Ask John: Is Japan’s Entertainment Industry Too Harsh on Offenders?
Question:
“4th Avenue Cafe” by L’Arc-en-Ciel is a great song and was used as an ending theme in the Ruroni Kenshin anime. However, drummer Yasunori Sakurazawa got in trouble for being a heroin addict. In response, the band immediately kicked him out, the song was never officially fully released until nearly a decade later and the producers of the anime insisted on immediately dumping the new ED even though it worked great for the show.
To me that was really disgusting. Yes, heroin addiction is a very serious crime but Sakura didn’t rape, kill or inflict harm on any person, and the only individual he hurt was himself. The public and industry should have shown more respect and tolerance towards him and tried to help him instead of just turning their backs on him and spitting on him. Shame on them, especially his cowardly bandmates.
In your opinion, do you think it is appropriate how the Japanese public treated him? Also, is it really common for the anime industry to insist on acting as “morality police” and heavily punishing and ostracizing people for what they consider “grave sins”?
Answer:
I understand and empathize with your considerate reaction. Especially in the United States, fairness is valued to the utmost and even scoundrels and criminals are afforded great consideration. In fact, the sad argument is periodically made that the American judicial system bestows more consideration on criminals and perpetrators than on their victims. While America upholds the belief that an individual is assumed innocent until proven otherwise, Japan, in practical effect, may be the opposite. Accusation may be slow to come in Japan without abundant evidence, and even some times within light of abundant evidence. But an individual formally accused of a crime in Japan is nearly always considered and ultimately proven guilty. This tendency is representative of Japan’s philosophy of social responsibility. Furthermore, illicit drug laws are typically much stricter in much of Asia than in America. While personal drug use doesn’t necessarily directly harm others, it is still taken very seriously in Japan.
Japanese society traditionally expects its citizens to contribute to the uniformity and benefit of society. What occurs in private, behind closed doors is private and unspoken as long as the individuals involved maintain a respectable public facade. The Japanese social philosophy can be summarized as “Don’t rock the boat,” or “Don’t be the nail that sticks up.” Within this philosophy, a lot can be overlooked and forgiven provided that it doesn’t become a public spectacle. However, Japanese citizens that insist upon breaking this unwritten social code, whose behavior becomes unavoidably public, become immediate pariah facing intense scorn and public humiliation and alienation. Examples of this tendency may be found within Japan’s entertainment and political culture as well as the smaller anime and manga industry.
Psycho le Cemu vocalist Daishi Kajinaga was arrested on charges of drug use in May 2005. Four days later his record label Nippon Crown Corporation canceled the release of the Psycho le Cemu in USA Vol. II DVD and ceased distributing all Psycho le Cemu albums. Two months later Psycho le Cemu disbanded and all four remaining band members found new record labels. Producer and musician Tetsuya Komuro was arrested in November 2008 on charges of fraud. His record label, Avex, canceled the scheduled release of two singles by Komuro’s band globe and ceased all promotion for the two songs. Popular singer Akira Akasaka was arrested for drug posession in December 2008. His management agency immediately severed ties with him. SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi was arrested for public drunken nakedness in April 2009. Immediately the Japanese government’s Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry replaced Kusanagi as its spokesman for the digital TV transition, and Toyota Rent-a-Car, among other advertisers, canceled contracts with him. Public sympathy later turned in Kusanagi’s favor. In August 2009 actor/singer Manabu Oshio was arrested for illegal drug use. Police found him in his apartment with a dead woman who had overdosed while doing drugs with him. Oshio’s (separated) wife immediately filed for divorce, and his record label, Avex, immediately terminated his contracts. During the same month singer and actress Noriko “Nori-P” Sakai was charged with illegal drug use. Victor Entertainment canceled her record contract and ceased distributing her albums. Toyota canceled its advertising deals with her. Actor Taishu Kase was arrested for drug use in October 2009. The TBS television network immediately ceased broadcasting the “Kippari!” television drama that Kase starred in. The manga industry also has its own example of ostracism following controversy. In October 2005 shoujo manga artist Yuki Suetsugu admitted to plagiarism. Kodansha immediately ceased publishing Suetsugu’s then current manga and recalled all of her published works, effectively ending her career.
Excluding sexual or violent offenses with clear victims, the Japanese entertainment industry obviously has a demonstrated tendency to leap to judgement and react to offenses with extreme prejudice. The entertainment industry does so because it mirrors the larger Japanese societal perspective. Japanese society traditionally demands that its citizens sustain a level of self-responsibility that may seem unusual or even irrational to Americans. Japan’s entertainment industry is particularly charged with setting example. Following Noriko Sakai’s conviction, Commissioner General of Japan’s National Police Agency Takaharu Ando stated, “I would like people in show business to make serious efforts to get clean from drugs and prevent recurrences… That will be the driving force to sweep drugs out of our society.” Some of the ostracization imposed against offenders in Japan, particularly drug offenders, is certainly intended to set example and discourage others from the same path. A certain degree of the punishment may also be motivated by a spiteful and selfish moral superiority complex. As an external observer with limited knowledge, I’d be irresponsible to levy intense criticism of Japanese moral values. Japan is not America, and Japan’s reaction to the offenses of celebrities, politicians, and public figures is handled in a way that makes sense to Japanese citizens and adheres to the established values and conventions of Japanese society, which are notably different from those of American society.
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The label owns the entertainer, and if the entertainer screws up then it reflects poorly on management. That’s all we really need to know. Management, in the world of j-pop and all its derivatives, owns everything: all of the lyrics, publishing rights, catalogue rights, band name, idol name, and so on. The idol is merely a money-making extension of the label.
In Japan, promoters actually comb the streets or hold pageant-like contests for hyper-cute preteen girls and boys, and then later teach them how to sing… they literally make their talent, hence their disposable nature. (Perhaps this is why natural talents like YUI hold a special place in the hearts of some… even though she too, only got a contract after heading to a talent search.)
Johnny Kitagawa, who formed SMAP, is known as the “idol maker” in Japan for a reason. It’s not uncommon for a successful idol to make billions of Yen under contract, only to be left with absolutely nothing once their contract is terminated.
The person asking the question obviously has no idea what happened with L’Arc~en~Ciel at that time period. It has never been stated anywhere not even in Sakura’s own book about the experience that he was a heroin addict. He had it in his possession but no where does it say he was an addict[you can draw conclusions if you life though].
Also his bandmates are not cowards, Tetsuya almost lost Laruku because of Sakura. All their work was pulled from shops and the management told the other three to lay low for awhile even though they had just released a new album and were ready for the next tour.
Again, obviously you don’t know the details. Sakura himself quit because he had disgraced the bands name and almost destroyed the other three’s dreams.
Either way after Yukihiro joined the band went on to becoming one of the biggest bands in Japan in the late 90’s. Also their reincarnation live at the Tokyo Dome had the record for selling all 52,000 tickets in 4 minutes. Faster than any of X Japan’s records.
That was a turbulent time for the band and arrogance doesn’t help when trying to understand what went down.
Come on Yuki! He was in possesion of heroin but he wasn’t an additc or a user (LOL). You aren’t talking to close minded dumb Japanese, but with SMART analitic western people. If he worked to pay that heroin, I don’t have a trouble if he enjoys it or disposes of it trought the water. Nobody is holier than you, or me. Moral standars are the by product of inferior degrees of cultural archivement. It’s a long way for asia, but they can star copying the progress in civil right’s from Europe, it’s not too late for Japan.
Kyouki, I hope you are joking around because if not, you are coming off as one of the most racist people I’ve read in a long time. All Japanese are dumb, but Western civilization is analytical and great? Tell that to the BP oil company, Nazi Germany soldiers, and Apartheid Racists and the rednecks in the South, they’ll agree with you.
Just because you have this absurd moral standard that says there aren’t any moral standards and blaming it on JAPANEESE culture is absurd. I guess if you go finger-banging minors or shred up little animals with a butter knife, you won’t care? You come across as not giving a flying crap about anything.
In the West, the worst of individuals are border-line anarchists that don’t care about anything… some even barely even care about themselves. In Asia, the default is the opposite, and people are expected to care about a lot of things. Individuals are expected to help the team. Its not perfect but no country is and neither is the ‘west’.
The only thing worse than this topic is not that Japan and the “West” is different, but rather once again someone went around clammering about how the West is so superior. You make me sick, but as I imagine, you probably not only enjoy that but wanting more.
“Yes, heroin addiction is a very serious crime… The public and industry should have shown more respect … instead of just turning their backs…”
Maybe they did try to help him and kicking him out was the RESULT of him rejecting it. You never know.
[anime industry to insist on acting as “morality police†…for what they consider “grave sinsâ€?]
The Anime industry? For not wanting to use a song of a heroine addict? Uh…. why would a kids show want their song to be associated with a criminal….
How are they being the morality police for enforcing something you just said was a serious crime. They are being dutiful citizens in that case. (unless you think a citizen witnessing a serious crime should not even bother calling 911… meh, rape happens, who cares about using my cell)
How is it that in a country where getting drugs is near impossible, this guy somehow got his hands on drugs, was using them (according to the article), and he’s part of a BAND… being paid by a Management company…… and you’re saying that THE OTHER MEMBERS and the Management company have NO RIGHT to make up their minds on what to do with him…
… to me that sounds like a decision dictatorship… enforced by the most scummy one of them all that did drugs while the others stayed clean.
@sidjtd
kyouki’s comments bore me too, immensely.
It seems he/she doesn’t care a thing about anime and is just here to place their two cents. Which obviously matters as much to me as the first and last troll I ever bothered to argue with…
@sidjtd [AKA Yuki]:
If by any chance you are a ‘weeabo’ it’s up to you to enjoy anime or manga [as most of us do], but you have the intellectual duty to at least acknowledge that every human culture haves strengths and weaknesses.
The greatness of the West is not an ‘ethnocentric’ prejudice; it is an objective fact. Just to name a few I will list some of the core achievements of ‘The West’:
-Reason. The Greeks were the first to identify philosophically that knowledge is gained through reason and logic as opposed to mysticism (faith, revelation, dogma).
-Individual Rights. An indispensable achievement leading to the Enlightenment was the recognition of the concept of individual rights. John Locke demonstrated that individuals do not exist to serve governments, but rather that governments exist to protect individuals. The individual, said Locke, has an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of his own happiness.
-Science and Technology. The triumph of reason and rights made possible the full development and application of science and technology and ultimately modern industrial society.
In the case we are talking about, the social pressure put in that individual would lead him to suicide, and that’s not civilization, that its called SOCIAL SADISM. In the west that person would at least have the opportunity to recognize his wrong doings, take therapy and again be reintegrated in society, instead of facing an horde of barbarian puritans who want to make a example of his case.
@kyouki [AKA World’s biggest Troll]:
Your way off topic, give it up.
I don’t think we’re harsh enough over here. If we got rid of all the Britneys and Lindseys and the like who basically make themselves disgraces, maybe we’d be left with some talented people left.
>While America upholds the belief that an individual is assumed innocent until proven otherwise, Japan, in practical effect, may be the opposite.
John, I’m afraid that your argument would be criticized in Japan when it is translated into Japanese. They would say, “So the US does still tolerate a musician continuing to make/play music even when he/she undoubtly commited a crime? Or it is not considerd criminal to drug himself?” In my humble opinion, rather, the American standard of moral defies the grobal common sense.
>In Japan, promoters actually comb the streets or hold pageant-like contests for hyper-cute preteen girls and boys, and then later teach them how to sing…
A typical biased opinion by ignorant gaijins. Your theory is specific only to the teen idol (and girl singers for male otaku) industry. Most of Japanese musicians have to come through continuing efforts and experiences to succeed. (Japanese anime viewers enjoy _K-On_ while knowing it is an utter fantasy.)
>>Your theory is specific only to the teen idol (and girl singers for male otaku) industry.
I never said that it wasn’t. Hence the phrase: “The idol is merely a money-making extension of the label.”
You didn’t define what ‘idol’ is in this context. That’s the point.
Many Japanese Ask John readers get angry with your argument concerning Japanese entertainment industry’s severe punishment of celebrities accused of illegal drug use, as I had feared. Many of them seem worked up a bit, but I’ll introduce some of those criticisms which I think are completely right.
========
Is it civilized American justice when you can be arrested while owning only a few H Dojinshi?
President Bush used to declare that the U.S. should severely punish those who use drugs (including marijuana) as well as those who sell drugs, just months before he left the White House. Right? Didn’t Obama take over the spirit?
Who do you think you are, John? Did you fail to learn some of the historical events. You should have learned that the Meiji Restoration was a result of the Opium War, if you watched _Ruro ni Kenshin_ carefully, as that series was set during the era in question.
I have heard that a person who’s arrested for drug use could go to prison for life in the U.S. It seems too severe to us.
Americans are too lenient on drug users, at least they seem so to us.
It does not make sense that the U.S. law punishes those who only own hentai doujinshi even when it proves nothing but an illustration, accusing them as if they were actually pedophilia.
The Japanese prosecutors usually do not charge someone unless they have substantial evidence and have researched it as thoroughly as possible, making certain that the defendant would almost certainly be found guilty, while the U.S. prosecutors file charges quick quickly, regardless of whether the defendent would actually be convicted or not. The American judicial system seems rather unfair.
John, why do you criticize Japan instead of China and Singapore, where they are known to impose the death penalty on drug users?
John, you should have waited to criticize Japan until the U.S. crime rate drops as low as Japan’s.
The American spirit of fairness? Ha! What about their sick and one-sided Toyota-bashing?
Is it considered fair in the U.S., John, that criminals could be tolerated when they are celebrities? This madness is theirs.
Sakura rejoined the unit of Ken, the former member of L’Arc-en-Ciel, years after he left L’Arc. Right? You could get back to society in the future if you prove you have feelings of remorse and make efforts to rehabilitate yourself. Indeed, Kusanagi and Suetsugu got back to the entertainment industry.
Celebrities, politicians, reporters and so forth frequently have been expelled from their communities when they are accused of their racist, sexist comments in the U.S. It seems hypocritical to us.
John’s answer proves he is, after all, a typical liberal citizen of the U.S., who believes their country is the center of all fairness.