The Preteen Junior Idol boom in Japan

There’s totally a difference between individuality and morality! These lolita complex are more of a moral issues than an “individuality” thing. I think the Japanese government should have laws against child exploitation…

This is big, big business. Blaming it on individuality is clearly wrong, and shows that people are just grasping at straws to explain a phenomenon that is so close to home that it scares them.

Individuality in Japan must be stamped out so that 95% of the country will become pedophiles.

IMHO:
Almost all Japanese people are confused about their personal freedoms. e.g. Thinking doing whatever you want is ‘freedom’ like walk down the street naked, etc… However real freedom is basically a construct over the most fundamental society rules. These basic fundamental morals/laws are somehow missing (Blame the Boomers!). Hence, the mass confusion going on.

Let’s see, well for starters, they could show more kissing on television. Advertisers could present couples showing more physical affection in ads. Politicians could hold their wives’ hands every so often. Get some positive images of sex out there, basically.

Is this considered a “boom?” Really? Thought this was as old as dirt. The entertainment industry has to examine women’s path to fame. Photobooks seem to be a part of it, however, is it really necessary?

I don’t think America is superior in this. How old was Britney Spears when she did her first video? I don’t doubt that if photobooks were the thing here in the states she would have done one. We just substitute the lad magazine spread, don’t we?

This is nothing more then pedophilia. It’s so scary that the people of Japan are not outraged at this! I would not be surprised if we end up hearing about a up swing in crimes against young girls there..

Why don’t you all wake up and accept the fact that Japan is simply a less sexually repressed nation than most of the world? Why should anyone assume these girls are not comfortable in their current positions of fame-dom? This is neither a question of the girls being mistreated, nor of the morality in their being exploited to over-stimulated Japanese businessmen seeking a new rush. It’s simply an excuse for all of you to chastize other people for their sexual urges and fascinations of which you can’t relate. In a case such as this, morality holds no weight in the issue. If this were a circumstance of rape or something of physical harm on another human being, then your reasons of outrage would be justified. But to demean another person for their desires is a whole different beast entirely.

It’s impossible to control the impulses that guide us through life, whether they be sexual or otherwise — of course we always have the final say in whether we carry out our impulses, but no one can control the very impulse itself. If we crave something, then we’ll crave it no matter what, regardless of the circumstance. Even rationalization can’t completely rid one of a desire. To deny it is simply to deceive oneself — if you’re gay, you’re gay; you can’t convince yourself to be something else, even if you repress expressing any desire. If you like big breasts or if you have a foot fetish, well, those urges are also uncontrollable. Can everyone necessarily relate with these urges? Of course not. But we each have our own, and we can’t deny them. As unfortunate as it may seem to a lot of you, pedophilia is no different.

Each person is strictly unique in what he has a fondness for — the entire world can’t be controlled to think the same way, and likewise, we can’t necessarily relate with other people’s fascinations. If you feel uncomfortable, well, then that’s unfortunate for you. It doesn’t nercessarily change what is — older men getting off to images of young girls, and maybe the young girls get off knowing these older men are idolizing them. Let’s not be naive here; just because they’re underage does not mean they’re sexually uninhibited. It does not mean these girls act any differently than any young girl acts at this stage in her life. But I’m sure it’s disturbing to you all the same, knowing these girls can flaunt their bodies in such a provocative manner with no shame.

But Americans love to act two-faced about such situations. We can control our salivating until a girl is of legal age. Never mind that pedophilia/child-abducters have become a disturbingly increasing trend as of late in what is supposedly our morally-conscientious society — we have to jump down Japan’s throat for their not shying away from publicly exhibiting any such desires they may have (even if they’re genial). But we’ve never needed any uninhibited 6th graders flaunting their under-developed physiques on video to have a constant fear of the pedophilic rapist lurking on every street-corner. And for most part, our fears are justified. But of you all, you would have anyone believe the concern was entirely Japan’s.

Of course, I know of no such growing trend in their nation that would suggest child-rapings have steadily been increasing over the years, and I doubt any such trend is occurring. If it had, I doubt the junior idols would continue on the way they have. It seems Japan has decided to remain civilized throughout it all — they realize there is nothing ugly about their desires as long as they do not act upon them in a destructive way, satisfying them only through DVDs and photobooks. It’s too bad the same can’t be said of Americans.

I agree with Jamie. Not all Japanese men are into this sort of thing, merely a very loud and creepy otaku minority. Because they are creepy, they get the most attention. Not to mention this news segment only surveyed 500 men. 29% out of 500 men is a rather small percentage. The majority of people would be just as disgusted with U-15 gravure and their fans as most of us here.

As a matter of fact, I remember that a gravure idol magazine had a survey where they asked men to name what female idols/singers/actresses/etc. they would most want as their girlfriend. The top 10 choices were all idols who are legal. In fact, most U-15 idols were at the bottom (I remember the list went to about 500 or something, I forget, but Japan Probe posted the results of this survey long ago with more detail).