So I find myself pretty much fucking disturbed by the overseas fan reaction I've seen to the recent Toshi (X Japan) stuff. Not at all surprised, though
( Read more... )
Basically, Toshi posted on his Mixi blog this long dramatic thing about how he's leaving Masaya's company and divorcing his wife (she doesn't want a divorce by the way), he didn't receive any money from his music for the past however many years, he and his wife are legally married but his wife was living with Masaya, etc. etc. Of course everyone automatically sides with Toshi, but frankly I'm suspicious since it's so sudden and so... weird.
If you're curious there are actually a bunch of translations and English summaries of the Toshi blog post floating around; I haven't looked at all of them but I think this one is a pretty good loose summary.
That's probably because as much as I question the Toshi situation, I find that Toshi's story at least makes more sense than Sawada's. Which admittedly is not saying much.
Toshi is talking about leaving his management (and its musical projects) and divorcing his wife (who is closely connected to the management) because his management allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from his many musical releases over the course of a decade or so. If true, that's a very significant sum of money.
Sawada was talking about breaking up a band he does not even solely lead and kicking out four of its members (including the other co-leader) because two staff members allegedly embezzled money from D.T.R merchandise he designed. That amounts to sales of tshirts, towels, wristbands, and one CD single that I can't imagine amounted to more than several thousand dollars at most, and I still fail to see how it's normal to try to kick out band members due to the alleged actions of staff members. He also worded it to leave some possibly interesting
( ... )
Well, I'm more than inclined to believe Toshi - not that much because he is an X-Japan member, but because what he says now about the relationship with his wife fits with what I have read and heard many years ago, when I was searching for any information on Toshi. (Back then - and pretty much all the time until he rejoined X-Japan - Kaori was invisible and Toshi pretty much never mentioned her anywhere
( ... )
The rumour about them being separated and Kaori living at Masaya's place instead goes as far as to 2001 or so. I remember reading about it several times on some BBS and even heard it several times later. Many fans actually claimed they are surely divorced and everybody was really surprised when Kaori all of sudden appeared and went active again. Might be just a coincidence, of course.
TL;DR comment herehideincarnateJanuary 19 2010, 13:37:29 UTC
I'll just hop onto this comment thread. I'm going to agree that by Japanese standards, this is basically the way scandals/allegations go. The rumor mill papers caught wind of it first, and I was like "what is this bullshit?" and I had Japanese friends who were already going "I KNEW IT! I KNEW IT! OUR TOSHI IS BACK! WELCOME BACK TOSHI! WOOOOOOO!" No seriously, they used the word that means "welcome home." I was pretty offended by how the Japanese fans were acting based on rumors
( ... )
Re: TL;DR comment herepony_rocksJanuary 19 2010, 17:15:54 UTC
I saw just one vague blog post from Kaori. :/
I think - but that's just my opinion - that Toshi meant all these activities pretty sincerely. As for his ameblog, one can wonder whether he has always had the access to this blog and if all the things were written by him. After all, since Kaori became active and started posting herself, he seemed to blog very little. That's just a speculation, indeed.
This didn't come to me as a surprise me at all, I too read about this whole masaya cult deal several years ago.
Anyways I'm inclined to believe Toshi, everything I've read so far leads me to believe that he was actually in a cult and it's really fucked him up. I grew up in a "cult" so I can sorta relate to what he's going through and if it's all true the best thing he could possibly do right now is blow this up. The only way to destroy something like this is by bringing it to the light and revealing the truth. I hope he has the courage to do that.
As fans I don't think we need to get involved though. And what hollywood said about the Toshi cult is very true it would suck for us all to get manipulated. Lets wait and see how it plays out before we all jump to conclusions.
I find it hilarious though how people are starting to bring Yoshiki into this and trying to turn him into some Hero who pulled toshi out before he offed himself with cyanide punch lol
I find it hilarious though how people are starting to bring Yoshiki into this and trying to turn him into some Hero who pulled toshi out before he offed himself with cyanide punch lol
Not just that, but I have the distinct feeling that the fans who are the most excited about his divorce are anti-hetero, reality-challenged "yaoi" fantards who think this means Toshi is now freed up to go get with his true love Yosheecky. Haha.
Well, what do you think... There's Toshi divorcing and a week or so ago there was a rumour about Yoshiki getting secretly married. Coincidence? Most probably. But the potential! XD
(But the fact is that from what I have read and heard straight from the original source, Yoshiki really did give him a great emotional - and probably even financial - support and Toshi was pretty moved over this.)
Oh I'm certain his friends played a large part in any decision he made but it's no reason to make Yoshiki into some sort of hero like people are doing.
I really don't know what to think of this. I don't remember ever hearing the separation rumor in 2001 that other people have talked about in this entry. I remember hearing rumors about Toshi being a pedo in 2001 when Japan-zone.com was still a mailing list when it came to Japanese entertainment news and rumors. Personally, I always thought Toshi's marriage was more for the publicity, like how it was for movie stars and starlets of the '40s and '50s.
However, if Toshi was actually married to Kaori because he was in love with her, I feel bad for him and I can see why he reacted the way he did. But if the the marriage was a set-up from day one, I think he's just doing this to get people to pay attention to him. Regardless, it was still unprofessional of him/his people to blog about it before making a public announcement or press release of the subject. All of this is doing is giving more information that the rumor mill to work with (especially if the post ends up getting removed).
I saw these rumours only at Japanese boards, sometimes accompanied by a rumour that they were actually a threesome from Toshi got kicked out over a time
( ... )
It probably was child abuse. I remember hearing that version of the rumor about five years ago, but I wasn't for sure what version was closer to the truth. Who ever translated the version I originally heard must have messed up the translation or thought it sounded more dramatic stating it as sexual abuse towards children instead of child abuse.
I didn't know Kaori and Toshi were married before Toshi met Masaya. Even when I was obsessed with X Japan, I never researched anything on Toshi outside the basic facts unlike I did with the other members.
I think they married in early 1997 (after some years of dating; they met while Toshi was doing Hamlet musical, which was in 1993). But I naturally do not know anything more regarding their relationship.
Comments 46
*HUUUUUGGGGGSSSS* Thanks woody for posting that much. I'mma going to open a beer and listen to some music.
Reply
If you're curious there are actually a bunch of translations and English summaries of the Toshi blog post floating around; I haven't looked at all of them but I think this one is a pretty good loose summary.
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Toshi is talking about leaving his management (and its musical projects) and divorcing his wife (who is closely connected to the management) because his management allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from his many musical releases over the course of a decade or so. If true, that's a very significant sum of money.
Sawada was talking about breaking up a band he does not even solely lead and kicking out four of its members (including the other co-leader) because two staff members allegedly embezzled money from D.T.R merchandise he designed. That amounts to sales of tshirts, towels, wristbands, and one CD single that I can't imagine amounted to more than several thousand dollars at most, and I still fail to see how it's normal to try to kick out band members due to the alleged actions of staff members. He also worded it to leave some possibly interesting ( ... )
Reply
Reply
The rumour about them being separated and Kaori living at Masaya's place instead goes as far as to 2001 or so. I remember reading about it several times on some BBS and even heard it several times later. Many fans actually claimed they are surely divorced and everybody was really surprised when Kaori all of sudden appeared and went active again. Might be just a coincidence, of course.
Reply
Reply
I think - but that's just my opinion - that Toshi meant all these activities pretty sincerely. As for his ameblog, one can wonder whether he has always had the access to this blog and if all the things were written by him.
After all, since Kaori became active and started posting herself, he seemed to blog very little.
That's just a speculation, indeed.
Reply
Anyways I'm inclined to believe Toshi, everything I've read so far leads me to believe that he was actually in a cult and it's really fucked him up. I grew up in a "cult" so I can sorta relate to what he's going through and if it's all true the best thing he could possibly do right now is blow this up. The only way to destroy something like this is by bringing it to the light and revealing the truth. I hope he has the courage to do that.
As fans I don't think we need to get involved though. And what hollywood said about the Toshi cult is very true it would suck for us all to get manipulated. Lets wait and see how it plays out before we all jump to conclusions.
I find it hilarious though how people are starting to bring Yoshiki into this and trying to turn him into some Hero who pulled toshi out before he offed himself with cyanide punch lol
Reply
Not just that, but I have the distinct feeling that the fans who are the most excited about his divorce are anti-hetero, reality-challenged "yaoi" fantards who think this means Toshi is now freed up to go get with his true love Yosheecky. Haha.
Reply
(But the fact is that from what I have read and heard straight from the original source, Yoshiki really did give him a great emotional - and probably even financial - support and Toshi was pretty moved over this.)
Reply
Reply
However, if Toshi was actually married to Kaori because he was in love with her, I feel bad for him and I can see why he reacted the way he did. But if the the marriage was a set-up from day one, I think he's just doing this to get people to pay attention to him. Regardless, it was still unprofessional of him/his people to blog about it before making a public announcement or press release of the subject. All of this is doing is giving more information that the rumor mill to work with (especially if the post ends up getting removed).
Reply
Reply
I didn't know Kaori and Toshi were married before Toshi met Masaya. Even when I was obsessed with X Japan, I never researched anything on Toshi outside the basic facts unlike I did with the other members.
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment