Unseen Japan Kaiwa: Idol Matters – The Yamaguchi Maho Incident, and Life as a Woman in Modern Japan

Jay and Misaki
English language and American lifestyle YouTuber Misaki joins Unseen Japan to discuss the Yamaguchi Maho idol incident, how idol culture creates pressure for regular Japanese women, and why Misaki can't seem to spell "Yamaguchi Maho".

Want more UJ? Get our FREE newsletter 

Need a preview? See our archives

Recently, we wrote about the startling incident involving Yamaguchi Maho, a member of the idol group NGT48 in Japan. Despite being attacked and nearly raped in her home, Yamaguchi’s assailants were let go by police. When Yamaguchi then took her case to her fans on the Internet, her group’s management company, AKS, forced her to apologize on stage to the group’s fans for “causing trouble”. The incident provoked a fierce backlash both in Japan as well as abroad.

In this first episode of the Unseen Japan Kaiwa YouTube channel, I sat down with English language YouTuber Misaki to get her thoughts on the incident as a Japanese woman. Misaki and I discussed the incident itself, how idol culture creates pressure for women in Japan, and the strict standards of beauty set by Japanese culture. (Note: Video is English/Japanese with English subtitles.)

Unseen Japan Kaiwa: Idol Matters – The Yamaguchi Maho Incident and Being a Woman in Japan

English language and American lifestyle YouTuber Misaki joins Unseen Japan to discuss the Yamaguchi Maho idol incident, how idols create pressure for regular Japanese women, and why Misaki can’t seem to get Yamaguchi Maho’s name right… Full background on the Yamaguchi Maho story available here: https://unseenjapan.com/yamaguchi-maho-idol-assault.html

If you like what we’re doing with Unseen Japan Kaiwa, please follow us on YouTube!

Misaki is a native of Kagoshima in Japan. She currently lives near Seattle, WA, where she works as a dental hygienist. Misaki maintains her own YouTube channel where she teaches English to Japanese speakers, and shares tips and tricks for getting by in America.

Want more UJ? Get our FREE newsletter 

Need a preview? See our archives

Japan in Translation

Subscribe to our free newsletter for a weekly digest of our best work across platforms (Web, Twitter, YouTube). Your support helps us spread the word about the Japan you don’t learn about in anime.

Want a preview? Read our archives

You’ll get one to two emails from us weekly. For more details, see our privacy policy