So since the Zaiki thing happened, I’ve been thinking about putting my thoughts together and see what we can learn from this whole thing.
Of course, by the time you see this post. The controversy might have yet ended. Gossip like this travel far and are very hard to erase from social media and people’s minds. When these things happen, fans from outside of Japan very often feel powerless and angry and for good reasons. There is no reasonable reason to accept that this is just how things are in Japan and therefore we should just lay back and watch it burn. Of course we should speak up and give the actors whatever support we can offer. When we do that, there are a few things I think that are worth remembering.
Understand where this is coming from. We’ve heard about the love ban and its unspoken damage to artists. But there is also the case of production companies marketing actors as lovers that further indulges the fantasy of having a personal relationship with them (as Zaiki’s agency did). And on top of that, 2.5D actors bear much more responsibility to maintain an image that is appropriate for their characters and their target audience than non-2.5D actors. For example, if an actor who once played Hamlet was involved in a scandal, people would not think the role of Hamlet or Shakespeare was somehow tainted. But the image of 2.5D actors tend to be more intimately tied to their characters, that’s why people felt that Zaiki’s private photos ruined his characters and the series he was in. You don’t have to find this at all reasonable. I don’t. But it’s important to understand the context and why the Japanese fandom accepts such rhetoric as normal even if many of them also don’t agree.
Refrain from engaging the antis. Zaiki’s most fierce attackers were anon Twitter accounts set up specifically to target him and his supporters. They picked on those who tweeted him support and flooded Toumyu official twitter & website calling for a recast. Send Zaiki support, yes. But try not to interact with the haters, even if you speak fluent Japanese, this is to protect yourself both from verbal abuse as well as potential hacking attempts.
Check your sources. Ongoing controversies often involve a lot of false information, assumptions and just info lost in the process of going from one person to another. Always double-check where the information is coming from. Trustworthy sources include:
Official social media account/website of the actor
Official social media account/website of agencies/production companies/shows
Established news outlets (which often just quote verbatim from the above 2 sources)
Trusted eye-witness accounts (this is tricky but usually for fan events this is the only source you can have)
Be very careful when you take in info from Facebook and instagram(an instagram account rumored to have belonged to Zaiki surfaced that intensified the controversy but was quickly revealed as fake). If the actor said they are not on certain social media sites, whoever claimed to be them are frauds. Sometimes rumors are spread unintentionally in the midst of panic and confusion, so always remember to check the first source of information. Unless you see it with your own eyes, don’t easily buy into what people tell you even if they meant well.
Don’t victim-blame. Nobody wants their private lives exposed to the world and it’s not their fault when there were criminals involved in the leaking of their personal information. This is not a time to be disappointed at them for they didn’t do anything wrong. Instead of questioning their sincerity to their fans and career, question why you are even mad that someone you don’t know personally is in a relationship.
Don’t further spread the gossip. You can ask around for context if you are just introduced to the matter, but please don’t ask for the photos. They were never meant for your eyes. Have some common sense as well as decency. Don’t search for them. Don’t save them and spread around. Don’t photoshop them. Those photos were not meant for public consumption, please make sure they stay that way. For reference on what to do and NOT do, you may check the Yoshimoto Kouki/Sadachi Momoko photo incident from a while ago and how inappropriate fandom behavior hurts even lesser known actors.
Know that this is not normal. In a healthy society, people regardless of occupation should not be bullied and threatened for living like a normal person. Knowing that certain fan mentality and idol culture exist does not mean condoning abusive behavior. Do not play along with the antis just because they are loud and are seemingly in the majority. They are not. They just tried really aggressively to drive supporters away and into locked accounts. Know that they are in the wrong. If what the actor did was nothing to apologize for, they shouldn’t apologize and they didn’t have to beg for forgiveness. Don’t be an enabler.
Do something, and most importantly, BUY something. Don’t be a bystander and take action. Sending supportive messages in the time of crisis is a good way to unite the fandom and bring the artists comfort, but this cannot be a permanent fix. The most effective way to support any artist is through purchasing their merchandise. Your financial investment is your voice. The Japanese fandom can berate you as “foreigners who never spent any money” but you know that’s not true. The amount you spent does not equal to your control over the actors, but not spending any money on their hard work also undermines your proclaimed “love” for them. Spending money doesn’t necessarily win you any arguments, but not spending any will guarantee your loss.
Unfortunately changes cannot come overnight. Zaiki was not the first and he will not be the last to fall victim in this kind of leaks. The only question is who, when and for what stupid reason. This by no means is a comprehensive list of the actions necessary to fundamentally change the toxic culture around them. But please never see this as normal and always call out abusive behavior even if you are not a diehard fan.
And to reiterate, your money is your voice. Attend a live-viewing/fan meeting/2.5D performance near you whenever it is possible. Buy official merchandise and DVDs. Do not take anything we enjoy right now for granted. There are a lot of factors we cannot control, but our purchasing power is not one of them. While some of you are enjoying illegal downloads and wondering when free subtitles can fall from the sky, there are people who think they own an actor’s life just because they paid his fanclub fees. There has to be a middle-ground here that leads to a healthy fan-actor relationship. Mere talk is never enough. Take action.
