The Weight of an Idol, Part 2 October 28, 2010

I’ve finally been able to scrounge up a bit of free time, and although there are a few other things I’ve been wanting to write about (can you say Click you Link me preview?), I really want to finish up this topic as it has been on my mind a bit over the last couple of days.

As you can probably tell from the picture over on the right I’m going to be talking about Junjun this time. While I really do like Junjun, I admit that I don’t follow her quite as closely as some of the other girls in the group, and thus the observations I’m making here might seem a little dated or even obvious to some of you. I apologize in advance if that is the case.

The first time that I can personally remember seeing Junjun make a reference to her weight was in a post on her personal blog from the 26th of July. You can see the original here, and a English translated version by Hello! SG Fans here. In her post she relays how her manager lightly scolded her for ordering a medium pizza. I admit at the time I really didn’t think anything of it. She seems to be including the information about the mail from her manager as a humorous anecdote, especially with the little cutesy animated caricatures that she included with the post. Really, the impact of what she mentions here only really hit me after I read her replies for the Pocket Morning Weekly Q&A for the weeks of 9/05 and 10/03.

To summarize those two events, the question on 9/05 was “Is there anything you would like to ask the other members, but you can’t, and it bothers you?” and Junjun answered, “Why is everyone so slim?”, and the question on 10/03 was “‘No dinner for you today!’ What did you do to deserve this?’ and Junjun answered “Because I got fat again ＞＜.” Ouch. It was actually her response to the question on 10/03 that prompted me to write this series of posts in the first place. I realize that I’m probably losing a bit of the original meaning from the translation process, but wow, she is using some pretty harsh words to describe herself there.

What really bothers me about all this, is just how wrong she is. Junjun is not fat. From what I have seen of her in her time in Morning Musume, she has never been fat. The fact of the matter is that Junjun is just physically larger than the other Morning Musume girls, and as such she really can’t hold herself accountable to be as thin as the other girls are. It simply wouldn’t be healthy for her. For this, though, I have to give her credit. While I have concern over the mental stress that she is under to be thinner, I really am not concerned about her physical health like I am for Risa. While she may wish to be as thin as the other members, thank god that she hasn’t pushed herself physically to do so, or at least to the point where it can become externally visible like Risa has in the past.

Another slight grievance I have is with the girls’ management. From the blog post I referenced above it’s pretty obvious that one of the major influences on making Junjun believe that she is overweight is her management. While I understand their desire to keep the girls fit, as an idol’s physique is one of her greatest assets, the pressure they must be putting on this girl must be completely out of line if they are making her believe that she is overweight. Even if it is just standard practice in the idol industry doesn’t mean that I have to like it.

Oh, and Junjun’s little J.J. chibi character for Muten Musume? Absolutely brilliant. 🙄

Look at her gorge herself with food. That's got to be great for her self-esteem.