Momoka Tojo apologizes to fans, other members after mistakenly shard birthday photos.

As summer started, things were on an upswing for Momoka Tojo. In June, she became a member of idol singer group Katacoto Bank (stylized as KATACOTO*BANK), and in July she’d be celebrating her 20th birthday, traditionally considered the start of adult life in Japanese society (though legal adulthood in the country now begins at 18).

“Last chance to see teenage me,” posted Tojo to her Twitter account on July 22, the day before her birthday.

A few days later, on July 26, Momoka posted photos from her birthday celebration, showing her eating cake and posing with balloons of the number 20. That’s not out of the ordinary in today’s social media-infused idol community, but what was unusual was that the photos weren’t of Momoka alone, but of her celebrating with a young man, and it was just the two of them celebrating.

It’s long been the norm for idol unit management and talent agencies to prohibit, or at least strongly discourage, performing idols from dating, either through explicit contract clauses or through less direct forms of pressure. After the photos began to attract attention online, Momoka deleted her post which contained the images, and the Katacoto Bank official Twitter account issued a statement the next day which includes an unorthodox “punishment” that has been placed on Momoka, in which she will now post a good-night photo of herself, alone, every night, for an entire year.

The statement says:

Before going to bed last night, Momoka Tojo mistakenly posted photos of herself and man who could be seen as her boyfriend. Through a through fact-finding investigation conducted by management, it was been determined that she is currently dating him, and that her boyfriend is a person from outside the entertainment industry.

We have cautioned her that this is “unthinkable conduct showing a lack of mindfulness as an idol,” and after discussing the matter together, the following course of action has been decided on.

1. “Moving forward, Momoka Tojo will maintain a measure of distance from her boyfriend.”

2. As punishment, “For a period of one year, every night when going to bed, Momoka Tojo will, without fail, post a ‘saying good night alone’ photo” duty will be placed upon her.

Through this, we will have Momoka Tojo comply with the concept that “the most important thing for an idol to do is to be (sleep) by the side of each individual fan.” ※Should it appear that her boyfriend is present in her photos, please inform us.

Momoka Tojo has only recently become an idol, and it is our sincere hope that through this incident she will take the job of being an idol seriously. To all of you, her fans, we hope that you will continue to encourage, scold, cheer for, and promote her.

The statement then goes on to mention Katacoto Bank’s upcoming November 12 concert at Shibuya Veats in Tokyo and concludes by asking fans to refrain from making slanderous comments about Tojo’s outside-the-entertainment-industry boyfriend.

▼ Tojo’s first “good night alone” photo, posted July 28…

▼ …and her most recent, as of this article’s writing.

Following the announcement of her punishment, Tojo also posted a handwritten apology through her Twitter account, saying:

I sincerely apologize for my recent careless actions, which caused a great deal of trouble and stress to our fans and other related parties.

I was lacking in proper awareness of the role of an idol, and what I did was inconsiderate to the fans, other members of the group, and other parties who support me each and every day. I deeply regret and am reflecting upon my actions.

I will make every effort to prevent such a thing from happening again, develop a thorough understanding of what it means to be an idol, regain the trust of those who support me, and contribute as a member of Katacoto Bank.

With that, Katacoto Bank seems to consider the matter settled. There’s been no indication that the group/its management is asking Tojo to step down, or to have her go on a temporary hiatus from performances and promotional appearances while the situation blows over.

▼ The Katacoto Bank Twitter account included Tojo in a recent string of tweets highlighting individual members…

▼ …and in their new group shot from just a few days ago.

Still, posting a daily good-night photo of herself alone is the strangest act of contrition for an idol being seen with her boyfriend since original AKB48 member Minami Minegishi had her head shaved down to a buzz cut after it came out that she’d spent the night at a man’s apartment.

When such scandals happen in the idol world, there’s often a reaction of “Who cares is a musician has a boyfriend?” from the level-headed general public. However, a major amount of the idol industry’s lifeblood comes from fans whose level of obsession isn’t exactly level-headed. Much like mobile/gacha video gaming, the idol industry has long been reliant on catching whales, obsessive customers who represent revenue streams exponentially larger than other demographics.

Historically, for these whales it’s been the quasi-social bond that draws them to idol music, the idea that “My favorite idol may not know me personally, but if we ever did meet, she’d probably recognize and appreciate my attractive qualities.” If you gathered a dozen random idol fans, some would be totally fine with their favorite idol openly having a boyfriend, but the whales’ enthusiasm might be dampened enough that they’re no longer each going to buy 20 identical copies of all the group’s CDs to try to win meet-and-greet event tickets to shake hands with their favorite member.

▼ Real whales, meanwhile, must wait patiently for the industry to introduce flippershake events.

It’s worth pointing out that, in its own weird way, Tojo’s solo good night photo punishment is a sign of increased industry acceptance of idols dating. The pledge to “maintain a measure of distance” from him notwithstanding, nowhere in their statements do Katacoto Bank or Tojo make any indication that she’s going to break up with or stop dating her boyfriend. In effect, Katacoto Bank’s reaction to the birthday photos boils down to management officially announcing and accepting that a member has a boyfriend, while at the same time wanting to prevent that aspect of her life making it harder to sell whales the “my favorite idol might have a thing for me if she knew me” fantasy. It’s not like it requires master-of-subterfuge-level skills for Tojo to quickly angle the lens so her boyfriend is out of frame in her good night snapshots, then go right back into couple’s time after, so the good night pics are arguably less “Here’s proof that I’m not with a guy” and more “Here are a bunch of photos to rebuild your fantasy.”

Whether or not it’s fair for Tojo to have to jump through those hoops is another, much longer discussion, involving the increased mainstream popularity of idol music over the past 15 years, decreased individual consumer spending on music products, and divisions in marketing appeal between the Japanese idol industry and other musical genres. Will Japanese idol music ever reach a point where performers’ personal love lives aren’t seen as a liability that could hurt the group’s chances of success? Maybe one day it will, but in the meantime, for the next 300-plus nights, Tojo will be posting good night photos.

Source: Twitter/@katacoto_bank via Anime News Network/Ken Iikura-Gross, Twitter/@10_momo23, Model Press
Top image: Pakutaso
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