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WITLife is a periodic series written by professional Interpreter/Translator/Writer Stacy Smith (Kumamoto-ken, 2000-03). Recently she’s been watching Fujisankei’s newscast in Japanese and sharing some of the interesting tidbits and trends together with her own observations.
I thought my sleepy eyes were betraying me when I turned on the tv to watch the Japanese news this morning. The headline splayed across the screen was that popular boy band SMAP member 34-year old Tsuyoshi Kusanagi had been arrested on charges of public indecency. Evidently he had been found naked, drunk and incoherent in a Tokyo park early this morning.
According to bystanders, some of what he was muttering was jibberish, some was in Korean (he is known for his Korean language skills and has a big following in Korea), and some were Japanese words they could make out like “baka.” When Kusanagi was approached by a policeman, he yelled out, “What’s wrong with being naked?”
He couldn’t remember why or how he had gotten into this unclothed state, and wouldn’t cooperate when police attempted to test what was in his system. They finally succeeded and the results showed no drugs but a blood alcohol level of 5 times the normal amount.
Footage showed storekeepers taking down advertising posters of Kusanagi plastering their walls. The news also infuriated Communications Minister Kunio Hatoyama, whose ministry has featured Kusanagi in its campaign to promote the 2011 start of nationwide terrestrial digital broadcasting. Hatoyama claimed that if the alledged incident is true, it is “unforgiveable.” Kusanagi also represents P & G and Toyota Rental Lease, but both companies have indicated their intention to pull his commercials for the time being. Last Monday Kusanagi appeared in a press conference for his new movie coming out in September, but now it is uncertain what kind o
f reception it will have.
In other less than positive geinoujin news, the trial of superstar music producer 49-year old Tetsuya Komuro is currently taking place. In an unprecedented move, he directly apologized to his victim. In November of last year, Komuro was arrested on charges of defrauding an investor out of 500 million yen for the copyright to 806 songs that he had composed and written the words to but whose rights he didn’t own. Komuro admitted his wrongdoing at the time of arrest.
It has been a long way to fall for this celeb who was once quoted as saying, “As bankbooks only show up to 10 digits, I’ve lost track of how much money I have.” In contrast, when the judge asked him how his recent life has been Komuro dolefully responded, “Somedays I walk around with not even 1 yen on me, other days it’s a single 100-yen coin. I value having even just 5 yen in my pocket.”
The prosecution is looking to put Komuro away for five years, but the defense is asking for a suspended sentence. 6000 fans have signed a petition asking for his release.
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