<\/p>\n
\n\tBillboard Japan\u2019s Women in Music initiative launched in 2022 to celebrate artists, producers and executives who have made significant contributions to music and inspired other women through their work, in the same spirit as Billboard\u2019s annual Women in Music celebration that has continued since 2007. This interview series featuring female players in the Japanese entertainment industry is one of the highlights of Japan\u2019s WIM project, with the first 30 sessions published as a \u201cBillboard Japan Presents\u201d collection by writer Rio Hirai.<\/p>\n
\n\tAyaka Wada chatted with Hirai for the latest installment of the WIM interview series. The former member of the Hello! Project idol group Angerme currently continues her music career as a solo artist while also actively sharing her thoughts on art and feminism. The 30-year-old elaborated on the discomfort she felt as a member of a popular idol group and on why she is vocal about changing the norms of the industry and society now that she is free to speak her mind.<\/p>\n
\n\tYou began your career as an idol performer when you were 15 years old. How did you end up going down that road?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI auditioned for Hello! Project when I was in fourth grade and started out as a trainee. After five years of training, I made my debut as a member of S\/mileage in 2010. The group later changed its name to Angerme and I also experienced being the leader.<\/p>\n \n\tBefore you actually made it, did you long to become an idol?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tYou know what, I never aspired to become an idol. My dad is a doting parent, and he was like, \u201cMy child is cute so she\u2019ll be accepted anywhere,\u201d and kept sending in applications without asking me. I was shy around new people and bashful, so I was like, \u201cI can\u2019t stand on stage and sing and dance!\u201d and was thinking of quitting when I entered junior high. But as I was thinking how I didn\u2019t want to get in trouble with my parents, I ended up making my debut, and before I knew it, I\u2019d come to a point where I couldn\u2019t turn back. My environment changed after my debut and I had to interact with more people, so that made me more responsible. I felt that as long as there were people paying to see us, we had to make sure we didn\u2019t mess up.<\/p>\n \n\tSo you ended up becoming an idol group member without really intending to. Were you able to fit in with the image of \u201cidols\u201d that people around you expected?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tBeing \u201cidol-like\u201d has a lot in common with the concept of \u201cfemininity.\u201d You have to keep your legs closed and not cross them, you have to keep smiling, you\u2019re discouraged from expressing your own opinions and talking about politics or religion is strictly forbidden. It felt like society\u2019s old-fashioned gender roles were still deeply rooted in the industry and being expected to be idol-like, i.e. feminine, made me feel more and more uncomfortable. So I kept thinking that I had to overcome this somehow or I wouldn\u2019t be able to live as myself as I continued my idol career.<\/p>\n \n\tDid you ever feel uncomfortable with your femininity outside of your work as an idol?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI used to go to Tokyo from my hometown when I had work, but moved there when I entered university. From then on, it felt like I\u2019d been thrown into society, and I became more and more aware of my gender as a woman. I was attending a women\u2019s university and used to wear whatever I liked without worrying about how men saw me, but was often approached on the street at night when wearing pink or floral clothes and it was scary\u2026 I thought, \u201cMaybe this is the wrong way to dress,\u201d and started wearing jeans and T-shirts, and wasn\u2019t approached on the street when I did so. I thought this was connected to the discomfort I felt about femininity. But at the time, I wasn\u2019t able to verbalize that I was being forced to conform to the idea of femininity that people around me had in their minds, and it\u2019s like I\u2019ve always been searching for and researching the true nature of the discomfort I felt in my life and in my idol career.<\/p>\n \n\tHow did you figure out the true nature of the discomfort you were feeling?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI learned about feminism at university. It was a women\u2019s university, so there was a lot of emphasis on women\u2019s education, and there were classes that helped us think about how to build a career that would allow us to become independent. In the French art classes I was taking, I also learned about how artists had been treated according to their gender. The biggest shock I got was when I learned the famous line, \u201cOne is not born, but rather becomes, a woman\u201d from Simone de Beauvoir\u2019s The Second Sex<\/em> in a French literature class and realized that this was the reason of my discomfort. After that, I went to the library and read all kinds of books on feminism.<\/p>\n \n\tYou were a member of Angerme at the time, so you must have been living with a disconnect between that knowledge you were inputting and the required output in your work life.<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tMy feelings and actions were always completely the opposite. While going back and forth between these opposing views, I discovered that idols are social existences rather than individual ones. I tried my best thinking I could change the world of idols too somehow, but it was hard to do by myself. I decided to \u201cgraduate\u201d from the group because I thought that I couldn\u2019t realize what I wanted to do while I still belonged to the company.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat did you do to approach those concerns?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tWhile idols are existences that are produced, each person wants to express something different, so I was hoping we\u2019d be treated as individuals, including during our private lives. Being young, innocent and cute was considered important, and growing up wasn\u2019t a good thing. We couldn\u2019t even grow out our bangs. Under those circumstances, I continued to take a grassroots approach like making leaflets saying, \u201cWhy can\u2019t I express myself as I am?\u201d and handing it out to the staff. I didn\u2019t get any outward response, but there was a staff member who told me secretly that they \u201call passed it around and read it.\u201d That was in 2018 and the concepts of \u201cdiversity\u201d and \u201cgender\u201d weren\u2019t as well known in (Japanese) society as they are now, so my actions may have seemed abrupt. I\u2019m starting to notice changes now. There are more variations in expressions such as hair and makeup and costumes. Labor standards are also being questioned, and I\u2019ve heard that more and more talent agencies are setting up mental health consultation services.<\/p>\n \n\tWhen you decided to go solo, what kind of message did you want to send out to whom?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tPeople belonging to a younger generation than myself. When I was in a group, all my comments about feminism were cut. \u201cI want to consider how women should be,\u201d was the limit. But I want to think about the issues of idols and feminism, and to create a working environment where everyone can have peace of mind. The thing that surprised me the most about making those kinds of comments after going solo was the support I received from my fans. On social media, there are still people who don\u2019t think well of women who speak out, but I know now that I have lots of allies and feel that as long as I have these people I can continue to speak out.<\/p>\n \n\tIt must be reassuring to feel the presence of allies around you. There may be people out there who struggle because they can\u2019t find like-minded communities. What do you think should be done in such cases?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIt\u2019d be best if you could connect with people in real life, but now, \u201cin-person\u201d isn\u2019t your only option. When I was an idol, I didn\u2019t use the word feminism when talking with the other members and felt lonely sometimes, but it helped to look at posts on social media by people who felt the same way as me. So, even if you can\u2019t connect with people in real life, I hope you find another place where you can belong. Books and art can also become places where your mind can belong, and you\u2019ll feel protected. When you come across someone with different views, express your feelings by saying, \u201cI don\u2019t think so\u201d without getting swept away, and that simple comment can protect your mind. In my case, I release the emotions that have built up in my mind by putting them into words as song lyrics.<\/p>\n \n\tHow do you think we can eliminate gender imbalances within the entertainment industry as a whole?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tI want people who are in the public eye, the staff members, and the fans, regardless of gender, to join this conversation. If we can visualize what everyone is thinking, including men as well as women, then I think changes will take place.\u00a0<\/p>\n