Yuzuru Hanyu announces divorce

[icewhite]

In a way I cannot really understand why you wouldn't just post a name and a photo, say "here, that's my wife and me", and ignore paparazzi on the door, ignore when they make up stuff. It's what I would do. I would also contemplate moving to another country. I would be very annoyed and angry but I wouldn't end the relationship to the person I love.

But I know that Japanese culture is different and I am aware that this whole fan culture, in which I don't want to include the normal hardcore fans, but those Hanyu fans that really are crazy - and there are some - seems very similar or even connected to the k-pop/japanese idol culture and it is scary - I wouldn't so much differentiate between media and fans in that case, because from what I can see it's a complex system with complex ties and relations. -
I already found it very weird that Shoma Uno and Marin Honda kept their long term relationship secret and only went public due to basically getting forced to do so. -
There are obviously things I simply cannot fully imagine and that go beyond someone standing in front of your door and wanting to take pictures as you shop groceries.
In addition the culture to keep private things private is definitely much stronger in Japan than here, as is the fear of public shame for things people in Europe would never feel ashamed about.

How anyone can blame Hanyu for not stopping these people I don't know. He had no social media, he never talked about his private life or did home stories as far as I know, and now that he has some social media, as far as I'm aware it's basically training and work videos. How can you stop people from fantasizing about you, from making you your over the top idol, etc.? (Without these kind of fans the tabloids would not be that interested, even if they are not bought by them they bring interest among others with them, that's just the way it goes.) It's not possible. He could have said goodbye, that's it, I'm not doing any public performances anymore - but how can you demand that from someone just in order to not get crazy attention?
There are lots of people complaining about paparazzi and such with whom I don't have much sympathy. Some royals come to mind. If you don't want that, fine, maybe stop constantly doing your dirty laundry in the public eye yourself, stop making money by selling your private life stories etc. But Hanyu - really all I ever saw from him publically was absolutely non-private stuff. Public appearances, yes, but only in regards to more or less figure skating.

One major aspect I see here is that he himself says he's inexperienced, and it's what I would expect: If you are not used to this, you have not yet found a way to deal with it, a young couple might have different views on how to handle these things best, and they might simply be under a lot of emotional stress and not deal with it in the most rational way like an outsider would do.

I feel for the wife more than for Hanyu himself, actually. It looks like she really only wanted a private love story and never be in the public eye at all in any way.

 

[TallyT]

um I was just trying to be nice and show appreciation for your reply (even if I disagree), sis


I have to say this constant victim mentality from Hanyu fans is getting a little exhausting.

regardless, I am sorry he was forced to divorce after three months due to the Japanese tabloids. it's shameful.

What victim mentality? You deliberately called it 'sus', in essence saying he is lying about it (why he would, heaven only knows.) People have defended some skaters who said ugly things, skaters who have done pretty dubious things and beloveds of all nations who have badly blotted copybooks (and in some cases the defence had to hastily retract when the details came to light). Thing is, Yuzuru is not by any means the only Japanese person whose private life has been dragged like this, he's not even the only figure skater (see @rabidline's comment, and yes there have been rumours about others with lower profiles than Yuzu and Shoma).

 

[TallyT]

Without these kind of fans the tabloids would not be that interested, even if they are not bought by them they bring interest among others with them, that's just the way it goes.

I don't deny he has a lunatic fringe of fans - they all do, and my suspicion it's about the same percentage of the fan base for most of the popular ones. But the tabloids wouldn't be after someone just for their fan base who are boycotting anyway.

It's the public as well, and probably quite innocently and with all good intentions: all over east Asia (and hell, I saw news items from India - India! - and France among others all over the world) about both the marriage and this. Even I as a fan didn't realise just how entrenched the general fascination with this wildly successful, photogenic, enigmatic young man and his story was, I get surprised all the time. The public go to shrines and pray for him. The public plant rice paddies to grow pictures of him, and attend photo and costumes exhibitions - even his costume for an ad! - at art galleries and major department stories. They have cultural displays and local specialities on sale at his shows. They have decorations at major festivals in the colours of his costumes. They buy out print newspapers and glossy magazines, and then watch news on TV about the newspapers and glossy magazines. They hold concerts of his program music. They calculate his economic impact on the nation. In China, they spend up on luxury watches endorsed by him, they include him in a major Olympics documentary, his damn boots went on tour. He's in children's books across the region. And - sad to say - they listen to the tabloid press even when it's clear they don't believe it, because of the fascination.

Gracie got the same, though let me honestly say with less of the good and even more of the ugly, on a smaller scale (even if decrying the scandalmongering, the public listened to the way she was slammed) and I dread to think what might have gone on had she had a similar career or if one of the little American girls coming up gets to catch that nation's eye. Celebrity culture is a thing now, and most of us unconsciously absorb it and really only go past 'oh isn't that awful' when it's someone we care about.

 

[TallyT]

(Folks, I have only just got up and am still caffeine-deprived, stop making my brain think up words!!!)

 

[Magill]

IHow can you stop people from fantasizing about you, from making you your over the top idol, etc.? (Without these kind of fans the tabloids would not be that interested, even if they are not bought by them they bring interest among others with them, that's just the way it goes.)

I do not really think it works mostly that way, sorry (and no, I do not have any agenda of defending fandoms, not this time ).
Tabloids want to sell huge numbers so they target the general public. No fandom is big enough for tabloid press. If you think who has become the symbol of the tragic tabloid harassment, it is obviously Diana. And yet - she was beautiful and elegant, but I do not think fans fantasizing about her were any substantial section of her followers, unless you think of young women fantasizing of marrying a prince and becoming a princess.
Diana's doom was that she was extremely popular with the general public, the queen of the hearts, the real life Cinderella, the rebel within the royalty, the human face of Buckingham Palace, etc, etc. British public at large mostly truly loved her, some would hate her (of course, no star goes without some haters). Yet she did not really have fans . Her "fans" were just ordinary people, all ages, all walks of life, all genders, all sections of the society. Millions of them. Which, tragically and unfortunately, made her a perfect target for tabloid papers.
If you think about Yuzuru, in a recent poll he scored 17 on the list of the most recognizable names in Japan. A list comprising of actors, singers, rock stars, TV celebrities, news reporters and lectors people see every day on TV, show hosts, Instagram or Tik Tok celebrities, and even politicians whose names are obviously very well known.
17 is crazily high!
How he became that well known, that popular, is a different story but it is not about fandom anymore. It is about ordinary folks who take innocent interest in lives of the rich and the famous, the "beautiful people" as they were called in the 60s, They mostly mean no harm. They are just curious what they eat, what car they drive, what their living room looks like. Who they date, what their wives / husbands look like, What they quarrel about. What ... yes, it is becoming less and less innocent, right. And yet this is never enough and obviously a bit of a scandal rises their interest and sells even better, You do not need "crazy" fans for that, just enough housewives, secretaries, taxi drivers, teachers, doctors, OAPs,,...
Just my humble opinion.

 

[rabidline]

I don't think the fans can be blamed for this to be honest. Nor the antis. I have my own gripes with them, but this was... basically, once a relationship of the public figure is out there, it's product for the tabloids, no matter how many fans they have or not. There are a lot of money riding on that industry, a lot of people who makes their livelihood from that. And Yuzuru's marriage, especially the way it was announced was prime meat for them, regardless of fan attention or not. Because the ones giving clicks and writing comments on these articles are neither ardent fans or vile antis. It's normal people who barely knows Yuzuru aside from seeing his face here and there in Japan, who probably has never seen him skate. These people don't know him and have no interest in knowing him as a human being. Him and his marriage is just a fun topic to read and discuss after a long day at work. It doesn't matter how many ice shows tickets Yuzuru sells, how many brands he represented, how many hashtags trended by his fans. This is another industry entirely and as long as the general public consumes it, there's no stopping it.

I think my own gripe with Yuzuru's fans is mostly about how when it comes to stories about the skaters they don't like, they have, in the past, multiple times, treated tabloid articles as facts. They spread it around to fellow fans as if it's legitimate news, without bothering to clarify that it's the same trash that now we knew have tormented Yuzuru and his former wife and their families. You know how many people are in his fandom. And those fans did it just because it gives them something to feel better about when other skaters have their private lives speculated, mocked and insulted. I have my own opinion about how Yuzuru has handled his public announcement of his marriage, but I'll keep it to myself because I remember just how low those fans stooped when it comes to the skaters I like becoming tabloid fodder.

Tabloids can ruin people's lives... not just people you don't like. And no achievements and fame and money and fans can turn back the time and undo the things that have been done.

 

[Karin.T]

This is very sad news…

I think many celebrities in Japan don’t spend comfortable life because of paparazzi. Japanese media should stop to searching celebrities’ home. I think his wife probably feel stress because media searches her information such as job or pictures. This is the problem that even if many people argue that some media harms celebrities mental, they don’t look any improvements to their behavior. Anyway, I hope they will live in peace.

 

[rabidline]

I already found it very weird that Shoma Uno and Marin Honda kept their long term relationship secret and only went public due to basically getting forced to do so. -

Announcing that you're openly dating (not married) in Japan is not that common. Especially considering their age, and that they're mostly just athletes at that time. It's why the rumor went straight to the tabloids, because it's something that can easily be criticized. "Dating" goes against the "dutiful" part of being a Japanese athlete (at that time one of them was a selected Olympian, even), sacrificing everything to represent your country properly and come back with the best results you can get. And sure enough that's the thing that still gets picked apart even now: if Shoma has time in his life for dating Marin, why don't he just quit being an athlete? Why is he getting taxpayer money to fund his skating? Why does he skate at ice shows for fans when he has a significant other in his life? He's clearly not that serious about skating if he has time to have a relationship.

Marin, especially, has it rough because she's beautiful, she did some work for media, her sisters are actresses, and she doesn't have the results she had in the past. And also because it's easier to shit on the girl than the boy. Like.. I won't go back and repeat the comments back then about both of them for something they didn't reveal themselves. Even now, I know fans who don't like it when a Shoma update is him seen out and about with Marin instead of practicing his jumps and skating.

For what I can see back then, it's an open secret that Shoma and Marin are close among fans and the Japanese skating community (their peers definitely knew, when you looked back), but that's different from having their relationship out there to be freely picked apart by tabloid commenters, judged by the public that don't even know them or what they have achieved. And they're just dating! Even one of the criticism at them was why is them dating a big news even though it was the tabloids that reported the rumor and not the skaters themselves. When they finally confirmed their relationship, it opened another can of worms, even though now they can be more open to support each other in public.

There's just no going back once it's out... until a tragic news like this happens. And even then, this is still tabloid material.

 

[moonkat]

Look Yuzuru needs fans to go to his shows. He definitely enjoys performing. There may be ways to stop individual crazy fans, but not the news media companies, which is why he says the harassment from the media was the problem. The media wasted our time with fake new. After the second supposed wife, I was thinking "what is this trash?!". They gave us fake trash news on one of the most respected athletes in Japan. I look at it with horrid fascination. It's even floating around on youtube.

The only other Japanese gossip I looked into was Ai Fukuhara, but I mean I think she made herself look bad without help.

So what would make the media back off? Rolling around in literal dirt or shouting to the heavens your undying love like some anime character.

 

[TallyT]

A small reminder that such paparazzi abuse does not just affect the people at the centre of it although obviously they are the ones hurt most by it. As I said earlier, even random people can be dragged in for the sake of clickbait...
"When they got married, a reporter suddenly came to my place. "Do you know anything about your partner?"
"Even just one interview was scary and scary. I can't help but wonder how much trouble the two of you are having. I hope you have a happy life.
"Why do you know my address?... there were many things I could have asked, but I was too panicked to do so."

And if they did this to her, how much worse was it at the epicentre?

I hope both of them and their familes can heal.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

Look Yuzuru needs fans to go to his shows. He definitely enjoys performing. There may be ways to stop individual crazy fans, but not the news media companies, which is why he says the harassment from the media was the problem. The media wasted our time with fake new. After the second supposed wife, I was thinking "what is this trash?!". They gave us fake trash news on one of the most respected athletes in Japan. I look at it with horrid fascination. It's even floating around on youtube.

The only other Japanese gossip I looked into was Ai Fukuhara, but I mean I think she made herself look bad without help.

So what would make the media back off? Rolling around in literal dirt or shouting to the heavens your undying love like some anime character.

Alas instead of that, even media who had had no part in this harassment, are now cutting Yuzuru Hanyu's announcement, suppressing the part of it stating that the cause of the divorce was this stalking and harassment. Then, they pretend to "seek out" possible motives. As if living in a dungeon without daylight forever was a marriage perspective. This is utterly disgusting. I wonder if there are capitalistic or business links between "respectable media" and the wife-hunt tabloids, or if it's just a general cover-up culture?
Among newspaper, Sanspo and Sponichi have been the notable exception, not hiding the truth; among TV channels, NTV was the exception. I thank them for their bravery!

 

[rabidline]

Alas instead of that, even media who had had no part in this harassment, are now cutting Yuzuru Hanyu's announcement, suppressing the part of it stating that the cause of the divorce was this stalking and harassment.

This has always been how Japanese media works. It has frustrated me so many times when I started following figure skating news, because a lot of the time they butcher what the subject actually said, or even purposefully hide the full interview and/or announcement under paywall so the general public don't read it, and focus on extracting certain quotes which then they will use to create a clickbait or theatrical article title. And then certain fans would take advantage of this and deliberately spread quotes without context to create negative sentiment but only to certain skaters, especially the "translator" fans. Tale as old as time.

Also annoying is how the general public (and some skating fans) in Japan thinks every article that ends up on Yahoo!News Japan is legitimate, and can't differentiate between mainstream media, tabloids, and weekly magazines (especially since some of them share the same name but had different owners in actuality). When in reality Yahoo!News Japan is actually a news platform that just reposts every article regardless of who wrote it, and whether it's an actual news article, an interview or an opinion piece. It's actually fascinating just how bad the media literacy is there... it reminds me of how UK has their tabloids read together with mainstream newspaper on TV creating illusion that the tabloids are as legit as the newspapers.

 

[DancingCactus]

Well, I checked and Friday magazine for example belongs to Koudansha, one of the largest media and publishing houses in Japan. Afaik they don't own any of the respectable newspapers, but hold NHK shares and own a lot of other magazines. This probably applies to a lot of other gossip rags as well.

But it doesn't seem like all the respectable outlets jumped on the same bandwagon. I tried Asahi and they only published a factual news piece about the divorce announcement. No idea what is happening at Yomiuri or Mainichi.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

Thank you DancingCactus! If they own shares of NHK, I now can see why NHK was so "un-factual".

Rabidline, I have posted on the Yuzuru Hanyu Fan Fest a tutorial to report articles posted on Yahoo! Japan, would you want me to repost it on the Shoma Uno Fan Fest? Or would you prefer to post it yourself? It's true that many media outlets twist facts and I have more than once observed some Shoma Uno's words spread somehow out of context among Yuzuru Hanyu's fans.

Here though it was more particularly vicious as they pretend to repost an official statement (not just an interview which can rarely be kept full) yet the article cuts it and makes people believe the opposite of what he clearly stated. I hope that his team is working on a legal reaction to have them fix their lies. An official statement is a whole and can't be cut, at least in a longer article.

Also, it's true that for a Westerner, all Josei X magazines seem to belong to the same group, while in fact it just means Women, so it's Women Weekly, Women 7 etc and they're different tabloids. It's Josei7 who had stalked him the most before the marriage announcement, but since then, I couldn't tell who's the worst.

Fortunately, a former NHK reporter shared his questions :
https://twitter.com/pep_on_/status/1727017502641963499

I think that he's quite right. In this light, a skater's private life is of public concern only if they date a Skating official (about a decade ago, a skater was harassed by a very important official in their Federation, with a forcible kiss in public during an Olympic party held by the federation, "of course" the skater didn't sue or they would have lost support... I wouldn't call this dating, though) not if they date a fellow athlete or a private person, unless they show it off of course.

Yet even this doesn't reflect the whole. Media's job is to report reality, not to make it. Here, they have in fact jailed a new bride, such was their stalking 24/7.

 

[synesthesia]

Fortunately, a former NHK reporter shared his questions :
https://twitter.com/pep_on_/status/1727017502641963499

I think that he's quite right. In this light, a skater's private life is of public concern only if they date a Skating official (about a decade ago, a skater was harassed by a very important official in their Federation, with a forcible kiss in public during an Olympic party held by the federation, "of course" the skater didn't sue or they would have lost support... I wouldn't call this dating, though) not if they date a fellow athlete or a private person, unless they show it off of course.

What in the... The referenced case of abuse of power/sexual harassment is not even remotely linked to, nor should be brought up in the context of dating.


I can’t figure out, if you meant it that way with the “of course” in quotation marks, but showing sympathy for one victim (of tabloid stalking) and then to proceed to blame another victim (of power/sexual harassment) for not sueing so as not to lose support doesn't sit right with me. For context, said skater’s antis have been using the incident as ammunition against him incessantly over the past 9 (!) years, insinuating and even outright claiming that he was / is in cahoots with the offender in exchange for “benefits” (regarding his scoring and otherwise). And they make sure to bring the incident up along with the tabloid photos while tagging him on social media any opportunity they get. I actually had to block yet another twitter user yesterday for doing just that.

Apologies, if you didn't mean any harm. I’m so used to see this referenced with ill intentions towards the victim while deliberately ignoring the implications of power harassment, that I don’t have any patience left. I don’t want to imagine how horrible it must be to be reminded of and mocked for a scarring experience like this over and over again. And said skater (I assume most posters here know, who the skater and the perpetrator are, because the case caused a stir and was discussed at the time) does use social media, so is probably aware of it happening.

Since the offender was not just any “important official”, but the president of the Japanese Skating Federation, and is also a politician belonging to the LDP party (and was a protégé of Japan’s Prime Minister at the time), the victim probably would have faced much more far reaching consequences than “just” a loss of federation support (which – at the time – wouldn’t have had much of an effect anyway since he was about to retire when the story broke) had he brought the case to court, namely potentially having his reputation and livelihood destroyed in retaliation.

Just look at the case of Nobunari Oda vs. Mie Hamada. Hamada wasn’t only found not guilty, but was actually found to be a victim of defamation instead, resulting in Oda having to pay damages. And she is a much smaller fish than the offender in the case above.


In light of this I can only partially agree with the former NHK reporter's comment. Wrongdoings by persons in great power should be exposed, but it’s a delicate matter. Whoever leaked the photos in the case above to Shukan Bunshun very likely did so with the intention of bringing the perpetrator (a powerful public person) down by exposing her action (not only did she harass one of her subordinates, but she was also married with children), i.e. probably a member of the opposition or someone within her party or the skating federation who was competing for her position (so the goal wasn't even to “improve society”). This person as well as Shukan Bunshun accepted that the leak would also have consequences for the victim, who was forced to comment on the situation and had no choice but to deny any wrongdoing on the perpetrator’s part. In cases where there is an immense power imbalance between the parties involved, precautions must be taken to protect the victim(s) from becoming a target in order to encourage them to testify against the perpetrator of the harm. As we all know there are countless victims, who do not come forward out of justified fear of losing a potential court case and becoming the hunted instead.

The media has a shared responsibility here, although in many cases it may be difficult to protect the identity of the victim(s). If Shukan Bunshun had reported on the case above without publishing the photos, the anonymity of the victim could have been preserved, but the case would have immediately fizzled out due to a lack of evidence. In an ideal world, the benefits for the common good would have to be weighed up in each individual case against the potential harm to those directly affected. Maybe there are some respectable publications or individual journalists keeping this in mind, but for the majority of outlets, especially those of the tabloid variety, this is of course not the primary concern.

 

[rabidline]

Rabidline, I have posted on the Yuzuru Hanyu Fan Fest a tutorial to report articles posted on Yahoo! Japan, would you want me to repost it on the Shoma Uno Fan Fest? Or would you prefer to post it yourself? It's true that many media outlets twist facts and I have more than once observed some Shoma Uno's words spread somehow out of context among Yuzuru Hanyu's fans.

But Yahoo! Japan is just a web platform that reposts articles, though. In the past if there are articles that needs feedback because of inaccuracy or irresponsible reporting, usually you just go send complaints to the actual media outlet that actually made and published the article. Yahoo! Japan's main problem is that their platform "blurs" the legitimacy of every outlet together because they all get reposted, and I think this has been an ongoing issue discussed by the Japanese government in terms of responsible media dissemination. It's likely that the coverage for Yuzuru's divorce will move the needle on that conversation in the government.

Yahoo! Japan does allow for the readers to comment on the contents of the articles, unlike the web pages of the original articles themselves. And the readers are well known to express all sorts of opinions from positive to negative. I assume this is the more difficult part to deal with because everyone comments on the news and there are a lot of instigators, who don't really care to keep it respectful.

(Also please don't post it on Shoma's Fan Fest because it's wildly out of topic... We're mostly focusing on NHK Trophy content now.)

 

[TallyT]

I can’t figure out, if you meant it that way with the “of course” in quotation marks, but showing sympathy for one victim (of tabloid stalking) and then to proceed to blame another victim (of power/sexual harassment) for not sueing so as not to lose support doesn't sit right with me.

As I understand it, the 'of course' is bitterly ironic because that is what the tabloids have insinuated where the incident was reported at all, them being firmly on the side of those in power. I have read reports of this.

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

What in the... The referenced case of abuse of power/sexual harassment is not even remotely linked to, nor should be brought up in the context of dating.


I can’t figure out, if you meant it that way with the “of course” in quotation marks, but showing sympathy for one victim (of tabloid stalking) and then to proceed to blame another victim (of power/sexual harassment) for not sueing so as not to lose support doesn't sit right with me. For context, said skater’s antis have been using the incident as ammunition against him incessantly over the past 9 (!) years, insinuating and even outright claiming that he was / is in cahoots with the offender in exchange for “benefits” (regarding his scoring and otherwise). And they make sure to bring the incident up along with the tabloid photos while tagging him on social media any opportunity they get. I actually had to block yet another twitter user yesterday for doing just that.

Apologies, if you didn't mean any harm. I’m so used to see this referenced with ill intentions towards the victim while deliberately ignoring the implications of power harassment, that I don’t have any patience left. I don’t want to imagine how horrible it must be to be reminded of and mocked for a scarring experience like this over and over again. And said skater (I assume most posters here know, who the skater and the perpetrator are, because the case caused a stir and was discussed at the time) does use social media, so is probably aware of it happening.

Since the offender was not just any “important official”, but the president of the Japanese Skating Federation, and is also a politician belonging to the LDP party (and was a protégé of Japan’s Prime Minister at the time), the victim probably would have faced much more far reaching consequences than “just” a loss of federation support (which – at the time – wouldn’t have had much of an effect anyway since he was about to retire when the story broke) had he brought the case to court, namely potentially having his reputation and livelihood destroyed in retaliation.

Just look at the case of Nobunari Oda vs. Mie Hamada. Hamada wasn’t only found not guilty, but was actually found to be a victim of defamation instead, resulting in Oda having to pay damages. And she is a much smaller fish than the offender in the case above.


In light of this I can only partially agree with the former NHK reporter's comment. Wrongdoings by persons in great power should be exposed, but it’s a delicate matter. Whoever leaked the photos in the case above to Shukan Bunshun very likely did so with the intention of bringing the perpetrator (a powerful public person) down by exposing her action (not only did she harass one of her subordinates, but she was also married with children), i.e. probably a member of the opposition or someone within her party or the skating federation who was competing for her position (so the goal wasn't even to “improve society”). This person as well as Shukan Bunshun accepted that the leak would also have consequences for the victim, who was forced to comment on the situation and had no choice but to deny any wrongdoing on the perpetrator’s part. In cases where there is an immense power imbalance between the parties involved, precautions must be taken to protect the victim(s) from becoming a target in order to encourage them to testify against the perpetrator of the harm. As we all know there are countless victims, who do not come forward out of justified fear of losing a potential court case and becoming the hunted instead.

The media has a shared responsibility here, although in many cases it may be difficult to protect the identity of the victim(s). If Shukan Bunshun had reported on the case above without publishing the photos, the anonymity of the victim could have been preserved, but the case would have immediately fizzled out due to a lack of evidence. In an ideal world, the benefits for the common good would have to be weighed up in each individual case against the potential harm to those directly affected. Maybe there are some respectable publications or individual journalists keeping this in mind, but for the majority of outlets, especially those of the tabloid variety, this is of course not the primary concern.

I'm sorry if I haven't been clear enough. I wholeheartedly agree with you on the fact that there was a victim and a perpetrator, and thank you for clarifying what was at stake which I wouldn't because I didn't want to identify the federation and the genders, which highlights how powerless the victim was and still is, because this person still seems to have a huge power. I agree too, and that's what I meant in my initial post, that this isn't dating, yet sexual violence is sexual and I think, belongs to what the journalist meant. I don't know who has blamed the victim in this case; usually it's a perpetrator narrative. Not only am I very upset by any sexual violence, but it may also occur to you that the perpetrator is also known for her hate of Yuzuru Hanyu. If you have any question regarding fans of Yuzuru Hanyu's opinions, or any Figure Skating lover after all (I'm not into the detail of JSF inner trash, but I do suspect that this perpetrator is one of the supporters of this JSF policy during the Yuzuru Hanyu Golden Decade, of allocating 70% of a budget mostly coming from Figure Skating, to Speed Skating, leaving Figure Skating with only 30%), you can be reassured: her abusive behaviour and her power are not minimised on our side. As to scores, the victim mostly skated in what I believe to be the less unfair period in Figure Skating scoring history, so the "advantage" (I won't start an attempt at psychology, but if I understand correctly "rewards" from a perpetrator increase psychological damage for the victim) was not huge.
What I disagree with you about is, that I do think that the Bunshun was right in publishing this video and these photos, because such a person ought not to remain in charge. Well, ought not to have remained in charge, but her persistence in power in spite of the proof of her abuse isn't the journalist's fault. Yes, they probably had a political agenda, and yes, the victim was submitted to questions, but if he wasn't clearly identified as a victim, is not the journalist's fault either, it's the whole society that has to be questioned, and the article was useful in that respect too. We agree that a report without photos would have simply been ignored. I believe that this would have been wrong.

I also fully agree with your analysis of the Nobunari Oda vs Mie Hamada case. Loss of reputation, really! He didn't say publicly anything against her at first, then nothing that wasn't known by everybody interested in Japanese Figure Skating, and it didn't reach farther than those who already knew. The one thing that downed her reputation further is having sued him for "loss of reputation" but this was entirely her doing; yet he was fined, not her. And I agree that she's a "smaller fish" than S. H., yet she's powerful. Well, calling the latter a sperm whale and the former a killer whale would be unkind to these "peaceful" animals, who furthermore aren't fishes. JSF is a relatively small but deadly pond...

 

[DizzyFrenchie]

But Yahoo! Japan is just a web platform that reposts articles, though. In the past if there are articles that needs feedback because of inaccuracy or irresponsible reporting, usually you just go send complaints to the actual media outlet that actually made and published the article. Yahoo! Japan's main problem is that their platform "blurs" the legitimacy of every outlet together because they all get reposted, and I think this has been an ongoing issue discussed by the Japanese government in terms of responsible media dissemination. It's likely that the coverage for Yuzuru's divorce will move the needle on that conversation in the government.

Yahoo! Japan does allow for the readers to comment on the contents of the articles, unlike the web pages of the original articles themselves. And the readers are well known to express all sorts of opinions from positive to negative. I assume this is the more difficult part to deal with because everyone comments on the news and there are a lot of instigators, who don't really care to keep it respectful.

(Also please don't post it on Shoma's Fan Fest because it's wildly out of topic... We're mostly focusing on NHK Trophy content now.)

I agree that reporting to Yahoo! Japan won't erase the original article on the tabloids sites, but:
1) Many people who will click on the controversial article wouldn't have sought the article on the tabloid's site;
2) Clicks on Yahoo! News bring revenue to the tabloids, so it's a good thing to prevent or stop them from earning money from slander and stalking.
If an article, though controversial, seems to you a good base for discussion in the comment section, then I understand that you wouldn't report it.
But in the case of Yuzuru Hanyu's "supposed wives", exposing unrelated, anonymous people, I can assure you that I would report, and try not to give clicks to those articles.
I too do hope that Yuzuru Hanyu's wife virtual jail term and potential release only from a forced divorce, may make things change in Japan, although I must confess that I'm not very optimistic on the fact that it will "suffice". Given how several newspapers have reacted to date, they look just as bullying, threatening now than then.

 

[hisori]

Weren't people saying it was 'cute' that his marriage announcement sounded like he was marrying skating, not a partner? His divorce announcement could almost be seen as a renewal of vows.

I hope his ex-wife will find a way to be safe and happier, since she's now carrying the history of having been affiliated to him all on her own.