People have sex. It's a natural and normal part of being a human being. Famous folks have sex, too. (They also take craps and put on pants one leg at a time). In Japan, even pure idols snog and screw. Mind blowing, isn't it?
The most recent issue of tabloid Bubka purports to have indecent photos of voice actress Aya Hirano, wait for it, kissing a man. In what looks to be in bed. And she might be naked, but it's hard to tell, because the photos are only headshots.
Hirano is best known for voicing the title character in anime The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, as well as games like Dissidia 012: Final Fantasy and most recently Yakuza: Of the End. She's one of the first voice actresses to make the leap from otaku fan favorite to the mainstream, appearing on variety programs and in commercials.
There hasn't been confirmation that the photos are of Hirano. Her typically chattery Twitter feed has gone silent, and her talent agency hasn't commented yet. (Kotaku is following up.)
Bubka won't say explicitly that the photos are of Hirano. Instead the magazine writes that the "nyan nyan" (screwing) photos could be of "National idol HiraXX Aya".
Japanese web forum 2ch imploded over the photos. Some netizens said the pics were fake.. But internet sleuths got to work and were able to match Hirano's teeth and mole to the woman in the photos.
Bubka blurred out the man's face.
Earlier this summer, Hirano was the victim of death threats. Last summer, she caused an uproar when the 23-year-old talked about previous boyfriends, even going as far as saying she liked older men and discussed being cheated on.
It isn't easy being an idol. In the past, music idols have been dismissed from groups after sticker pictures with boys leaked online or to the tabloids.
In Japan, idols like Hirano are supposed to be just that, idols. They are placed on pedestals and worshipped by fans. They might appear in provocative swimsuits or suggestive photos, but many of them are not permitted to publicly date. It's akin to Beatlemania in the early 1960s when John Lennon hid that he was married. Trifles like relationships, getting dumped, are all too humanizing. It's the private and the public worlds crashing together, and in many ways, the Japanese entertainment business is old fashioned.
Idols might be worshipped by fans, but that doesn't mean they should be suffocated.
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You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at bashcraft@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.