Japan’s pop industry is a slick machine, churning out new waves of adorable idol groups faster than its youthful fan base can get through a piece of bubblegum. Its international image was one of pure and wholesome adolescent appeal, unlike the more sexually provocative K-pop, and Britney Spears style shenanigans were unthinkable. That is, until one popular girl band member popped up in a video posted on her band’s website, crying into an apparently self-inflicted buzz cut.

hat girl was Minami Minegish- a 20 year old member of super group AKB48. The motivation for her shocking act was one of contrition. In ancient Japan, it was common for those who had committed a grave sin to shave off their hair as an act of supreme penance. And Minami’s crime? Being caught exiting the apartment of her boyfriend.

Made up of more than 90 members, AKB48 is more of a collection of performing troupes than a band. Each of these troupes has a different status within the group as a whole, making for fierce rivalry between the young women lucky enough to make the cut. AKB48 CDs come with ballot cards inserted, giving any fan the power to vote for their favourite group line up. As long as they literally buy into this fantasy of complete control of these young women, AKB48’s fame hungry stars will do their best to please- even at the price of their own sexual independence.

Up until the scandal, Minami was in the most prestigious sub-group of AKB48, but like her more junior collegues, was expected to conform to a strict code of conduct which stipulates that members are forbidden from dating to project a clean image and signal their devotion to the group and, most importantly, their predominantly male fan base. Her manager says that she has now been demoted to “research student” status.

As long as they literally buy into this fantasy of complete control of these young women, AKB48’s fame hungry stars will do their best to please- even at the price of their own sexual independence.

The video, in which an almost hysterical Minami begs for her fan’s forgiveness, punctuated with deep bows of apology, is distressing to watch. She is presenting herself as the perpetrator of a serious crime, which in reality amounts to no more than being part of an apparently consenting and monogamous adult relationship in a country where female equality is enshrined in the constitution.

Although she has claimed that the symbolic shaving and video were all her own idea, given the draconian nature of the contracts that bind J-pop idols, it seems likely that there were some heavily coercive forces at work.

In Japan, idol fandom is couched in the narrative fantasy that singers are the property of their fans alone, and devoted to their happiness alone. By swiftly reprimanding Minami, her management were not only issuing a strict warning to others not to follow her in transgression, they were desperately trying to repair the bonds of trust with the fans. As she chokes her apologies into the camera lens, it really is as though Minami is trying to win back a horribly wronged lover.

Critic Satoshi Hamano has gone as far as comparing the band with the murderous Aum Shinto cult

As the Japan Times points out, the reality is that pop culture fandom in Japan, pop, anime, and manga, is “institutionally incapable of dealing with independence in young women. It seeks out and fetishizes weaknesses and vulnerabilities and calls it moé, it demands submissiveness, endless tearful displays of gratitude, a lack of confidence, and complete control over their sexual independence.”

In placing its members entirely at the mercy of its judgemental fan base who are encouraged to constantly evaluate and critique the members, deciding who will move up and down the competitive group rankings, the management of AKB48 is entirely complicit in dehumanising its youthful performers into subservient puppets for its largely male fans. Critic Satoshi Hamano has gone as far as comparing the band with the murderous Aum Shinto cult, who plotted the sarin attacks on the Tokyo subway in the nineties. Hwoever in this case, instead of attaching to a guru, geeky fans are devoting themselves to a kitchy pop group made up of socially, politically and economically powerless young girls.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzSREyuS_x0[/youtube]