Fans can become quite obsessed with the object of their affection – sometimes to dangerous levels. Not many stars are obsessed with their fans.
One niche celebrity in Japan, however, showed a level of devotion to one fan that’s practically unheard of. Her story drew a wave of appreciation – and apprehension – from readers in both Japan and overseas.
The search for a missing otaku
Bunshun Online caused a stir with the following story about 20-year-old Takahashi Nanase (高橋七瀬). Takahashi is a “race queen” or racing idol in Japan – basically, a “pit girl” or model who dresses in sexy clothing and provides a combination of eye candy for fans and moral support for race car drivers. They’re somewhat analogous to “booth girls” at conventions, as they’re associated with a specific racer/team and sponsor.
In an interview with Bunshun, Takahashi relates how she has seven male fans – The Seven Otaku, ages 46 to 68 – who constitute her core fan base. The seven attend all of her events, including photography sessions, and meet as a group without Takahashi to talk about their fave.
The seven are so familiar with Takahashi that one member, a man in his 50s named A, was slated to go on a talk radio program with her recently.
But A never showed up.
“He wasn’t the type of irresponsible person who’d not show up without telling me,” Takahashi told the tabloid.
So she gathered the other six members of the Seven Otaku together and decided to go searching for him. The group was concerned because A had attended a bar event the previous night where, according to Takahashi, he’d “been drinking to the point of hurling.” She feared he might have had a medical episode – or, worse, possibly be dead in his own home.
Based on the postal code associated with the gifts A had bought her from her Amazon Wish List, Takahashi and the others deduced that he lived in a specific area of Kanagawa Prefecture. From there, the team used Google Street View to find a house that had a car that looked like A’s.
A rough night
Takahashi and crew went to the address, where they begged and pleaded with A’s landlord to let them into his place so they could verify that he was safe. It took some convincing, given that none of them were related to A.
However, Takahashi isn’t just any racing idol. According to her agency, Gold Circle, at age 18, she obtained her professional realtor’s license. She currently works as a realtor while attending college. That apparently enabled her to assure the landlord that she’d be respectful of the property and wasn’t there for nefarious reasons.
Once in his place, Takahashi says it was a “garbage dump.” Bugs scrittered out when she opened the door. But A wasn’t there.
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Takahashi says she tried to enter the bathroom…but the door wouldn’t open. Fearing the worst, she forced it open. But it turns out it was just filled with boxes of crap. A was nowhere to be found.
Not finding him at home, the crew turned their attention back to Shinjuku, the scene of the previous night’s event. They went to the police, where they ran into the same issue: cops were unwilling to share personal information about a person who wasn’t family.
But Takahashi pleaded, saying it was a matter of the man’s personal safety. After a few minutes, police went to the back of the station.
They came back with A.
It turns out that A was so drunk he didn’t make it home. Instead, he tried sleeping it off at Shinjuku Station. There, he got into a fight with another drunk person, leading police to arrest him and hold him overnight. Takahashi says he was still wearing her fan shirt when he came out.
Sweet? Or weird?
A was so appreciative (and mortified) by the attention Takahashi gave him that he bought 100 Polaroid pictures (cheki, which are frequently sold as memorabilia) to thank her.
In Japan, it’s common for fans to develop a parasocial attachment to their oshi (推し), or person they support via oshikatsu. In the case of a big-name idol, that relationship is often one-sided. However, one’s oshi can also be a race queen, a hostess at a concept cafe, or a member of an underground idol group. In those cases, it’s not unheard of for fans and oshi to develop closer relationships.
Takahashi isn’t a household name. But with an Instagram following of 145,000, she’s hardly a small-time personality either.
So why did she go to all that trouble to find a fan over twice her age?
“My parents divorced early, and I lived with my mom. I’ve always looked up to older men. I’m also very close with my fans. I love meeting and talking with them.”
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When asked if she was worried that being so close to her fans put her in danger, she replied, “I may have less of a sense of danger than others. But a relationship between fans and their oshi differs from person to person. I want to create my own special type of bond.”
Online reaction to the Bunshun story varied greatly. On noted Japanese influencer Takigawa Gareso’s X account, one person said, “If that were me, I’d support them until the day I died.”
“I want this to be a movie,” wrote another.
On our X account, English-speaking users met the story with a mix of wonder and trepidation. “Bit weird, but it’s nice that she cares so much for her fans instead of just seeing them as moneybags,” one wrote.
“Is this a Yakuza Spin-off but instead of Kairyu, Majima, and Ichiban, it’s an idol?” wrote another.
Others worried for Takahashi’s safety going forward. “She’ll grow out of her naivete,” one wrote. “Hopefully without a harsh lesson attached to it.”
One commenter summed up the general attitude of most otaku towards this story pretty nicely:
“Low key parasocialism on both sides. Good for them.”
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Sources
「このまま見殺しにするんですか！」姿を消した50代のオタクを探して神奈川のアパート、新宿の病院、警察まで走り回った人気レースクイーン（20）を待っていた“衝撃の結末”. Bunshun Online
レースクイーン. Wikipedia JP
高橋七瀬. Gold Circle
