The Witch’s Resume

This is Kazuko Hosoki.  If you live outside of Japan, you may recognize her as one of the stricter judges on the Japanese cooking show ‘Iron Chef’.  If you live in Japan and own a TV, you will probably recognize her as a mean old fortuneteller who appears on TV nearly every day.  I guess a lot of Japanese people like to listen to her give conscending speeches on how other people are wrong, stupid, and/or heading towards misfortune.  Why so many people seem to like this mean-spirited old woman is beyond me.

Apparently the Shunkan Gendai, a Japanese magazine, agrees with my view of Kazuko Hosoki.  They decided to print a series of articles that portray Hosoki in a very negative light.  Her alleged response: sending her friends in the yakuza to bribe the reporter responsible.  Things turned out most unfortunately for the fortuneteller, and the reporter did not back down.  He even wrote about the yakuza bribery attempt.  This did not please Hosoki, and she is now suing Shunkan Gendai and demanding printed apologies.

Mainichi‘s article on the subject:

Sexagenarian soothsayer seething over unforeseen exposure

In a surprise case considering she didn’t see it coming, Japan’s most famous fortuneteller is forecasting a courtroom windfall by suing one of the country’s top weekly magazines, according to Josei Seven (6/15).

Kazuko Hosoki, a 68-year-old ubiquitous presence on Japanese TV screens, is apparently seething over a series of articles run by lowbrow men’s weekly Shukan Gendai in which claims are made that the sexagenarian soothsayer had the yakuza try and pay off a journalist planning to write an expose about her.

Hosoki is fighting back by providing Gendai’s rival Shukan Bunshun with a series of exclusive interviews of her own. She’s also sued the magazine for 600 million yen and is demanding it run apologies in all Japan’s major newspapers.

Now a nationally esteemed clairvoyant and purveyor of straight-shooting advice, Gendai’s series draws on accounts of less savory aspects of Hosoki’s career, including stints as a hostess and mama-san. Gendai’s series also pries deeply into the old woman’s private past.

Josei Seven says Hosoki decided to sue because Gendai, in one of its articles called “Majo no Rekisho (The Witch’s Resume)” (almost the same title of Hosoki’s autobiography released 20 years ago), accused the ornery oracle of having cozy ties with the yakuza.

Writer Atsushi Mizoguchi says in the Gendai story that he was approached by a gang boss who worked as an informer. The article says the gang boss handed Mizoguchi a thick wad of yen notes and asked him to stop publication of another story damning of the acerbic auger.

When Mizoguchi refused, the yakuza asked him to at least take it easy on Hosoki. Once again, the hack would not play along and the story went out, leaving egg on the face of the fortuneteller.

“Hosoki is absolutely livid,” one of the medium’s lawyers tells Josei Seven. “What is written in that story is complete hogwash. It sullies her name and is completely impermissible. Since Shukan Gendai started running the series, we have sent it protests and warnings, but they were all totally ignored. And now we get this story. It’s unbelievable! Hosoki has considerable influence in the media and what has happened here can’t be left alone, so we decided to take legal recourse.”

Among the other allegations Hosoki’s lawyers say are defamatory are claims that while still in her teens, a scantily clad Hosoki was made to ramble the streets of Ginza to seduce men into drinking at the bar her mother ran and that her fierce tongue made it too imposing for others to appear on TV together with her.

Hosoki’s lawyers are demanding a compensation payout of 611.91 million yen, as well as apologies in Shukan Gendai and Japan’s major newspapers. Attorneys refuse to detail why they are seeking such a large amount.

Despite the oracle’s onslaught, Hosoki’s accuser Mizoguchi is sticking to his guns.

“I stand by everything written in the article. I don’t care if they want to sue me. Everything I wrote was a fact. They may claim that the yakuza never stopped trying to stop me running the story, but I can show exactly when it happened,” the hack tells Josei Seven. “I don’t care if they claim my article is groundless. I just hope for her sake that what she’s saying now doesn’t come back to hurt her.” (By Ryann Connell)

I don’t know if she really sent yakuza to bribe a reporter.  However, the idea that she would sue them for printing that  “her fierce tongue made it too imposing for others to appear on TV together with her” is absolutely ridiculous.  Why would anyone want to appear on her show and get  bombarded  with  idiocy  from a condescending loudmouth?