Tokyo Eyes

[Aaron Gerow]

>Hinano Yoshikawa

Some fan-sites for Yoshikawa Hinano include the following:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/8507/

http://www.bitmap.co.jp/katayama/

http://www.tcp-ip.or.jp/~tan-hima/new/hinano.htm

>Shinji Takeda
>
>Do you know more about them? They both act on TV, sing and appear in
>magazines. On the net, I only found rather boring fanpages of Shinji
>Takeda. Maybe somebody knows more interesting details about them and their
>TV-series (it's great that there is already an ongoing discussion about
>Japanese TV :-) ). I have heard that Hinano is a aidoru of the
>kogaru-generation. Does somebody know more about that? 

Takeda Shinji is, I have found, the more interesting of the two.  He 
started out on TV playing mostly wimps, but gained quite a strong 
following through such dramas as "Minami-kun no koibito" and the cult hit 
"NIGHT HEAD."  His image has always been kind of "alternative" as 
represented by his band in which he plays jazz sax.  He hasn't been in 
too many dramas recently (though he's a regular on the Ninety-nine hosted 
"Mecha2 ikete iru" on Saturday nights), but he frequently appears on the 
gossip pages for his current affair with Esumi Makiko, the star of 
_Maboroshi no hikari_.

It may be personal taste, but I can't stand Hinano.  Her whining, droning 
voice, her infantile public image (she uses "Hinano" itstead of the 
personal pronoun "I"), and her "tennen boke" ("natural stupidity"--a 
style that is very "in" these days among young idols popular among girls: 
e.g., Kahara Tomomi) are grating.  I didn't like her in _Setonai munraito 
serenade_ and usually turn the channel when a her commercials appear on 
TV.

Still, it is an interesting question: Why are childish idols like Hinano 
and Tomomi so popular?  And not just among men (though Hinano has a big 
male following, bigger than Tomomi's, I believe).  Why do they have such 
popularity among teen-age girls?  Do such girls hope to become as 
childish?

Aaron Gerow
YNU