I talked about cancel culture with a friend and somehow I thought about Japan and what im mostly interested in - Japanese rock/VK.
Is there anyone in the Japanese rock-visual kei scene that ever has been cancelled?
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I could only think of Jun from Golden Bomber with his cheating thing.
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Should Wataru from 12012 counted? iirc he’s been charged with cases of physical abuse back in the day.
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Wait I never heard of that one!
Looks like he hasn’t come back yet
Not visual kei, but in the more mainstream J-rock/alternative the biggest and most recent one I can think of is Cornelius (Keigo Oyamada). Some old interviews were uncovered where he jokingly reminisced about bullying some kids with disabilities back in his school days. Because of the scandal he had to resign from the 2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony committee, and the then-upcoming album of METAFIVE (the supergroup he was part of at the time) was indefinitely cancelled/postponed (the album was then released in limited quantities via alternate methods and then a year later in regular stores). I don’t know if he’s had any recent activities after that.
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He IS back. Stayed absent for an year or so but did return in time for their latest album and he’s now touring with the band again.
Answering the topic: Dunno about the rest of pop culture in Japan in general, but cancel culture doesn’t seem to be as relevant in Japan when it comes to VK as it is in the West. In most cases folks seem to be fine with the cancelled dudes saying they’re sorry. Most recent example I can think of is MERRY’s black face controversy. But if we start digging deeper with the intent of cancelling people VK is a hotspot for controversy. I mean:
and that’s just the tip of the iceberg from a quick Google search…
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What about that Kisaki fellow?
A link to the old thread for reference: Kisaki Drama 2k18 - Rumors - Monochrome Heaven
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Cancelled by japanese fans, or cancelled by western twitter? Because I can think of a few, like Ai from gulu gulu and that ojisan band who did ““blackface””"
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OMG NO YOU DIDN’T
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I guess Sakura…at least for the time between L’Arc-en-Ciel and Zigzo? Is weird how over there seems musicians and similars get “heavily” more cancelled over drugs than over more serious issues (or at least thats how it looks from the outside).
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Lynn/Lin from abstracts, who is here probably more known as a “short time” member of Nocturnal Bloodlust who left the band a month after he got got arrested on suspicions of violating the Cannabis Control Law.
Dude changed scenes afterwards
Your western sensibilities of things and artists being problematic and cancelable have no meaning in a country like Japan where everything is homogenous, but also where people can do damn near anything and if they apologize get away with it. Ai has a new band, Cornelius is performing in what may be the most woke country in the world right now in Australia, KISAKI is celebrating his 30th, etc. You’re more likely for a politician to be ruined/cancelled in Japan than any musician or entertainer.
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unless you count as “fired by the management and told to never come back”/“mysteriously fell from the roof to death during PV shooting” as cancel culture, no.
there’re probably a bunch of former bandmen who got cancelled for getting fat though.
I can think of fair amount of stan drama old and new, but unless other scene ppl were involved, or management stepped in and forced people out, worse case scenario would be tanuki gya mailing someone a bag of coal for the NY party along with another ÂĄbillion cheque for inconvenience.
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Yo, ive heard that same story about THE PIASS, and was never really clear on the specifics. Got any?
Does Kisaki count??
Did Kiseki get cancelled?
If the allegations are true, not only should he be cancelled, he should be in prison for life.
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Cancel culture does not exist in Japan thankfully and I have rarely met a vkei musician or Japanese fans who gives a shit what the foreign fans think esp. stuff not related to the music, so no.
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It exists for sure but not as toxic as western/korean. I am in Japan currently and especially comedians get cancelled quite often.
Especially cheating is one thing that will cancel you hard in Japan.
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