This Is Disgusting/Immoral Conduct

This record company (New Century Records located in Kagoshima) and the people associated have absolutely no morals; they’ve shown no signs of backing down on releasing a CD of the late enka legend Yashiro Aki, which is including “bonus” material of two private Polaroid nude photos of her that were taken while she was in her 20’s by her then live-in partner who was also associated with the record company she used to belong, before it went bankrupt.

Yashiro Aki passed away in December 2023 and was best known for her strong and emotional delivery of enka music, and was a fixture on many music shows as well as appearing annually on NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen. I have very fond memories as a child watching her perform on television music shows (brought to the U.S. by folks who ran Japanese language programming). To see her memory trashed in this way by a company looking to profit off of this, is disgusting behavior.

The president of the record company which acquired the rights to her music catalog and claims ownership of these private photos, says it is “just business”. There is also an extortion element to it when the president said “if you have a problem with it, just buy the rights”. Seriously? This is grotesque/immoral behavior. How about having some ethics and showing some decency/dignity to someones private moments and is no longer around to defend herself from such predatory behavior?

The company that represents her official web site has also decried the move and sent letters via legal channels to the record company demanding the release be cancelled. They plan to take whatever legal action is required (criminal and civil) in order to defend and honor her memory and legacy (a move many including myself are thankful for). New Century Record has remained silent and defiant despite all of the negative backlash. People on social media have been naturally outraged including the governor of Kumamoto where Yashiro came from. Governor Kimura Takashi rightfully called the act as nothing but “revenge porn”.

Despite the record company president mentioning in passing by saying “what laws are being violated?”, hopefully legal criminal law experts will be able to determine if revenge porn laws are in fact being breached by this record company, and bring the full force of the law down on this company. In the mean time, the CD distribution industry in Japan have been taking steps for several weeks now with many companies like Tower Records Japan and Rakuten halting orders.

Attempts by KYT (Kagoshima Yomiuri Television) to contact the record company via phone and physically visiting the building where it is located, was fruitless (the answering machine disconnected and no one responded to the intercom from their office).

Since those photos were taken when she was around 24-25, that would place it in the 1974-75 timeframe (the geinokai was rigidly male dominated at the time). The geinokai (Japanese entertainment business) like the western entertainment industry, has unfortunately had a long history of men in positions of power that have found ways to take advantage of those trying to establish a footing (not saying she was put in that position, but is just commentary on the seedier side of the industry where it does happen). It doesn’t help when some who are trying to get into the business, are also ones who come from dysfunctional families (again, this is not saying this was an issue with her).

The sexual abuse scandal with Johnny’s Entertaiment (which managed many of Japan’s top boy idol groups) was just a tip of the iceberg. The recent Fuji TV sexual harassment/assault scandal with former SMAP (a group also managed by Johnny’s) singer Nakai Masahiro (who was also a personality on several Fuji TV shows), highlights the problematic part of the business that is often times, never reported on (because the victims find it difficult to speak about; often times not helped by a structure that is dismissive of those allegations).

In Yashiro Aki’s case, the fact that Polaroid’s from a supposedly private moment by this former live-in partner (who was associated with that former record company) was sold off this way, meant that this former partner made it available (profiting off of it highlighting the lack of respect these individuals have). While there is obviously no proof that she may have been coerced into taking them, it would not surprise me if that was the case.