With over thirty members, youâd think itâd be no biggie if AKB48âs 17-year-old Yumi Wakatsuki was M.I.A. Yet, this weekend when she didnât show at a Gran Turismo 5 event, people began wondering whether her absence wasnât merely because she was under the weather. People began wondering if she had been benched for one of the most unspeakable things a young idol can do: Kissing a guy.
While AKB48 is located in Tokyoâs geek center Akihabara, Nogizaka 46 is located in Tokyoâs SME Nogizaka Buildingâhome of the groupâs label, Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It all feels very cool and impersonal.
âCoolâ and âimpersonalâ would not describe a slew of leaked sticker pictures that featured a then-15 year-old Wakatsuki and her 27-year-old boyfriend. For the hardcore (and blissfully naive) fans, itâs bad enough when the inevitable idols-and-the-their-boyfriends photos leak. Worse here, because Wakatsukiâs companion was almost thirtyâand she was still underage.
The photos leaked onto Japanese bulletin board 2channel and featured Wakatsuki doing more than her infamous finger trick (above). In the stickers, she didnât just pose and prim with her male companion, who was described as being â27 years-oldâ, âshortâ and âkind of fat (lol)â. The person responsible for the leak, who referred to him or herself as âa friend of Yumiâ, seems to be anything but, describing Wakatsuki as âa total bitchâ, being into wrist-cutting, and getting plastic surgery.
The photos, taken on arcade sticker machines, feature Waktsuki and her boyfriend embracing and kissing, with notes like âhead-over-heels for five monthsâ and âalways togetherâ. The photos were probably meant to be private, but somehow came into the possession of Wakatsukiâs âfriendâ.
This isnât the first time Wakatsuki has apparently had scandalous sticker pictures leak. This fall, photos that supposedly depicted her making out with some dude in a sticker booth appeared online.
IDOL KING â Yasushi Akimoto knows how to make idols. During the 1980s, he cut his teeth as a songwriter for idol group Onyanko Club. Since then, heâs created AKB48 and numerous AKB48 spin-off groups. Earlier this year, he created Nogizaka 46, AKB48âs âofficial rivalâ. Thatâs right, Akimoto created an official rivalâno doubt, heâs eventually create official rival spin-off groups, too.
In yearâs past, when seemingly innocent photos like these have leaked, the idol has either been suspended from the group or removed entirely. Likewise, fans tend to jump ship.
Itâs not only boyfriends, but things like smoking and drinking. Former Morning Musume idol Ai Kago was booted from that group after repeated infractions that involved underage smoking and being photographed walking from a hotel with a married man. (Kago is currently making the leap to pornography.)
This weekend, when Wakatsuki didnât appear at the Nogizaka 46 Gran Turismo 5 promotional event, a spokesperson told Mainichi that her absence was for âvarious reasonsâ and are carefully checking to looking into the photo leak.
Idols are supposed to be pure. Itâs similar for teeny-bop idols in America. (Remember Britney Spears virginal declaration?) Theyâre not supposed to have boyfriends like regular girls do. Thatâs because they are not regular girls. Theyâre idols. Sometimes, like many of us were, theyâre stupid teenagers. And sometimes, theyâre just totally normal. What idol fan wants normal?
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(Top photo: äčæšćăŁăŠăă©ăïŒ | TV Tokyo)
