Japanese "Lolita Complex" Boom

I just saw this video posted up at DannyChoo, a big otaku community site that sometimes talks about idols. This video is about U-15 idols' photobooks and DVDs, which is somewhat related to the never ending bikini shots moral questions that tend to pop up in our community once every few months. In no moment it talks about H!P PBs, but still, it has some interesting - and eventually disgusting - opinions from people interviewed on the street about the topic, that one might consider are valid to some H!P photobooks too. I especially liked the commentary from a father that appears in the end of the video so much I'd be inclined to give him a kick in a certain place if I had the chance. I still feel that H!P PBs are okay and not really comparable to the ones in this video, since aside from one or other bikini shot that some might consider offensive, there's nothing wrong with them really. At least I didn't think there was in Momoko's momo and Airi's CLEAR, the ones I've seen. Or maybe I've already gone to the dark side and can't judge clearly.

Comments

[投稿情報: Henkka]

I've seen this before too. It's a good, thought-provoking video indeed.

Personally, I don't look at this sort of stuff as I can't say it's my cup of tea, but I did see a couple just to see what the fuss is all about. Basically, I think H!P's photobooks are nothing compared to these ones, and anyone who has seen any will probably agree with me here. Many of these photobooks just ooze this cheap, smutty feeling and there are indeed lots of shots with sexually provoking poses and stuff. If anything, I often find H!P photobooks to be really classy and even artistic at times, and use my favorite shots from these as my screensaver even at the "risk" of someone but me seeing it, without feeling any guilt or shame. It's probably the U-15 photobooks that have soiled my mind that makes me say this, but I really don't feel there's a problem with any of the bikini pics of the younger girls' H!P photobooks. It's just so innocent compared to the U-15 ones and they don't feel the least bit sexual or "racy" to me, it feels like it is done only to help enhance their beauty.

The only thing that bothers me about it is that if the girls feel awkward or don't feel comfortable about doing it; they should definitely not have to do it if they don't want to. I feel like having to do photobooks in swimsuits against their wishes is not what any of them originally signed up for. But again, if they don't mind it, then it's fine. If it's ok with them, it's ok with me. And yeah, if they REALLY didn't want to do that, they could always leave H!P.

[投稿情報: Rad♂]

The video is a complete, fair report, the most informative story on this topic I have seen ... It is a high-wire act whether this material should be illegal. My position is to stay far, far away from all of it, especially the printed photobooks, which can be trouble if the wrong agency in the wrong country judges the material to be obscene or abusive to the kids pictured. As for the dad, he's just along for the ride, but he's taking an enormous risk if his kid's photos end up, say, in the U.S. or Australia, and he ends up getting arrested if he travels to these countires.

The guy at the end makes the best point of all: Moral standards vary enormously from nation to a nation, culture to culture. Best not to test those standards, however, especially with printed material which is always judged mroe harshly because viewers can get a prolonged view of it without any special equipment.

http://www.bloggerparty.com/blog/radreview

 

[投稿情報: HarimaKenji]

You make a great point in the end that I'm ashamed to have forgotten, indeed it's only good if they agree to do it. That should be true not only with PBs, but everything that comes with their idol job. And if that's the case, they should just get out of it.

[投稿情報: HarimaKenji]

I never found anything about it on the local news (and I did look for it), but back when I was in the anime community, I used to visit a huge English anime forum, and there was a section on it dedicated to international members. I heard a story over there that a Brazilian was arrested for having a manga called Kodomo no Jikan... Think of Lolita in manga form, with a teacher-student situation... Anyway, that all goes to show you're right when you say a wrong agency in the wrong country finding the wrong material can end in bad consequences. By the way, the manga was licensed in the USA and was going to be released with the title of "Nymphet" (they don't even try to hide it -_-) but there was a lot of polemic over that and it was cancelled. Meanwhile, an animated series of it is being aired in Japan. I believe that it's at least in a proper time slot, but I can't confirm that. Oh, and don't worry, I don't possess anything that could to link me to this series =P

Getting a little redundant already, but since I'm already on this topic I might as well say it... I read a magazine yesterday and there was an essay on it talking about this very topic, how different cultures value different personality traits and behavior, and I smiled when I got to this part, which I'm literally translating here: "What's called intelligence, bad manners, pedophilia or shyness in Brazil can get very different names in Japan, for example." I was pretty surprised to see pedophilia listed there, in that context, and I wonder what most people, who don't have the knowledge they're probably talking about this U-15 idols thing , must have thought when reading that.

[投稿情報: Andra]

This is indeed a very important subject to think about when personally being a fan of some Japanese idols. Actually I'm thinking about writing an entry about this myself :).

It's not like some 12-year-old knows herself what is good for her (especially some 10-year-old whose father makes her do it!) and they can say they want to do it but it doesn't still necessarily mean it's the right thing... So in my opinion children should always be protected, no matter what the cultural circumistances are. If the circumistances are not appropriate they should be changed. No nation has the right to defend harming children in ways like girls' circumcision or child pornography (as some of those photobooks really can be called!) by saying that it's just the cultural differences or whatever...

It's true that H!P photobooks are not as bad as some of those shown in that video, but I think I will stick to my decision to never buy one with bikini shots or otherwise similar shots in it (I'm so happy Yossy doesn't have any in her ones! :) Though I'm still unsure about her first one...). Even if the girls (women) are older than 18, it's still female objectification, which is not a good thing considering the equality between men and women. I've understood that it's not in very high level in Japan in the end (in such matters as work for example, but I'm no expert of course). But I guess I'm quite alone here... The girls (idols I mean) don't seem to think too much about this themselves as they all always accept to do such things.

But when someone's older than 18, it really is their own business then... They may act as stupid and sexy they want to.

[投稿情報: Alice]

Is that airing on a TV station? I'd like to site that video on an article I'm working on but I'm not sure what I would say it's from ^^' Thank you for posting it btw, I would have never seen it otherwise.