There are five open secrets about the Japanese entertainment industry: the Yakuza are heavily involved; pedophilia and child abuse exists at Johnny’s; Gravure and music idols have to have sex to advance; idols have plastic surgery; and drugs are rampant.
Ironically, it’s the latter that is the most controversial — and carries the harshest penalties if exposed.
Ai Takabe has become the latest minor celebrity to face a drug scandal. The 27-year-old has been been busted with possessing cocaine that police found during a search (quite why they were conducting a search in the first place is unclear — perhaps she didn’t sleep with the right person).
The model, actress and sometime seiyuu voice actor tried to deny the drugs were hers but a urine test was positive for traces of the drug.
Her agency has canceled her contract, so while her actual sentence will be relatively light, her career is essentially over.
She was named most beautiful woman in Japan in 2004 and then joined an music idol group. She made her debut as an actress in 2006 and as a seiyuu in 2009.
At the age of 21 she appeared on a TV talk show and said she had never dated anyone, nor been kissed. In other words, she was a virgin. This soon attracted lots of otaku fans to her cause. After all, what’s better than a flower that has never been plucked?
She also became notorious for an appearance on a satellite channel adult variety show (the same Yoshimi Tokui TV show that had the “hand job karaoke” contest) where she helped girls unable to orgasm reach climax with the help of a denma massager. Even in such a setting, Takabe maintained her “pure” image and just looked embarrassed by the experience. Perhaps with such hypocrisy, it was only inevitable her downfall would eventually come.
Likely a comeback is off the cards for some time, though there is always AV.
