[2013.02.04] Kasai Tomomi - 1st Photobook "Tomo no Koto, Suki?"

[WindCaliber]

This kind of makes me feel that all the controversy earlier was all "marketing" and that they are doing this all over again. 
This is what I have to say:

[winner]

A big problem is how unnatural the photo looks. There must be a lot of ways to take a shot of her naked with a kid that looks more natural/warm and pretty.
And they actually went out of their way to plan it. I'm having the same feeling as the Yu Yu Yukirin PB where the pic they chose was a peep shot of her bathing, when there was a hundred others in the PB that I felt was better. Its like Kasai won the horse comp, and some evil Dr Claw is doing all this evil stuff in the background to spite her solo or something.

I was expecting something casual and pretty like Rena's PB. So I'm totally disappointed how these guys are handling it so far. With a girl like Kasai that can easily do pretty, do sexy and do cute... you'd think it would be a dream job to make a PB with her.
Normally people say 'don't judge a book by its cover'. I just hope people won't judge Kasai long-term by these pics.

[YKT]

Young Magazine is delaying the upcoming issue, because the Kasai PB previews have inappropriate content? 
They sure know how to hype a PB, that's for sure.

ヤングマガジン第7号、発売日の遅延のお詫び
1月12日（土）発売予定のヤングマガジン第7号、『河西智美写真集』告知ページにおいて不適切な表現がありました。
誠に申し訳ありませんが、ヤングマガジン第7号の発売を延期いたします。
新しい発売日は決まり次第このホームページにてお知らせいたします。
ご愛読いただいている読者の皆様、ならびに関係各位にお詫びいたします。

株式会社　講談社　ヤングマガジン編集部

http://kc.kodansha.co.jp/magazine/index.php/02888

Confirmed delayed...

"Kodansha postpones the release of “Young Magazine” next issue due to a photo of AKB48’s Kasai Tomomi"

by Shiso on January 10, 2013 at 11:40 pm


On January 11th, Kodansha announced that they postponed the release of their weekly manga magazine “Young Magazine“, which was supposed to be released on the 12th, as there was an inappropriate photo on a page.

According to the announcement, they’ve decided on the postponement since the photo on the advertising article for AKB48 member Kasai Tomomi’s upcoming photo book was “socially unacceptable as it would give unpleasant feelings to its readers.”

The photo that has become a problem was that of a boy covering Kasai’s bare breasts with his hands, and the photo is said to have been planned for use as the cover of the photo book.

Reportedly, they will replace the page that the photo was printed on, and release it on the 21st.

Source: Sanspo

http://www.tokyohive.com/2013/01/kodansha-postpones-the-release-of-young-magazine-next-issue-due-to-a-photo-of-akb48s-kasai-tomomi/

[stv_wong]

I heard Horipro and Aki-p has a meeting regarding the cover to somehow change the PB due to all the hate she received. Stupid marketing strategies 

[jafeijai]

Probably partially due to hate, but partially due to the fact that she's got a freakin' kid covering her breasts in her PB!

http://www.nikkansports.com/entertainment/akb48/news/p-et-tp0-20130112-1070928.html
According to this article, the fact that the kid looks like he's touching her nipples is enough to get the publisher jailed for 5 years under child pornography laws if the PB were to have been released. From a legal point of view, simply touching her breasts (and not nipples) would've been safe, even if her nipples were exposed.

Thus, the PB is currently postponed indefinitely.

Edit: http://law.e-gov.go.jp/htmldata/H11/H11HO052.html The corresponding child porno law is under Article 2 (第二条) Section 3 Item 2.

[Datalanche]

This was such a fucktarded idea for a cover to begin with. Seriously, who thought "we should get a kid for this". Plenty of other safe options if they wanted such a sleazy cover.

I also think this forced sexiness is backfiring.

This, very much. I feel bad for Kasai. They're almost marketing her like an AV girl would be marketed.

[stv_wong]

When I discovered that Tomo-Tomo (and Mai-Mai) is with Horipro, I was so happy, because Horipro is a big agency in entertainment industries, and yet why did they screwed up her career like this 
 Saw this in other forum place...

トークお題
「チームAの中で私が一番だと思うこと」

以下河西のコメント
セクシーかどうかは分からないけど、セクシー要因だと思う

昨日写真集の表紙を発表してお騒がせしてすみません

でもスタッフの人と自分で少しでも面白いものを作ろうと思って考えたもの

写真集の中は普通の可愛らしい写真がつまってるので、是非見てください
以上。




The topic of MC is "Which you think you're the best at among Team A?"
Kasai answered as below:

"It's sexiness.

And I am sorry for causing a fuss due to the PB cover announcement. But I and the staff think that we should try to do something interesting, even just a little.

Inside the PB is filled with normal and cute pics so everyone should have a try."

It was from 2ch and in other forum someone translated it, and apparently people on 2ch said that her eyes were red during team A theater performance.



  It's her first solo project, and yet they destroying it. 

[SomethingWild]

Oh man, somehow it actually fits. Kasai's fate is to never release a PB 

But yeah, they could have done it in so many more better ways:
- Use the promo pic with pink bikini as cover
- Show the hands, without a face --> would create hype because people will speculate whose hands they are
- Meetan covering Kasai's boobs
- Itano covering Kasai's boobs

[winner]

Or have another hot girl do it. or CG another her covering her. But too late for that now.
Hope Chiyuu ain't taking it too badly, its totally the staff's fault. There are a lot of members here that really like Kasai, and hoped she would transition over to solo smoothly because she deserved it. Hope they fix it up soon.

[Masa]

- Itano covering Kasai's boobs

[WindCaliber]

That..is so much win 

Oh man, somehow it actually fits. Kasai's fate is to never release a PB 

But yeah, they could have done it in so many more better ways:
- Use the promo pic with pink bikini as cover
- Show the hands, without a face --> would create hype because people will speculate whose hands they are
- Meetan covering Kasai's boobs
- Itano covering Kasai's boobs

Probably would have been better. I still don't see why they got a kid, though 

[edsonmassao]

I remember I read some time ago that Kasai get offended by some rude fans (?) during a handshake event, maybe due to her "sexyness"...even Sayaka get angry and shout to these fans.  I don't even know if Kasai likes all this sexy image they create for her.

Like I wrote in another forum, I hope Tomomi don't go so far like Nakanishi Rina, after the graduation...

And about the picture with the kid?  It's a mix of jealousy and "wth the producers are thinking?!".

[YKT]

/checks Japanese law: nothing wrong with a man being topless right?

[stv_wong]

- Itano covering Kasai's boobs

If that's the true cover, I'd be jumping with joy 

I remember I read some time ago that Kasai get offended by some rude fans (?) during a handshake event, maybe due to her "sexyness"...even Sayaka get angry and shout to these fans.  I don't even know if Kasai likes all this sexy image they create for her.

Like I wrote in another forum, I hope Tomomi don't go so far like Nakanishi Rina, after the graduation...

And about the picture with the kid?  It's a mix of jealousy and "wth the producers are thinking?!".

Mmm... no, she didn't like it. She even said how the rude comments from fans hurting her feelings and so on on her blog. And people judged her as spoiled because of the 'complains'.

As for the AV, as long she stays with Horipro (even though I'm mad at that agency right now), I guess she won't go to the AV. Horipro is not the agency that manages AV idol. So....

[SomethingWild]

Others have suggested they were going for a Shotacon appeal:



Shotacon refers to a genre of manga and anime wherein pre-pubescent or pubescent male characters are depicted in a suggestive or erotic manner, where the young male character is paired with an older female.

Thus, the PB is currently postponed indefinitely.

Can't they just remove that shoot and simply use the rest of the material... Aw well.

[SomethingWild]

We have just received an update from the distributor.
The release date of the following item(s) has been changed from 2013/01/31 to 2013/02/04.

So... It'll release pretty much as scheduled?

[YKT]

Weekly pulls issue over 'child porn' picture with ex-AKB48 singer

National Jan. 16, 2013

TOKYO —

A Japanese magazine that ran a picture of a child in a provocative pose with a naked pop singer was pulled from stores because it contravened “socially accepted standards,” its publisher said Tuesday.

Around 670,000 copies of the weekly magazine were removed ahead of its planned sale last Saturday because of a storm over the photograph, which showed singer Tomomi Kasai with a young, apparently Caucasian or Eurasian child.

The blond-haired boy is shown reaching from behind to cup the breasts of 21-year-old Kasai, who until last year was a member of highly successful all-girl group AKB48, as she stares into the camera.

The photograph was on an inside page of Young Magazine, one of Japan’s most popular weekly periodicals, and was released as part of a publicity drive for a book of pictures of Kasai produced by the same firm.

Publisher Kodansha pulled the magazine after a storm of negative reaction.

A spokesman told AFP the company accepted there was a problem with the shot, but declined to offer an opinion on whether the image fell foul of Japan’s child pornography laws.

“Whether or not it is child porn, it infringes on socially accepted standards,” he said.

“We want to go back to the basics of ethics in publishing,” he said, adding that the firm plans to re-issue the magazine and the book—entitled “Tomo no koto, suki?” (Do You Like Tomo?)—without the controversial image.

Former prosecutor and Internet crime expert Yochi Ochiai, took to Twitter to declare his opinion that the picture fitted the definition of child pornography under Japanese law.

“If prosecuted by investigative authorities, I believe it is almost certain that this would be recognized as child porn,” he wrote on his blog.

Japan’s huge publishing sector includes magazines and graphic comics containing images that may be considered obscene in other developed countries. It is not uncommon to see people reading such material on commuter trains.

Young Magazine, which has a sizable readership of mostly young men, publishes comic strips on a variety of themes including definitive works such as the science fiction “Akira,” which became a cult movie series.

AKB48 is one of the world’s highest-grossing acts. It comprises a 90-strong pool of girls in their teens and early 20s who are rotated in and out of the public eye, based on their popularity.

Idols who have left the collective have had varying degrees of success, with at least one turning to pornography.

Kasai’s debut single was released in late December.

© 2013 AFP

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/weekly-pulls-issue-over-child-porn-picture-with-ex-akb48-singer

[ratata]

honestly speaking, i don't know how to feel about that particular picture of her boobs being cupped by a boy
as a guy, deep down inside, i am actually rooting for that pic to go public because kasai is hot, like really hot, and a part of me really want to see that
but as a fan i am disappointed...and not because of her pose...but the negative comments and how things have turned out and i do think that a picture of her cupping her own boobs, concealing her nipples would be better
why,, why,, why in the world would there be a boy in that pic????
and the fact that it could be just her management comp doing and she just sort of went along with it...

poor kasai

[YKT]

A photo of a topless Tomomi Kasai being fondled from behind by a young boy could prove to be costly for Kodansha



The publisher embroiled in a scandal over an “inappropriate” photo of a member pop group AKB48 may face a host of problems, reports Yukan Fuji (Jan. 13).

Comic book weekly Shukan Young Magazine, which is published by Kodansha, announced on January 11 that the issue originally scheduled to hit newsstands the following day would be delayed. The problem was the suitability of including an image featuring a topless Tomomi Kasai being fondled from behind by a young boy.
The magazine offered readers an apology on its Web site. “The photo contains an inappropriate expression,” read a statement from the editorial staff.









The photo in question — which utilizes what is referred to as a te-bura (or hand bra) pose — comprises the cover shot for the 21-year-old’s debut photo collection called “Tomo no Koto, Suki?” (Do You Like Tomo?), which is scheduled to be released (also by Kodansha) on February 4. A promotion for the book was what was supposed to appear in Young Magazine.



As a result, one journalist expects Kodansha to suffer a substantial monetary loss. “With a circulation of 650,000 copies, losses in terms of printing, advertising, and subscription fees will be over 300 million yen,” says Masaaki Hiruma.

Publishing in recession-stricken times is already troublesome enough, continues Hiruma. “So manga comics like Young Magazine are cash cows for Kodansha,” the journalist says.






From a legal standpoint, child welfare laws may also pose problems for Kodansha.

Masaru Wakasa, a lawyer and former deputy director of special investigations at the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office, says that under such statutes Kodansha is prohibited from harmfully influencing the mind and body of a child less 18 years of age through obscene acts. “In this case, a juvenile is touching the chest of an adult woman,” says Wakasa. “Kodansha did not judge this to be in violation of the law.”


The article notes that guilty verdicts for violating child welfare laws for obscenities carry a maximum prison term of 10 years and a fine of three million yen.


As to a potential violation related to child pornography laws, Wakasa says that a sex act, or possibly even a suggestion thereof, would have to be depicted. “For example, the touching of genitals,” he says. “But in Tomomi’s case, the photo does not get that extreme.”



According to a person affiliated with Kodansha, the photo project received the standard checks by staff members last year. Yukan Fuji says that the controversial image has also been pulled from inclusion in the book.



An entertainment journalist somewhat understands Kodansha’s intentions, saying that Kasai’s E-cup bust is worthy of emphasis. “It’s a shot that high-school students will find exciting,” says the writer. “However, to use the hands of a boy in order to emphasize her plumpness was a mistake.”



A spokesperson for Kodansha said that law enforcement did not apply any external pressure leading up to the postponement of publication of Young Magazine. Instead, it was simply a very costly decision that had to be made. (A.T.)




Source:  tokyoreporter

http://aramatheydidnt.livejournal.com/4570273.html

[SomethingWild]

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