Two posts from japan today

Kusanagi?s comeback ? what was the big deal after all? Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion


Kusanagi’s comeback – what was the big deal after all?
The 22 days since his arrest for public indecency must have felt like an eternity for SMAP singer Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, who will return to business beginning with the shooting of the program “SMAP X SMAP” on May 28.

The decision for his comeback was announced on May 14, explaining how Kusanagi had reflected upon his misconduct. Since his release from police custody, Kusanagi, known for his serious and contemplative personality, had kept a low profile, holed up in his Tokyo Midtown apartment near the park where he was arrested.

A source in the entertainment industry comments, “Kusanagi was forbidden from leaving his home during the detention. His meals were either deliveries or brought by staff of his agent. After 20 years of being a pop icon since his teens, this was, ironically, his first long vacation.”

People close to Kusanagi, including fellow members of SMAP, have been expressing their support and encouragement through radio programs. The pop group’s leader Masahiro Nakai spoke of trials and tribulations that can be overcome with love and compassion, while Takuya Kimura chose a SMAP song “Best Friend” to be played at the end of his program.

NHK had initially broadcast the incident as headline news, while Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama publicly denounced him as a “scum” and sponsors canceled advertisement contracts featuring Kusanagi. The pop star was practically made into a social deviant, but his fans and the public are now wondering what the big deal was after all.

Says columnist Masahiko Katsuya: “It’s easy to call it a crime, but think about Ueno Park around the time of cherry blossom viewing – there are drunk men taking their clothes off everywhere. It’s obvious that the police handled the investigation with the intention to punish Kusanagi, allowing the media to report his transfer. I suppose the police wanted to demonstrate that there would be no special treatment for those in show business, but I think they went too far. The police provided information which the media simply reported and people jumped on the bandwagon of the righteous to join the Kusanagi-bashing. It shows how immature Japanese society is.”

Author Shimako Iwai comments, “Many men that I know tend to take their clothes off when they get intoxicated. We’re not talking about some guy in his 50s. Women will only be too happy to see a naked male pop star, which raises the question – has anyone been victimized in the first place? It was an overreaction on the part of the police.”

Comedian and actor Rakkyo Ide, who has in the past written numerous letters of apology for his “nude performances,” is also supportive of Kusanagi. “I’ve never been arrested, even though I go naked intentionally and completely sober, too. So I sympathize with him and also feel a sense of affinity. I do wish him the best.”

The first live TV appearance for Kusanagi will be “Waratte Iitomo” on May 29. It remains to be seen how he is going to be able to perform.


now it's a tourist site....now all they need is to have vendors hawking t-shirts about the incident for sale!
Tokyo?s new tour spot -- sightseers flock to site of Kusanagi?s arrest Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Tokyo’s new tour spot -- sightseers flock to site of Kusanagi’s arrest
Charges have been dropped against pop group SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi for public indecency and his comeback has been announced for May 28. But the park where Kusanagi was arrested, located behind Tokyo Midtown where he resides, has become a new Tokyo tour spot for curious visitors.

A housewife in her 40s who lives in a condominium facing Hinokimachi Park commented she’s never seen so many people there before. In the middle of the day, she’s seen young people take their shirts off and shout, obviously mocking Kusanagi.

Groups of youngsters are also taking videos of their friends reenacting the incident, posing as Kusanagi or policemen in the manner reported earlier by the media.

Shukan Post interviewed one such park visitor who said, “I just went to the izakaya (pub) where he was drinking that night and took some pictures. I’m now on my way to the Akasaka police department [which arrested Kusanagi], then the Harajuku police department [where he was detained], and lastly I’ll take a picture in front of Johnny’s Jimusho.”

During Golden Week, there seemed to be plenty of people from Tokyo and elsewhere with enough time on their hands to “tour” the same sightseeing spots and vicariously experience the Kusanagi incident.

Minato Ward’s Akasaka branch, which manages Hinokimachi Park, asked that tourists refrain from taking their shirts off out of courtesy to other users. On the other hand, entertainment reporter Masaru Nashimoto claims the strange phenomenon, in a way, attests to the singular popularity of the pop icon SMAP.