＜prologue＞
I started a blog called “The Baby Boomer Generation’s Miscellaneous Blog”（Dankai-sedai no garakutatyou:団塊世代の我楽多（がらくた）帳） in July 2018, about a year before I fully retired. More than six years have passed since then, and the number of articles has increased considerably.
So, in order to make them accessible to people who don’t understand Japanese, I decided to translate my past articles into English and publish them.
It may sound a bit exaggerated, but I would like to make this my life’s work.
It should be noted that haiku and waka （Japanese short fixed form poems） are quite difficult to translate into English, so some parts are written in Japanese.
If you are interested in haiku or waka and would like to know more, please read introductory or specialized books on haiku or waka written in English.
I also write many articles about the Japanese language. I would be happy if these inspire more people to want to learn Japanese.
my blog’s URL:https://skawa68.com/
my X’s URL:団塊世代の我楽多帳（@historia49）さん / X
I have long been concerned that when an actor is arrested for some crime, DVDs featuring that actor may be cancelled or postponed, or a movie may be postponed.
It seems that the reason is “out of concern for the feelings of the victims.” What about the rights of those who want to see that DVD or film as a work of art? Also, what will happen to the interests and rights of the director, co-stars, staff, production committee, and other interested parties of that DVD or film?
It may be good for those who are in a position to demand compensation from the suspect, but will everyone else be forced to just put up with it?
The suspect, Hirofumi Arai, was arrested and indicted in February 2019, and had appeared in nearly 130 films before his arrest.
NHK On Demand has suspended distribution of 10 films in which he appeared, including “Sanadamaru” and “Totto Terebi,” and WOWOW has taken similar measures with “Hitorishizuka” and others.
For the film “Typhoon Family,” which was scheduled to be released in June 2019, distributor Kino Films has announced the postponement of its release. For the film “Zen-aku no Kuzu”, also scheduled for release in 2019, the distributor Nikkatsu has announced the cancellation of the release.
As for the Blu-ray DVD of the movie “SUNNY: Strong Feelings, Strong Love,” which was scheduled for release on February 27, the release has been postponed, but it will be released on May 22.
In addition, the guest starring role in the 2018 TV drama “Today I Am!” episode 9, was reshot with Kyosuke Yabe as the understudy, and the footage will be replaced in the DVD and Hulu-distributed versions.
However, when there is a scandal involving a celebrity who appears in a film or DVD, the film or DVD is forced to be “sealed” (or voluntarily restricted?), such as by canceling its release. Is this not an excessive “overreaction” by any stretch of the imagination?
１．Opinions on the Internet
Those in favor of the “sealing” of the film said, “It is only natural to postpone or cancel the sale of the film. No matter how good the movie is, I don’t want to see a movie with people who commit sexual crimes in it. I don’t think it should be released. The feelings of the women victims should be given top priority…” and so on.
On the other hand, those opposed to “sealing” include: “Short-sighted thinking that only covers the stinky stuff,” “Don’t you have the attitude that the work is irrelevant?” There is no problem with DVDs because people who want to buy them can just buy them and watch them at home. It is not a good idea to refrain from anything.
I agree with the latter opinion.
２．Company situation of the seller/distributor
(1) The fact that the company is using a suspect in such an incident may lead to the company being held socially and ethically responsible, so the company is quickly taking “voluntary restraint measures” to deal with the situation.
(2) With the recent increase in “compliance awareness,” companies are becoming very sensitive to “reputation risk” (the risk of suffering losses due to a decline in the company’s credibility and brand value caused by the spread of negative evaluations and reputations about the company), and are extremely reluctant to be associated with a person who has committed a scandal or incident.
(3) In cases where there is a victim, the main reason is to “consider the feelings of the victim and reduce the opportunity for the perpetrator to be exposed to the public.
(4) “Complaint measures” or “risk avoidance measures” by TV stations and film companies
By the way, other than performers, filmmakers and others can be scandalized or arrested, what happens in such cases?
３．Survey results by Yahoo
The results of a Yahoo!News opinion poll titled “What do you think about a work being shelved due to a scandal involving one of its actors?” (total votes: 122,290, male/female ratio: 77.1%:22.9%) showed that 30.7% answered “It’s unavoidable,” 62.7% answered “It should be released,” and 6.6% answered “I don’t know/can’t say either way.”
４．Ripples from the Release of Michael Jackson’s “Child Abuse Accusation Film
Michael Jackson (1958-2009) is known as the “King of Pop” and one of the “most successful artists in the world in history. Despite this glory, he has long been rumored to be a child molester and has been on trial.
In 2005, he was found “not guilty” of all charges. However, the two victims who had testified that there was no child abuse, which was a strong basis for their “not guilty” verdicts, now, 10 years after his death, testified in an accusatory film that there had been child abuse. It is as if the spotlight has been shone on the dark side.
This child abuse indictment film, “Leaving Neverland,” is a four-hour documentary. This has been broadcast in the U.K. and the U.S., and there is a lot of interest in whether or not his songs will be “banned” from the airwaves.
That view came about because BBC radio2, the most popular radio station in the UK, stopped playing his music after the film was broadcast.
The BBC responded, “There is no fact that we have withdrawn Michael Jackson’s songs from our playlist. We just don’t have any of his songs on our new playlist.” ”We are not banning Michael Jackson from the airwaves. Like any other artist, we select music for our listeners and content.
Michael Jackson said, “Lies run sprints, but The truth runs marathons.” (Lies are told in a flash, but the truth takes time to get out.
In view of this documentary program accusing Michael Jackson of child abuse, it is doubtful that his words indicate that he regrets his child abuse.