Does Japan Only Punish Female Celebrities for Affairs?

In the United States, a celebrity affair is often merely grist for the tabloids. In Japan, however, it can grind a celeb’s career to a halt.

No one’s finding that out harder right now than Hirosue Ryoko (広末涼子). Hirosue is facing the loss of job after job and enduring damage to her reputation. But does her “crime” have more to do with her gender?

Losing job after job

In brief: Hirosue, 42, is an actress who made her debut appearance at age 14. Since then, she’s appeared in a large number of TV dramas and movies. Her credits include 2010’s Ryomaden, about legendary historical figure Sakamoto Ryoma; and Himitsu, an adaptation of the eerie Higashino Keigo novel.

Hirosue is known for the “motherly” feel she brings to her roles. The Japan Mother’s Association even awarded her their Best Mother Award just last year.

But all hell broke loose for Hirosue last week when Bunshun Online reported that she was having an affair with famous chef Toba Shusaku (鳥羽周作). At first, both denied it. But after Bunshun published a letter from Hirosue to Toba, they had little choice but to confess.

There are two things celebrities can never do (or, at least, be caught doing) in Japan. One is drugs. (Ask Pierre Taki.) The other is cheating on your spouse. And the only thing worse than cheating on your spouse 不倫; furin, affair) is the dreaded double-cheating (ダブル不倫; daburu furin), which occurs when both cheaters are married. Which Hirosue and Toba both are.

The fallout has been swift and brutal. Multiple companies have canceled their contracts with Hirosue. The ensuing contract cancellation penalties, says one publication, might cost her well over a hundred million yen (roughly USD $705K).

Hirosue’s agency has announced they’ve placed her on indefinite suspension. That leaves her out of work for the foreseeable future.

You don’t want the “Best Mother Award”

Amidst the media circus, one finds the usual calls for bloodletting. Ariyoshi Hiroiki, a ubiquitous presence on Japan’s variety talk show circuit, demanded on his radio show that the Mother’s Association revoke Hirosue’s Best Mother Award.

Which is kind of ironic, actually. As one site points out, if you search for ベストマザー賞 on Google, one of the top autocomplete options is ベストマザー賞呪い – i.e., Best Mother’s Award Curse.

A tweet by Twitter user @F1xBaX0E8B8hLOD lays out the curse in stunning detail. 2021’s winner, former AKB48 talent Shinoda Mariko, had an affair. The 2019 winner, actress Kichise Michiko, is now divorced. 2017’s Goto Maki? Affair. 2014’s Ogura Yuko? Divorced.

And so on and so on, down to 2008’s Kuroki Hitomi. Who did not, in fact, have an affair or get divorced. However, her daughter was the ringleader of a group of middle school bullies. Not exactly a heartwarming, Parent of the Year-type story.

No word from the Mother’s Association on whether they’ll respond to Ariyoshi’s demand. But honestly, the award seems to be hewing to its historical average quite nicely.

The Becky-ization of Hirosue Ryoko?

However, not everyone agrees with the public defenestration of Hirosue and her career. A few celebrity commentators are attempting to push back against the noise machine.

One of them is quiz champion and YouTuber Izawa Takushi (伊沢拓司). Izawa’s criticism, however, was limited to the major media, whom he accused of wasting the public’s time with frivolous news that should remain in the gossip rags.

Comedian Muramoto Daisuke of the comedy duo WOMAN RUSH HOUR, however, had harsher words for society at large. Muramoto compared the hysteria – unfavorably – to the treatment of another Japanese talent: Becky.

In January 2016, Bunshun (yes, again) claimed that the single Becky, the daughter of a Japanese mother and Japanese-British father, was having an affair with married musician Kawatani Enon of the rock group Gesu no Kiwame Otome (ゲスの極み乙女). The press and public pilloried Becky and her work ground to a halt.

On the positive side, her career did recover. She resumed partial activity in March, returning fully to work later that year in July.

By contrast, however, Kawatani suffered virtually no repercussions. He kept making music as usual and continues to do so to this day.

“…the man kept making music, the woman was confined to quarters,” Muramoto posted to his Twitter account. “Here, too, the guy’s saying ‘All I can do is cook so I’m gonna keep cooking’, while the woman is under indefinite suspension. The woman should be able to work too. The entertainment world is blatantly chauvinistic.”

…Or is it the advertisers?

But things may not be that black or white. As one commenter who responded to Muramoto noted, Becky and Hirosue work under a different business model than their paramours.

Kawatani and Toba’s jobs aren’t dependent on maintaining any sort of squeaky-clean image. By contrast, Becky and Hirosue both make a lot of their money, not from acting or TV appearances, but from ads. And companies in Japan are very picky about the face of their products.

In a 2020 article for Toyo Keizai, Nakagawa Junichiro breaks down the economics of the business. Advertisers place a huge value on celebrity representation. As a result, compensation is significantly higher for advertising work than celebs generally receive from drama or variety program appearances. Some celebs can command up to 100 million yen (USD $700K) for a single ad appearance or campaign. (For early-career newbies, it’s closer to 10 million.)

In other words, outside of making the jump to Hollywood, commercials are the most lucrative opportunities most actors in Japanese will ever land.

Commercials are also huge business for the agencies that manage actors – and they defend that business viciously. Nakagawa says that once, when he published an article saying an actress was dating a sports player, her agency called him in and demanded that he apologize immediately.

Nakagawa says his reporting was solid and he didn’t back down. But that didn’t stop the agency’s CEO from screaming at him. They’d just signed a commercial contract for her – and he was terrified this “revelation” would torpedo it.

The power of money

In Nakagawa’s case, he wasn’t even reporting on an affair. The actress was just dating someone. But advertisers were using her to sell an image of “purity”. Apparently, that image was incompatible with having a life and seeking happiness.

Advertisers are so worried about any change to a talent’s image that they get skittish even when a previously unmarried talent weds. Many now include clauses in their contracts that allow termination for any “status change” – including revelations of an affair.

Actresses and female talent aren’t the only ones who’ve felt the bite when they break this taboo. In 2020, when news broke of actor Higashide Masahiro’s affair, four separate sponsors wiped his image from their websites practically overnight.

Pierre Taki is another good example. His crime – drug use – was at least an actual crime. But like Hirosue, advertisers stripped his products and likeness from shelves and ads with lightning speed.

We can’t discount that misogyny may play a role in the general reaction to Hirosue Ryoko. But her career troubles are more about her line of work. For better or worse, when it comes to the reputation of their products, Japanese companies mean business.

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Sources

“ベストマザー賞”広末涼子がミシュラン1つ星シェフとW不倫　美脚ショートパンツで”お店デート”の後に…. Bunshun Online

広末涼子さん　不倫認める「私自身の家族、3人のこどもたちには、膝をつき合わせ直接『ごめんなさい』をしました」スタッフのインスタで謝罪　「鳥羽様との関係は記事のとおりです. TBS News Dig

芸能界引退危機の広末涼子、オファーをゴッソリ奪うあの意外な俳優. Nikkan Cyzo

有吉弘行　広末涼子〝Ｗ不倫〟でベストマザー賞廃止を主張「篠田麻里子さんもそういうことに…」. Tokyo Sports

「ベッキーの没落は、芸能界の女性差別を反映している」英紙ガーディアンが批判. Huffington Post JP

Tweet by @F1xBaX0E8B8hLOD. Twitter

伊沢拓司、広末涼子の不倫報道でテレビ批判「フェアじゃない」「大手が取り上げる意味ない」. Nikkan Sports

ウーマン村本　W不倫認めた広末涼子と鳥羽シェフ、処分“差”に私見「女だって仕事を…男尊女卑」. Sponichi Annex

｢不倫した芸能人｣がCM業界から追放される理由. Toyo Keizai