson 3.4.5.6 : DUUUHHH

  2. Cl4p Trap says:

    “You can do anything you want as long as you don’t get caught.” – Singapore saying
    Is this a spell word for Indonesian corruptor fugitive which fled to Singapore? I am loving it

  3. HERMAN says:

    Most of the lessons are too extreme for JKT48. I don’t think they are such a wh**e. (pregnant without marriage, sleepover, hotel room “meeting”, etc.)

    • WasshoiJ says:

      of course i don’t want to see JKT48 in any of the same situations
      but better to let them be aware of the temptations and traps of the celebrity world
      than not.

  4. abaone94 says:

    That’s why Aki-P wrote songs that reminds them of their position such as Idol Nante and Renai Kinshi Jourei 8)

    But then again, the most important is to never get caught, although that sounds hypocritical.

    For me personally, I’d rather they go with it as long as they were idols. If they can’t handle it, it’s better if they stop as being idols instead.

    • WasshoiJ says:

      i think you understand as well. cheers

      as human beings, i can’t discourage them from living a normal and private life outside their work of being an idol

      yet at the same time, i can’t imagine that these idol groups will have the same appeal if they break Renai Kinshi Jourei and engage in a secret love life with another person

      At the end of the day, maybe its better not to know. And nobody will know if nobody gets caught

    • ken says:

      it’s a price you have to pay as long as you’re idol…but I think it’s not an issue either you are young or not because they already know about the rules before joining JKT48…for ordinary girls it’s normal to fall in love but not for them, no one can puff up their chest and declare that they will not fall in love. they can only leave if that happen and pay the price for their action..I hope that JKT members will become more mature and cautious on this issue…that is just my opinion

      • WasshoiJ says:

        it’s a great opinion and i very much like what you mean.

        In this aspect, I very much respect and honor the members who have determinedly broke off with all their previous relationships once they became a member.

      • Angga says:

        The problem is, the rules itself is still an urban legend. There’s no way we can see what’s written on their contract :lol:

        And I’m actually fine with them living as a normal girl and getting themselves boyfriend whatsoever, as long as they can live with the responsibility of not “hurting” the fans (which I actually can’t understand why in the world the fans will get hurt just because they have a partner)

        • WasshoiJ says:

          I guess there are a 101 ways to for anyone to react to an idol having a boyfriend. Fans can feel hurt, pain, anger, sadness, excitement or even joy (at the thought of the idol being available).

          Personally, it took me weeks before I could settle on a proper response. If my oshimen had a boyfriend, I’d probably just lose all my interest. Now, that’s how I view the situation.

          Different people handle it differently, I guess.

        • ken says:

          you are right that some fans are behave exaggerate to their oshimen and we can’t stop that but I think there’s a bright side to the rules. Almost all the girls from the 48 groups average age are around 13 to 17 :twisted:
          they are a normal teen and kids just begin to learn life and new to entertainment industry. these rules will be a good lesson for them to learn how things work in idol world although its a bit cliche and restricted and annoying for some of them. Knowing that they can move forward the next step achieving their dreams

        • L. says:

          IMO it’s not really important whether the rule is written on their contract or not.

          It doesn’t matter whether it is an unspoken or unwritten rule. When you’re an idol, you know and fully understand that you should not date nor having a boyfriend.
          There are always things that are supposed to be a certain way; things that you know you’re supposed and not supposed to do, even without having a rule or law for everything.

      • interstellar says:

        i get your point, my friend, but for the price they had paid, was it worth it? I understand the perks of being an AKB48 member, but here in Jakarta.. i mean, really?

        i stand by my opinion on their negative behaviour.. as long as they can do it without getting caught, that’s fine by me. I still think that monkey love — the kind of high-school romance — is an important phase for a teenage girls, and only happen when they were young. If only it’s up to me, you know, i let that happen.

        but it’s a good read for the girls, they still have to take precautions.

  5. Torque says:

    Well written. *clap*

    I don’t know if I was supposed to enjoy reading this as much as I was, but it was so interesting that I read it top to bottom. Especially on lesson 5. JKT48 (and idols in general) SHOULD read this guide. LOL. Kudos.

  6. HERMAN says:

    Wasshoi san, looks like you were afraid that such a tragedy (scandal) will befall JKT48 members. But, I’d say: Fear not, my friend! Look, I don’t know what it looks like in other countries. But here, having a vulgar affair or scandal is not that easy. Lemme give a few examples: In Indonesia IF you’re: flirting in public area, booking a hotel room or sleepover-ing with your boy/girlfriend, or even visiting a brothel, you’ll be busted by “Hansip” or “Satpol PP”, processed and then arrested by the cops. (That means 9 months rotting in jail, in case any of you didn’t have decent knowledge about KUHP.) So, I presume the girls will think twice before starting to ruin their own career and life.

  7. Annie Tjia says:

    Number 1, I think it’s a bit weird if an Idol has to avoid sitting beside a boy in a bus. For example if it happens that the boy is her brother or cousin, why shouldn’t she sit with him. If there are some pictures about it, it’s not like fans can’t ask her via internet or something, right? That’s up for the fans themselves actually.

    About Miss C, well.. She had proved herself as the drama-queen in JKT48 career story. When I saw her in Hitam Putih show and just talking around like that, I was, “Oh, come on. Should you do that?” But it’s a past cause. I hope next time there’s no member who will follow her ‘step’ once graduating. It’s just troubling.

    And about bad-mouthing itself, one of Morning Musume members also had been caught by this thing, if I’m not mistaken. A record of her talking about the older fans being so stupid when cheering in MM concert. Well, I’ll give my concern in this, because yesterday I also had caught something like this in JKT48. I hope members become more careful for what they say in live show or concert. They can be heard from clip on, and if it’s recorded by someone and spreaded, what they’re going to do about it. It’s okay for them to have a comment, genuine or joking, but they’re idols, people that will always be seen and followed by their fans. It’s disturbing to know something like this.

    • WasshoiJ says:

      I’m glad you see the need for fellow idols not to follow some of the mistakes that has been done before.

      The Morning Musume (i.e. Ishikawa Rika’s) recorded talk was quite bad as a precedent if I recall correctly. There are rumors that because of Ishikawa Rika’s condescending speech towards fans, the wotas pressured management and that was why her graduation followed not too long later (1 year later). But then again, I wasn’t a fan then, so I won’t know.

      The incident in lesson 1 sounds foolish. But it was enough to stir fan reaction such that the guys background and his online life had begun to get scrutinized by fans, (due to some questionable reaction by him) so much so he eventually became depressed over the situation. Now ,personally I have no issue (its 50/50 when you sit beside someone in the train or bus), but, well, it’s sad if you had to see a normal bus trip with a friend turn out like that.

      These actions are great learning for us. And I hope they can be great learning for the girls too

      • Annie Tjia says:

        For example, recently there are two members who resigned from JKT48. Despite our sadness, there’s also a worry whether their resignment/graduation will cause some riffraffs like previous grad members. Already rumours had been spread though it’s not even a week after they announced the news. Not saying than Kariin or Nichan are like that, but.. Well, it’s not a public secret whenever a member annonces about her resignment/graduatiin it’s like we’ve been dropped by a bomb. :lol: Fans are spreading rumours, but JOT itself isn’t very good in explaining the news. :/ It tends to fish out some reactions not only from fans, but also from the grad member, right?

  8. mansei says:

    I’ve seen one of JKT48 members do something bad in public place. In women toilet at FX. That’s happened during handshake event RIVER. On that day, some of member JKT48 Gen 2 gather in F1 woman toilet. They seat on couch while waiting their parents to picking up them. And then, another group of that girls come in an join them. The girl, “XX” said something bad. She’s told to other girls that “X” (X is not in toilet) don’t have a good shoes for handshake event. Her shoes look terrible and she ask “XX” to borrow shoes. “XX” lend it, but she don’t really want to lend it. “XX” said to other girls in that room “oh come on, why she can’t buy new shoes. that’s embarrassing and strange”. Other girls not give any comment.
    I think is bad to talking about someone behind her back and talk about that in public place. even she do that in public women toilet, there is many female fans too. It’s hurt when you hear another idol from same group insult your oshi behind her back. Until now, I can’t respect her anymore until she change her bad attitude.

    • Angga says:

      I’ve to change the alias since this is still categorized as a mere rumor and there’s no exact recording of the conversation has taken place, yet.

    • WasshoiJ says:

      Sorry to hear about the incident but it’s great if you need to let your frustrations out.

      XX may have inappropriately insulted X in your view, but if neither party knows about it, then there is no incentive for XX to change. Maybe it’s good that the other girls stayed quiet, because it is a silent agreement that they don’t agree with what was said, either.

      Maybe XX was stressed or maybe people are tired from need to let loose. Girls are girls, and sometimes they do bitchy things, and more often than not, they are foolish enough and they make mistakes. They are still young, immature women after all.

      Nonetheless, I hope these idols avoid doing the same thing in public.

      Keep loving your oshi :P

    • benimaru says:

      it seems Gen 2 is full of problems :-?

      Really curious, who is this XX and X anyway? (PM me please :oops: )

      Kindly be noted it is not for negative purpose, me just wonder, how come their relation seems so bad.. Unlike Gen 1 (that seems) can treat their comrade well no matter what their economic background is..

      • WasshoiJ says:

        Maybe Gen 1 is more like a family already cos they spent 2 years of their life together

        I’ve been hearing good comments about Gen 2 though so dont let something like this make you think otherwise mister benimaru

        :D

  9. ganyabubrown says:

    i think reason 3 to 6 not an impossible reason anymore
    xxx

  10. Kurisu says:

    I agree to most of these lessons though I’m on the fence with not sitting next to boys on the bus.

    I kind of give the sister groups more leeway since they weren’t raised in a country where those idols rules were so entrenched and at an early age. Logically a young Japanese girl who was thinking of becoming an idol would take some steps early on as to not, say, have purikas / photo stickers taken with boys. Or write blog entries that reveal too much.Those things may still happen but there’s a context as to why they shouldn’t be seen to be too close with their male friends or classmates, since it may come back to bite them at some point.

    I also think of my kami-oshi Miyazawa Sae, at one point (early on) she had to apologize to her fans because wota mistook her brother as her boyfriend, Haruka caused her own ruckus… because she dared to visit a water theme park with her own father.
    Reading stories like that, they kind of make my stomach tighten… yes, this is the career they’ve chosen but when a “mistake” is just wanting to be close to your own family, it makes me wonder if I want to be associated with fans like these, who act irrationally and go to the extreme of the spectrum and just reacting.
    What if the member was your sister? Can’t you just assume the rational explanation and go from there?

    ^^ This isn’t all fans… this is maybe more, fans who see a picture of a guy “too many times” (meaning more than once) posed next to their idol and then instantly jump to a conclusion. (And then do something crazy like go hunting after his name and social media accounts and hack them, like it’s a sport.)
    I guess that kind of matches up with what was mentioned in lesson 1, the reaction against the male “who sits next to her on the bus”; how he copes with it – or is just, bewildered by the experience and never wants to talk to that member again. Maybe he can see the humour “hey, they think I’m dating her!” Or maybe he just ends up feeling violated.

    The members should avoid situations that may be misconstrued, yes.
    But also, fans need to act rationally, not automatically jump to conclusions from point A to point Z since you’re probably hurting your oshimen with your actions. Sometimes a girl just sits next to a guy, that’s it.

    • benimaru says:

      me never thought that visiting a water boom with your dad were also a violation to those “rules”..

      kind a agree with bro angga, why is zat people so irritated seeing their “idol” standing beside other guy :-? :?:

      is this means those idols should not seat in front chair when taking a cab?

      • Kurisu says:

        Just to make clear, it’s not a violation to visit a water park with your own father / family, it’s more she accidentally caused a misunderstanding because of it.

        “Haruka: Oh, by the way, I’ve been to the swimming pool with my dad once. When I went on the slide, there were fans that saw us, and it became an uproar because they thought we were a couple on a date.” (Official Guide Book Vol. 2)

    • WasshoiJ says:

      Well said. Although I do not disagree with any of the points you mention, I think that keeping fans and their actions in line is a lot harder than bringing idols in line – which is why I chose to focus on the little things, mistakes, and past happenings that idols need to gain an awareness about (even if its written in an awkward tone). But it’s too bad if they don’t read the article, anyway.

      That said, the emergence of sensible big-sister idols like Akimoto Sayaka (regardless of her scandal) who are unafraid to stand their ground and rebuke ridiculous fan behavior in front of offensive fans themselves, sure helps in a long way to garner respect within the group and the fan community. Same goes for strong captains like Takamina and Sayanee who are unafraid to demand for what is right within the group.

      • Annie Tjia says:

        What about members who in pictures with an actor/malesinger they idolize? It’ll be a funny situation if there’s a day when Ve and Marcel come to the same event and they take photo together. It’ll dissapointing for Ve because she has to endure herself to take at least on pic with her idol.

        • WasshoiJ says:

          Harmless photos with celebrities in the same line of work are generally acceptable, unless its of a scandalous nature.
          It may cause a little jealousy, but here, the voices of the reasonable, matured fans usually wins.

          The keyword is, “scandalous nature.”

          But if you’re thinking about the bus incident, it became a big precedent because at the start when the photo was leaked, the majority of fans who looked at it were on the fence too and looked at it as harmless. That is until, a small group of fans commented that she was lying about going home everyday by train (in the picture, she took a bus), and refused to let the incident go until a shitstorm happened for the other guy– Seeing how they had apologized in an official blog, it suggests that no one had a (better) choice but to say sorry and try to let things calm down.

  11. fildzahPro says:

    I’m totally agree with this post. Well, just like the lyrics in Yuuhi wo Miteiru ka said, “relationships between humans are indeed troublesome, but still we can’t live alone.”

    By the way, thank you for quoting my post from my blog. I have stalked this site for a long time, so I’m still… “Waaa” like that :mrgreen: