Kanna Hashimoto is called the “once in a millennium” idol, but her manager is one in a million too.


There are a lot of popular idols in Japan, but even in that packed pantheon, Kanna Hashimoto is on another level. Starting out as a member of Fukuoka-based vocalist unit Rev. from DVL, Hashimoto been enjoying a sustained skyrocketing of her popularity over the past few years. Her star power is now so mighty that when she was scheduled to stop by a Tokyo university’s school festival last month, such massive crowds showed up that the police forced organizers to cancel her appearance, saying they couldn’t guarantee the safety of the swelling audience.

▼ Kanna Hashimoto

So it might surprise you to find out that the extremely photogenic 19-year-old show business sensation doesn’t have a single follower on Instagram. But really, that makes sense since she doesn’t have an Instagram account (or, at least, an account where she posts as/about herself).

Instead, Hashimoto’s many, many, many fans are encouraged to follow kannahashimoto.mg, the Instagram account of Hashimoto’s manager. The account regularly posts pictures of the idol, and her manager even engages with fans by reading and responding to their comments.

However, since the messages aren’t going to Hashimoto directly, some commenters can be rather candid in expressing themselves. Recently, Hashimoto’s fans have been clamoring for her to stream a live video on Instagram, and some of her more passionate admirers are starting to lose patience, like one who recently left a comment complaining “Is she never going to do a live streaming video on Instagram for us?”

After reading the comment, Hashimoto’s manager fired back with:

“Kanna is so busy that you can’t even imagine how packed her schedule is. I’m currently in talks with her to see when she would have time to do one. Everyone else is being patient and understanding, and you are the only person who’s making a big fuss about this. I’m the kind of person who, the more people try to rush me, the less I want to do something.”

Ouch. Hashimoto’s manager was slightly less cutting, though still in no mood to mince words, when another fan wrote “I want her to stream a live video soon! It’s already been over a month since she said she’d do one.”

This time, her manager replied with:

“All I did was ask her ‘When would you like to stream a live video?’ I’ve never said she’s actually going to. But yes, I can understand clearly that you’re looking forward to her doing a live video, though. Please wait a little longer.”

Aside from saving Hashimoto the headache of having to deal with demanding fans herself, her manager has been earning fans of her own for her no-nonsense attitude, with supportive online commenters saying:

“Her manager is exactly right. We should wait patiently.”
“Handling fans like those guys must be really irritating for her.”
“Their way of asking for updates is really rude.”

Others, though, say they’d prefer she use a softer touch when replying, or maybe just not reply at all.

“She could just ignore fans who’re complaining about stuff like that.”
“I can understand where she’s coming from, but if she’s too abrasive in dealing with fans, it’ll hurt Hashimoto’s reputation too.”
“She doesn’t sound like a very kind or caring person.”

Hashimoto’s manager has at least thrown her more impatient fans a bone of sorts by recently posting this recorded video of the idol.

Still no update on the live video front, though, and odds are asking her about it isn’t going to speed up the process.

Source: Instagram/kannahashimoto.mg
[ Read in Japanese ]

You can follow Casey on Twitter, but don’t expect any live streaming video.

[ Read in Japanese ]