Junior idol
Encyclopedia
In Japan, a , alternatively or , is primarily defined as a child or early teenager pursuing a career as a photographic model
(this includes both gravure and AV
).
Child actor
s, and J-pop
singers (whose musical genre is often termed idol pop) can also be considered junior idols, and are often featured in photobooks and image DVD
s.
Female fashion models (not to be confused with glamour models including gravure idols) also begin their careers typically at age 13 - 15, but are usually not considered junior idols. Child models
, whose careers are usually over by their early teenage years, are also not usually considered junior idols.
and dates back to the mid-1990s, a period marked by significant increase in the number of child models and works involving individuals in that age range. Eventually, this neologism fell out of use and was replaced by "Junior Idol".
There exists not a clear set of guidelines regarding the age at which an individual becomes a junior idol: Yumi Adachi
, for instance, started her modeling career at age two and many other idols have starred in image DVDs at the ages of three, four and five. It can therefore be postulated even a new-born girl posing for one of the aforementioned products can be considered a junior idol for as long as she performs and is under the age of eighteen.
Within this group there are several subcategories designated by a simple code in the format of U-[N] where U is short for the English word "Under" and [N] represents the maximum age. While U-18 is a clean division, all other divisions can overlap by as much as a year. This is slightly counterintuitive when using the English definition as even a model who has technically passed their fifteenth birthday can potentially still be referred to as "U-15". The primary divisions are divided by years U-18, U-15, and U-12 but there are also more recent partitions designated as U-10, U-6, and U-3 to reflect changes in the marketplace and idol fan communities.
The majority of junior idols belong to specialized talent agencies, some of which offer acting and voice training and are geared towards the production of television commercials, photobooks, and related materials. Though sources indicate revenue is relatively low for photographic models, a number of idols (and their parents) see this activity as a gateway to more mainstream media roles. These transitions are indeed frequent, one example being the case of Saaya Irie
who was cast into the live action adaptation of the popular anime series
Hell Girl and several other television programs.
Content is available in a plethora of formats, usually physical goods such as bond photobooks, CD
s and DVDs, but also digital content in the form of Portable Document Format
books, JPEG
photo sets, high resolution movie clips, etc. To promote a particular idol, or to celebrate the release of a specific title, certain stores hold special events where fans get to meet the idols, shake hands with them, obtain autographs or take photographs, either polaroids or pictures taken with the customers' own cameras, in accordance with the amount of money spent on related goods (either regular DVDs, photobooks, etc., or multiple copies of the same title.)
Concerning the contents of the titles put on sale, these include, in general terms, pictures or footage of the idols trying out a variety of outfits, such as school uniforms, bathing suits, gym clothes, yukata
or even maid, police and anime-inspired costumes
.
Some services providers, such as —a subscription-based website—also feature short radio and movie dramas, available for download and later purchase on DVD.
Given the above adumbrated definition, junior idol materials stand on legally ambiguous ground: it is often difficult to draw the line between art and pornography.
Despite inherent difficulties in effectively enforcing a ban on such materials, on August 25, 2007 the Japanese branch of Amazon.com
removed over 600 junior idol titles on grounds the likelihood these were produced in violation of the Japanese anti-child prostitution and pornography law was high. This incident was then followed by the arrest—on October 16—of 34-year-old chief producer of (a company specialized in idol and pornographic materials, as well as a number of novels and technical texts) and three associates over the production of an "obscene" DVD shot earlier in 2007 in the Indonesian island of Bali
, starring a girl who was seventeen at the time. The prolonged filming of the girl's genitalia was in violation of Japanese law. Following the incident, the release date of several photobooks and DVDs originally slated for publication in November 2007 was postponed and idol events cancelled.
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
(this includes both gravure and AV
AV Idol
An AV idol is a Japanese idol who works in the pornographic business, often both as an actress as well as a model as the video performances have a wide range, from just the idol strolling around their house doing chores in bikinis to hardcore porn...
).
Child actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
s, and J-pop
J-pop
, an abbreviation for Japanese pop, is a musical genre that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1990s. Modern J-pop has its roots in 1960s music, such as The Beatles, and replaced kayōkyoku in the Japanese music scene...
singers (whose musical genre is often termed idol pop) can also be considered junior idols, and are often featured in photobooks and image DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
s.
Female fashion models (not to be confused with glamour models including gravure idols) also begin their careers typically at age 13 - 15, but are usually not considered junior idols. Child models
Child modeling
A child model refers to a child who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art, such as photography, painting and sculpture.-Practice:...
, whose careers are usually over by their early teenage years, are also not usually considered junior idols.
Outline
The coining of the term chidol, literally , is attributed to columnist Akio NakamoriAkio Nakamori
, real name , is a columnist and editor born on January 1, 1960 in Mie Prefecture, Japan. He is credited as popularizing the term "otaku" in its modern colloquial usage. After dropping out of Meiji University's Nakano Junior and Senior High Schools, he graduated from Wako University...
and dates back to the mid-1990s, a period marked by significant increase in the number of child models and works involving individuals in that age range. Eventually, this neologism fell out of use and was replaced by "Junior Idol".
There exists not a clear set of guidelines regarding the age at which an individual becomes a junior idol: Yumi Adachi
Yumi Adachi
Yumi Adachi is a Japanese actress, model and singer. Her artistic surname Adachi corresponds to her mother's maiden name. Yuri Adachi, born in 1957, had been a model and actress in her own right.Yumi was born in Taito, Tokyo, Japan...
, for instance, started her modeling career at age two and many other idols have starred in image DVDs at the ages of three, four and five. It can therefore be postulated even a new-born girl posing for one of the aforementioned products can be considered a junior idol for as long as she performs and is under the age of eighteen.
Within this group there are several subcategories designated by a simple code in the format of U-[N] where U is short for the English word "Under" and [N] represents the maximum age. While U-18 is a clean division, all other divisions can overlap by as much as a year. This is slightly counterintuitive when using the English definition as even a model who has technically passed their fifteenth birthday can potentially still be referred to as "U-15". The primary divisions are divided by years U-18, U-15, and U-12 but there are also more recent partitions designated as U-10, U-6, and U-3 to reflect changes in the marketplace and idol fan communities.
The majority of junior idols belong to specialized talent agencies, some of which offer acting and voice training and are geared towards the production of television commercials, photobooks, and related materials. Though sources indicate revenue is relatively low for photographic models, a number of idols (and their parents) see this activity as a gateway to more mainstream media roles. These transitions are indeed frequent, one example being the case of Saaya Irie
Saaya Irie
is a Japanese actress, voice actress, junior idol and singer. Her stage name is simply her given name, Saaya.She has recently been appearing in numerous films, radio, and television programs including the recent live action TV drama adaptation of the Jigoku Shoujo series. She has also done voice...
who was cast into the live action adaptation of the popular anime series
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
Hell Girl and several other television programs.
Content is available in a plethora of formats, usually physical goods such as bond photobooks, CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
s and DVDs, but also digital content in the form of Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
books, JPEG
JPEG
In computing, JPEG . The degree of compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little perceptible loss in image quality....
photo sets, high resolution movie clips, etc. To promote a particular idol, or to celebrate the release of a specific title, certain stores hold special events where fans get to meet the idols, shake hands with them, obtain autographs or take photographs, either polaroids or pictures taken with the customers' own cameras, in accordance with the amount of money spent on related goods (either regular DVDs, photobooks, etc., or multiple copies of the same title.)
Concerning the contents of the titles put on sale, these include, in general terms, pictures or footage of the idols trying out a variety of outfits, such as school uniforms, bathing suits, gym clothes, yukata
Yukata
A is a Japanese garment, a casual summer kimono usually made of cotton. People wearing yukata are a common sight in Japan at fireworks displays, bon-odori festivals, and other summer events. The yukata is also frequently worn after bathing at traditional Japanese inns...
or even maid, police and anime-inspired costumes
Cosplay
, short for "costume play", is a type of performance art in which participants don costumes and accessories to represent a specific character or idea. Characters are often drawn from popular fiction in Japan, but recent trends have included American cartoons and science fiction...
.
Some services providers, such as —a subscription-based website—also feature short radio and movie dramas, available for download and later purchase on DVD.
Regulation
The Japanese Anti-child prostitution and pornography law enacted in November 1999—and revised in 2004 to criminalize distribution of child pornography over the Internet—defines child pornography as the depiction "in a way that can be recognized visually, such a pose of a child relating to sexual intercourse or an act similar to sexual intercourse with or by the child", of "a pose of a child relating to the act of touching genital organs, etc." or the depiction of "a pose of a child who is naked totally or partially in order to arouse or stimulate the viewer's sexual desire."Given the above adumbrated definition, junior idol materials stand on legally ambiguous ground: it is often difficult to draw the line between art and pornography.
Despite inherent difficulties in effectively enforcing a ban on such materials, on August 25, 2007 the Japanese branch of Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
removed over 600 junior idol titles on grounds the likelihood these were produced in violation of the Japanese anti-child prostitution and pornography law was high. This incident was then followed by the arrest—on October 16—of 34-year-old chief producer of (a company specialized in idol and pornographic materials, as well as a number of novels and technical texts) and three associates over the production of an "obscene" DVD shot earlier in 2007 in the Indonesian island of Bali
Bali
Bali is an Indonesian island located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east...
, starring a girl who was seventeen at the time. The prolonged filming of the girl's genitalia was in violation of Japanese law. Following the incident, the release date of several photobooks and DVDs originally slated for publication in November 2007 was postponed and idol events cancelled.
See also
- Gravure idol
- Child modelingChild modelingA child model refers to a child who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art, such as photography, painting and sculpture.-Practice:...
- Child erotica
- Teen idolTeen idolA teen idol is a celebrity who is widely idolized by teenagers; he or she is often young but not necessarily teenaged. Often teen idols are actors or pop singers, but some sports figures have an appeal to teenagers. Some teen idols began their careers as child actors...
- LoliconLolicon, also romanised as lolikon or rorikon, is a Japanese portmanteau of the phrase "Lolita complex". In Japan, the term describes an attraction to underage girls or an individual with such an attraction...