Japan’s Schoolgirl Pin-Ups| Unreported World

this is yunae and her mom cheers eunes 11 she likes rabbits coloring books and ariana grande tonight she's on her way to a concert and she doesn't need a ticket because she's the star welcome to one of japan's strangest subcultures the junior idols and their fans almost all of whom are middle-aged men [Music] i'm on a night out in tokyo this is akihabara it's amazing to think that this place started out as a place where people brought their broken radios to be repaired now it's turned into this a neon mecca where older idols perform every night what will i do when i go there tea bubble tea and food and dessert and games no games pictures pictures the occupation was amazed okay thank you very much there are sexualized images of school girls on everything from adverts to art japan criminalized the possession of child pornography in 2014 but there are sexual cartoons of children for sale here that we can't show under uk lawn it makes me wonder about the motives of the adults who follow child performers [Music] i've been invited to a singing lesson yoona is getting ready for a concert [Music] konnichiwa [Music] yune was talent spotted aged six by her current manager her mum chia takes her to these lessons twice a week her manager mr karamata knows the music industry well he used to be in a boy band [Music] [Laughter] when did you discover you could sing it i was so impressed by your voice i it's so strong and uh you know you're so little but you've got this big voice so you've been singing for four years you've had loads of concerts tell me what are your dreams in pop music the buddha can where the beatles and taylor swift played may have to wait but in a few days time yoonae will be performing for her fans japan has the second biggest music industry on earth yune and her team want to be part of it their ultimate goal is mainstream stardom but they've chosen to build her profile as a junior idol first [Music] i've been invited to eunes home for a special event our mums asked that we don't reveal where they live she's concerned for eunai security and she knows that as yunae's popularity increases so does the possibility of unwanted attention [Music] konnichiwa how are you nice to see you tonight yoona's about to broadcast live to hundreds of her fans many of them are middle-aged men her mum chia will be keeping a careful eye on them the idols are young girls like eunay and the fans uh old men like me are you comfortable with that what how do you feel about that you can't be a star without fans whoever they are so every wednesday at 7 30 p.m sharp yoone goes online [Music] like hundreds of other wannabe idols she broadcasts live through a web chat service called showroom through the app idols are able to interact with fans and even accept gifts of money eat [Music] this is also a chance for eunai to plug her upcoming concert yay [Music] one of her most loyal fans is a 38 year old man called koji he tells her she's very beautiful okay done how many people watched it and were you happy with the numbers you got [Music] it look being known or being popular having a lot of fans isn't always a great thing because you can't control who follows you um it's just that it's that unpredictable aspect of celebrity i suppose is what i'm thinking about [Music] um [Music] lovely to see you congratulations on a great show see you again soon bye-bye now [Music] i was really struck by how protective eunay's mum is of uni and how carefully she was screening all the messages that came through while yoone was broadcasting at the same time i couldn't help wondering about the men who send those messages and what motivates them to do it what they get out of their relationship with you name [Music] the day of eunay's big concert has arrived [Music] so i'm on my way to uni perform on stage for the very first time and to be honest i really don't know how i'm gonna feel about it i know the audience is gonna be predominantly middle-aged male fans yuna's manager has got her a slot on an all-day show organized by another promoter [Music] there are 12 junior idol acts and upwards of 200 fans almost all are mentioned it's frustrating we can't show you everything we'd like because it's a private event we can only film those fans who are willing to be filmed and that's not many of them uni is about to perform fans going in it's show time yune takes the stage [Music] [Applause] [Applause] is [Music] [Applause] the hall is packed with fans intent on capturing yune in close up [Music] is here too afterwards the men cue to meet their idol and buy trinkets on top of the 30 pounds they paid to attend cds and signed polaroids cost 7 quid a pop [Music] what is it that you love about you name and because of course when i see you know the first assumption maybe it's maybe it's my problem i see an older man looking at an eleven-year-old state i assume that man is having us entertaining a sexual fantasy about the child we know that but it's a little bit difficult to justify but but what is the perception of the scene in japan more broadly this kind of culture is a little bit growing and blooming in japan but still most of the japanese thinks it's not a good culture many japanese things this is something to do with with pornography and yeah yes but what is it really to do with how what would you say to those people ah yes it's a difficult question but we enjoy her performance in a gentleman's way so no pressure no harassment but we support her play and let's say how they are growing up this is koji the 38 year old fan who chatted with yune on the live stream he's followed yune to shows in the philippines and taiwan he pays extra for these photo sessions he's too busy to chat but says he'll meet up with me another time and i have to say being here i do find it really weird there's something strange about seeing these middle-aged men who are basically star struck by these 11 year old girls as the concert winds down i walk with yoone's manager mr karamata to the train station he has a number of different acts on his books but eunay is the only junior idol when our viewers see a scene there's a uni very short shorts dancing on stage and then a load of 50 year old men with big cameras and the viewers will just think well we know what's going on here these men are getting off on seeing this child dancing with i just sit there wishing she had fans who were her own age the thing that made me uncomfortable was the idea that these guys were looking at uni in a looking on her as a lover they were looking on her in a way that was somehow sexual [Music] mr karamata is aware of the way some of the fans come across but he accepts them as a necessary part of building una's career one of the puzzles is what motivates the middle-aged men who follow the junior islands so i'm on my way to meet koji again yunay's loyal fan he's single and lives two hours outside tokyo okay i think we're here after you ah oh thank you we've arranged to talk in a cafe let's take a seat where he shows me some of his favorite pictures when people see middle-aged men cheering for 12 year old girls in the uk they assume it's something sleazy is it the same in japan what do you think it is that draws them to these but do some of them look at these children and feel attracted to them ah [Music] my standing koji seems as troubled as i am by the motivation of some of the fans but he also thinks that some men follow junior idols because they're lonely like koji a growing number of japanese people are single there are 12 million adults under 40 in japan who are not in any kind of relationship [Music] i'm on my way to meet professor masahiro yamada who studied this lonely generation i'm hoping he might be able to explain why so many men are interested in young girls this is the bright lights of hachioji we're going to what's called a maid cafe what do we say when we go in they're places where men pay to be weighted on by young women dressed as french maids what's on sale here isn't sex but [Music] company [Laughter] the professor says it's one of a number of industries that have evolved to satisfy the emotional needs of lonely men i wish i looked like that the professor calls this virtual love he estimates that 25 of japanese people under 40 will never get married does this help us understand why there are young female idols who are being followed by an army of middle-aged male fans [Music] that was a pretty good drawing of my face the professor believes some lonely single men are following junior idols like eleven-year-old eunay to give themselves surrogate daughters it's sunday morning i'm going to see eunay perform one last time she's making a guest appearance at a rather unusual birthday party it's been organized by fans of another idol named aimee who's turning 12. eunay is dressed as a maid for the performance [Music] [Music] is here too he never misses a show [Music] [Applause] [Music] he says the experience of following junior idols has changed his life foreign some of these men may come here for companionship and eunay singing but i'm left with the uncomfortable feeling that for others it's not that innocent it's sexual if i'm right the junior idol industry is playing with fire [Music] gratifying desires that would be criminal if acted upon [Applause] as yune treads her difficult path towards stardom i just hope that those around her will continue to keep her safe [Music] food [Music] thanks for watching click the logo to subscribe for more award-winning documentaries from the unreported world team we upload videos every sunday keeping you up to date with content from all over the world

Channel: Unreported World

Views: 2,627,316

Rating: 4.813211 out of 5

Keywords: Unreported world, unreported world documentary, JuniorIdols, MaidCafes, Tokyo, MarcelTheroux, Japan, Documentary, maid cafes, Akihabara, Showroom, pop star

Id: 0df7k__KEHw

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 09 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Nomandate]

You’d think it’s all just silly kids entertainment... and then you see the crowd is made up entirely of creepy old men... but the real flabbergasting part is that they know this and cater to it specifically.

[u/Significant_Ad_9320]

Surely the parents are to blame. "Mom, can I dress up in provocative clothing and pose in front of lots of creepy old men please."

"Sure hun don't be late for tea."

Wow.

[u/ruddsix]

I did like the fact that the guy who goes to all of her shows was actually simulated a daughter, rather than sexualizing her—it was a huge relief. Also at least the guy who admitted it was sexual was honest I guess?

[u/myusernamewastaken91]

I feel like I'm on a watchlist now

[u/Hunt4Yoshi]

im not clicking that, being on reddit in general might be upsetting my fbi guy, what shithole country is this?

[u/ForerunnerAI10]

Japanese anime does love to sexualize teenagers.