{"id":51299,"date":"2017-10-06T00:40:06","date_gmt":"2017-10-06T00:40:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=51299"},"modified":"2017-10-06T00:40:31","modified_gmt":"2017-10-06T00:40:31","slug":"sex-obsession-j-pop-tokyo-idols-examines-commodification-young-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=51299","title":{"rendered":"Sex, Obsession, and J-Pop: \u2018Tokyo Idols\u2019 Examines the Commodification of Young Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

How much would you pay for one minute of conversation with a 14-year-old girl? Kyoko Miyake\u2019s unflinching new documentary about the shady transactions that surround Japanese pop stardom is available now on Netflix.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t a fad. It\u2019s a religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tokyo Idols<\/em>, which premiered at Sundance earlier this year, begins with two shocking stats: First, there are around 10,000 teenage girls in Japan that consider themselves to be \u201cidols.\u201d Second, the industry that engulfs these idols, young and bubbly singers with thousands of devoted followers, is estimated to earn $1 billion dollars every year.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s with this magnitude in mind that viewers are first introduced to 19-year-old Rio Hiiragi, a Tokyo-based idol with a growing following. The biggest concern surrounding Rio is that she is becoming too old to transition into a career as a recording artist. (Only in the world of idols is 19 considered retirement age.) For the first two thirds of the film, Rio remains infectiously optimistic about her shrinking window of opportunity and the fans that support her, mostly men that are old enough to be her father.<\/p>\n

All of Rio\u2019s cutesy pop-metal performances include a section of call and response. She shouts an optimistic lyric, and her devoted fans \u2014 they call themselves the RioRio Brothers \u2014 cry back to her in unison. Leading these chants from the front row of all Rio\u2019s performances is Koji, a 43-year-old salaryman. Koji\u2019s obsession with Rio and idol culture paints him in conflicting colors. Is this middle-aged man using a reductive construction of female purity as a replacement for meaningful relationships in his own life? Yes. But is he also organizing a robust fan base in order to help this strong woman realize her goal of becoming a serious recording artist? Yes.<\/p>\n

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Photo: Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both Rio and Koji live on shifting moral ground, which make theirs the most compelling stories in the 88-minute doc. (There are other portions of the film I considered to be pure horror, like the moment that a room full of middle aged men lines up to touch a group of idols aged 10 to 14.)<\/p>\n