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This past Sunday, the popular music and variety show Utawara, hosted by Matsumoto Jun and Matsuura Aya, had a two hour summer special that featured Arashi, KAT-TUN, and Koda Kumi. What I’m writing about today is the segment that featured Koda Kumi: it was called the 「チビっ子エロかわダンス選手権」 (Chibikko Erokawa Dance Senshuken). Apparently, the show announced that they were holding such a competition and they got 1,419 applications. They eventually narrowed the field down to nine teams and those teams are the ones who performed in this roughly half-hour segment. Basically, each group does a dance to a Koda Kumi song, and they get judged by Wada Akiko, Tomochika Tsuyako, and Machamacha.
What’s so wrong about this is that the girls they get are aged 2-12. Yes that’s right, they even had a two year old. Basically, this segment qualifies for every loli-pedo fetish, particularly since Koda Kumi dances aren’t exactly known to be chaste. Keep in mind, the title of the competition includes the word erokawa, which means cute but sexy. In the end, a group called “Princess Barbie” (all six year olds) won for their dance to the Butterfly song. Koda Kumi handed them a large trophy and then proceeded to sing I’ll be there, a song from her newest single 「4 hot wave」.
And now for the part I’m sure many of you have been waiting for (this would be the NSFW part). The webmaster over at Japan Probe uploaded all nine performances to YouTube.
Entry #1: Cherry Angel (aged 10-11)
Entry #2: Tiara (aged 7-8)
Entry #3: Princess Barbie (aged 6)
Entry #4: Mizuse Kanaru-chan (aged 5)
Entry #5: M-Shining (aged 8-11)
Entry #6: Yoshida Aimi-chan (aged 12)
Entry #7: Uupii RuuPii (aged 7-11)
Entry #8: Suzuki Anna-chan (aged 2)
Entry #9: Buta Kimu (aged 8-11)
Japanese Child Exploitation or Harmless Fun? You Decide.
Child Exploitation.
But to them, it’s harmless fun.
Both, and yet neither.
It was funny at first but then as I watched more, I can’t help but feel a little disturbed. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen weird Japanese stuff, but still…
I didn’t know little girls could move like that. o_o It’s cool, but kinda disturbing, hehe.
Holy Crap, I’m sure pedos would mushroom in Japan after this…
It’s one of those things that you just watch and feel something is not inherently right about it. Then you think, maybe its just me, and watch another minute. That’s when it dawns on you that this is just completely wrong and it’s probably not just you. But out of pure curiosity you watch another 30 seconds and just think, this is definitely messed up. Then you go and share it with a bunch of your friends so you don’t have to be the only one feeling deeply disturbed.
………………. o.o
OMG…………………….
WAT’S THAT!!!!!
ERRR……….. ERRR……… MY EYES!………… MY EYES!!!!!!
wAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!
So many Koda Kumi wannabes… although I prefer them to be such wannabes when they are much much older though.
Making ’em kids appear in such revealing apparels and dancing so provocatively in front of national tv,
These parents sure know how to apply lube on their minor daughters and pushing them into a sea of pedo stalkers and child rapists, lol
OMG! It’s like after her death, Jon Benet Ramsey ended up being reincarnated in the worst possible way in Japan….
:O. all of those are pretty disturbing. But, I think “Buta Kimu” is ok, they’re pretty cool :D.
…o.O
wow this is not good unless the songs were like cute fairy type dance song but man this is koda kumi’s song which is sexy,hot,make guys steam and futher more…my say will bee bad very very bad,japan ppl now days are loosing their mind
i feel disturbed.definetely CHILD EXPLOITATION. lol
I definately died a little inside after watching a portion of the vids. And threw up a little in my mouth too. BLEARGH
wow talk about child exploitation…
Child Exploitation, definitely. In most Asian societies, women and child has very little rights in reality.
this is just FUCKIN WRONG
Oh my… :O
Child exploitation! LOL!! What kind of parent would let their kid appear like this on national tv!?!
a new low for japan added to the list of many lows like:
scat, Bukkake, hentai, bondage…
Disturbed? What is the meaning of that? Harmless fun especially from a bunch that produces lolianime.
Child exploitation, for sure ! nonsense ! when I watched those video I though it goes to worst in worst !
Althought I’m open-minded I consider that nobody have right to make those young little girls doing this ! For the family, to let them dancing like this, on tv, they are the worst ! It’s a nonsense ! totally absurd !
it was a bit disturbing, but you havta say those kids have talent if their able to shake it at that age…
but yah, now i truly know why pedophilia is out there..
Men! When I see little girls wearing some undressed clothes in streets and I watch this, I think the world was changed a lot! Ô.Ô
Shit the girl about 5 years old, she’s too sexy for her age! And the moves she do! No no, it’s a scandal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RevU6AmSF-s&search=m-flo%20lotta%20love
They have an actual music video that uses this idea already, why not make a dance competition too?
Leave it for all the Loli to be uploaded, but not the Koda Kumi XD
Either way, it’s still pretty damn disturbing… Someone just smack me over the head right now with a big piece of sturdy metal.
Can’t believe that there are parents that would let their kids do such a thing. That’s even more disturbing the then what the kids are doing themselves.
Thank God that didn’t turn me on!
It’s not child exploitation if the child wanted to do it, and some of the other kids definitely seemed to enjoy performing, as well as having the talent to enter the entertainment industry some day (if they are continued to be trained) . For some of them, though, one could tell there is embarassment/shame, thus concluding that they were probably pushed (exploited) into doing it…
It’s not harmless fun, either. One could go into a tirade about degrading morals, but inevitably, some chicken-and-egg arguments will arise: did these girls get the idea from Koda Kumi? Thus, should they be censored from Koda Kumi? How did Koda Kumi get popular in the first place? Doesn’t it mean our society WANTS sexuality lambasted throughout its media? Then, doesn’t that mean the girls would have been exposed to it anyway even if Koda Kumi didn’t exist? etc. etc. (Everyone remember when Brittney Spears appeared on the cover of Rolling Stone, and all the subsequent arguments then, right?)
There is definitely child negligence, though. Parents are ignoring what sort of impact putting their child in such a situation will have on the child. Ignoring whether or not exploitation is occuring, parents have an obligation to raise their child in a safe environment (and we’re not just talking physical safety). While there may be benefits (a desire to pursue a career in entertainment), there are also detriments; which outweighs the other is debatable and different per case scenario.
Regardless, one interesting idea is why is this disturbing to so many people? Ignoring the notion of child exploitation/negligence for now, one could argue that many find these clips disturbing because they find a 5 or 6 year old sexually attractive, and they don’t want to face that. Better to not have that sort of thing at all, then? That’s the same idea that goes behind people who want to censor anything pornographic. Just because you watch some porn doesn’t mean you get to rape a woman clad in sexy attire on the street; a little less extreme, it also doesn’t mean you get to blame HER for having “impure” thoughts. I think the same can be applied here.
People who become pedophiles just due to watching some kids dance in little clothing were probably going to become pedophiles anyway, because they have no moral control over their actions.
It’s just harmless fun. You always see little kids doing little dances like that its just not on national tv. North Americans really are just to an@l to realize its harmless fun.
Wtf were they thinking? I’m sorry, but 6-12 year olds should not be dancing like that.
It seems my respect for the Japanese is starting to dwindle by the day.
While the 2 year old and the first group of 7 year olds were flat out cute…the rest were highly disturbing. Too damn young.
meh seen it… i guess its ok… although i have to say they have talent
I dont know what to say. If had to, weirdofu hits the point.
In response to Nutty.
I totally agree with you, but the point of forbidding it isn’t that absurd. I just have the feeling that todays society is getting weeker by the day . Boundaries a losing up and moral is near to not existent. Ofcource to forbid something, is equally controversial.
Omni you sly devil! I cracked when I saw you quoted me on this… LMAO
Damn, I’m glad my application for this show was rejected …. So much flak here, rawr.
I suppose it’s better to have kids find positive role models (Koda Kumi is a REAL nice role model ~drool~) and fun than them playing with toy guns and turning homicidal.
I don’t really see anything wrong with it, but I think alot of ppl here are overreacting:
“Wtf were they thinking? I’m sorry, but 6-12 year olds should not be dancing like that.
It seems my respect for the Japanese is starting to dwindle by the day.
by Zhemos August 3rd, 2006 at 3:20 pm”
err… obviously there were no H intentions for this show. So really anyone that gets H vibes outta this really needs to stay away from little kids.
I wasn’t disturbed by this…but then again, I’m not sexualy attracted to little girls like the majority of you sinners seem to be. If there was a god, you’d all be damned to hell. :p
i watched it.
1) i always hate it when little kids dance like that
2) it is even worse when litte jap. girls dance like that, because jap. aren’t exactly known for their bodies
i have to say even im disturbed by this and i like girls young……but this is just wrong on some many levels ugh…….and by young i mean like teenage (16-19) but to me thats actually older >
I’m not sure on this, I think it’s cute, but some seem to go overboard a little bit. Some things to debate
Koda Kumi’s reactions: a bit mixed as in “wow she’s got talent” and ‘wow that girl is 8 years old, should she be doing that?”
The audiences reactions: amazement towards performance or lust?
When I first watched it, I thought something was very very wrong; after I got to the 6th video or so, I suddenly remembered a girl from my class in primary school who was a dancer and used to dance just like some of these kids. And back then, none of us thought anything wrong with it; we were all little girls who were play acting and just wanted to act older than we were, too young to even know of the sinister or hidden meanings behind a pelvic thrust. When I think about it, it’s the older people who look at it and think there’s something wrong – the problem is in the reaction of the watcher and not being able to seperate children dancing from their movements.
By the way, that last group has some talent.
Something to think about, even if the kids are enjoying themselves and were not forced into it; it’s dangerous to let a child willingly engage in something they don’t quite understand. Curiosity leads to learning experiences, I hope their parents are there for them when they learn what some of their dance moves connotate ^ ^;;
I should be shock and disgusted but I am not. I am rather used to it. Kids dancing to pop-song (and making a fool out of themselves) on national tv for prizes is common practice in Asian game shows. =/
Arashi dude has long hair now. I guess long hair is the trend these days.
a lot of these were tasteful and cute, very talented girls. not a lot of girls that age can do all that, and in coordination too. I wanna see more of the baby! aww haha
but dang, MatsuJun, those hair extensions have gotta GO! D;
Huh. What was that song playing in the first link?
Ugh. Of course I find it right after posting.
well…i mean i’m half jamaican and half Jap, so i really don’t see anything too wrong. Young girls dancing, what we consider, provocativly is the norm in WI culture bc its JUST dancing…nothing is supposed to be meant by it other than to have good INNOCENT fun…its those who interpret it diffn’tly that really come into question
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKGUHKts9RY
‘Innocent’ isn’t the word I would use for this video, but thank god those girls didn’t copy this. Would they even understand it? I think not.
interesting time for YOUTUBE to take their site down “to clean out the gremlins”.
I suppose one interprets things the way they want to…. but hell, beauty contests have been doing this “sex object” crap for decades with very little girls. At least this contest requires them to have skills unlike a “sit and look pretty” piece of nonsense.
If you’ve been to any high school football games lately, watch what the cheerleaders are doing….. some of them are competing with the Warcraft Night Elves for erotic dance.
I’m just wondering how many here that left a comment are actual parents and have daughters? And living in Japan? Have you seen their Japanese children playing on their beaches here, half of them are sometimes butt naked and it’s normal? So calm the fuck down! It’s harmless fun. It’s little girls aspiring to do something and none of you can’t do anything about it specially when I have three daughters and my 3 yr old can dance better than my stiff 10 yr old; and that’s coming from a former break dancer.
That’s the changing times for you in this Britney (I can’t sing) Spears generation. In a society where they don’t believe in child safety car seats, what’s make you think 1,419 entries and their parents would find it disturbing? I hate to admit but that dancing erotic crap is what’s going to help their self confidence when they hit their teens. You want to know why, because I’m dealing with it right now.
Leave it to us Americans to do that disturbing child exploitation part for you. In 1995 three US Marines rape a 14 year old girl here on Okinawa and a fucking Air Force Airmen in 2005 decided to take cell phone pictures and touch a 10 year old Okinawan Girl inappropriately. And when you think this is bad, just check the U.S. mainland where children are dying from abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation. Oh, not only that check out third world countries who are selling their children to the black market to be exploited to be sex slaves in other countries and it’s called “people trafficking.”
So when you compare what’s happening to the real world and to the little girls dancing suggestively on this show. Here’s my two cents, calm the fuck down!!!
It was cute at first, then it just seemed plain wrong….
I’m sorry to say, imporicer, that I think the one who needs calming down is you, because no one else has spoken with the same amount of emotion as you (if anything, I don’t think anyone else has cussed, yet).
“It could be worse,” is the phrase that comes to mind from what you said. Yes, it could always be worse, but does it have to be? From what you said, it sounds like you’re willing to succumb to this “Brittney Spears” generation. The reason I feel this is not necessarily harmless fun is because it continues to promote such a generation. So, do you (and your kids) want to just follow the flow like a herd of sheep and propogate a downard spiral loss of morals, or do you want to take a stand and try to stop how this society that doesn’t believe in child seats from getting worse?
Unlike others, I’m not comparing U.S. to Japan. For Japan, this erokawa is relatively new, and its reach into the children’s arena is a little alarming, because of the implications for a future society where children are vaunting sexual behaviors. The closest predecessor to erokawa I can think of is ganguro, but at least it didn’t reach all the way down into elementary school (for the most part).
As for boosting confidence, I can agree with that for the most part, but I’ve seen (and had) too many children who look back at video tapes of them when they were younger doing something they enjoyed doing at the time with shame and embarassment…
Regardless, though, I still think that it’s the people who watch this and get turned on that are the real problem. While I don’t like the idea of a society spiraling down toward immorality due to the essence of sexuality being made meaningless by little children, I don’t think activities such as this should be stopped just because it might (at best) make someone feel uncomfortable/disturbed over finding little girls sexually attractive or (at worst) make a pedophile horny and do something bad. Someone needs to take care of the sickos of the world first, before removing something because of those sickos…
This happens in the Western world an awful lot as well, you know? Not on national television, but I’ve seen some kids’ dance competitions and…
okay… youtube back on…. well…. I think there’s a lot of over reaction here — there was some really good dancing here and some of these girls will make excellent professional dancers later.
Note: I *have* kids (okay, they’re teens now) and I wonder how many alarmed posters here actually do.
Are the kids having fun? Most of them look like they are having a great time with this variation on dress up and pretend talent show. They don’t have that frozen smile you see too often on young talent.
The only problem with this show is the role model they’re emulating, not the dancing itself. Its very interesting to watch Kumi’s expression during the acts — you can just hear her wondering what she’s gotten herself into and possibly doing some self-examination. Unfortunately, half her act is dancing since her singing just doesn’t really stand out (or perhaps more accurately what she sings doesn’t really show off her voice).
The U.S. is amazingly dysfunctional when it comes to things it labels “sexual”. Japan, Canada, and Europe have their odd taboos too but in general, I’m going to have call them a bit less repressive and healthier in general.
Just an add-on, not an argument against. Everyone has fair reasons to support on and ultimately, everyone has a purpose to aim/hope/defend for wherever this society is heading at, since virtually everyone is being brought up or are in the process of bringing different family backgrounds.
“Someone needs to take care of the sickos of the world first, before removing something because of those sickos… ”
For this, I would have to second Nutty on what’s quoted there. However simply put, if you are the parent by yourself, what is your attitude towards such situations? I would say there are many ways a parent would respond, which would reflect what they truly feel about:
– “Until these pedophiles are rid of, I’m not taking any chances of having my kid getting (indirectly, from the way they have been dancing) advertised in national tv as savoury loli targets”;
– “The cops are there. They won’t be so dumb to just pounce on my daughter after going through public exposure.”
– “Pedophiles? Naw, it can’t happen to my child..”
I believe there are lots of protective parents out there who aren’t willing to take chances and leave their kids alone, and then sit down there telling themselves that their kids won’t be part of the statistics? At the moment, yeah, the sickos have to be removed, or at least properly contained from their threatening actions; however before that and at this state how many parents would take things for granted and let their kids become the top of pedomeal menu?
My 2 cents, being plain wrong is just about how imaginable it is to see how parents would be so comfortable in encouraging their kids to aim for this part of the sky, where pedophiles and sickos and probable childhood scars/regrets originated from these broadcasts are still far from even being controlled..
wtf?!?! damn these parents! they teach their kids that crap!! omg…diiiiiiiiiiiiiisturbing
harmless fun guys 😉
That is more than disturbing… *shudder* I only watched like 10 seconds of it and I already feel sick.
ya know… I think a lot of people haven’t been to an american dance competition for kids in a few decades? They’re not doing the waltz or the minuet … and its been a couple of decades since the watusi and the twist.
Dance is, by definition, a form of human expression and evolutionarily somewhat sexual in basis (why do you think some religions ban it completely). The only interesting thing here is Ms. Kumi’s expression watching the contest.
Hey nutty, do you have kids? Let me ask you this question, what will you do if your 10 yr old wants to dance like Christina Aguilera (daughter’s idol) because the other kids at her school can and surprisingly enough dance better than this kids on this video? Have you been to a school dance? I have been through numerous of them as a chaperone and this TV show has nothing compared to what I’ve seen children are learning this days. Have you seen the Missy Elliot (big fan of her music and dance routines) music videos? Those kids are super awesome for their age to dance like that and perform with Missy her self and that falls in the category of exploitation. Have you been to a cheerleading competition? Have you seen the Japanese High School girls here with the short skimpy skirts that suppose to be uniforms?
As a parent, this is where society is heading with western influence, morals are replaced with what cool, sexy and hip. The only thing I can do is to protect my kids. I know pedophiles are out there but they’ve been there way before we were born and they will still be on this planet when we die. Who’s going to get rid of them? Nobody. As long as I educate my kids on the dangers of drugs, alcohol, sickos’ child predators, (sex and boys later) and protect them when need be–little shows like this won’t bother me one bit.
The thing that would bother me though if was a co-ed dance group and they were grinding with each other, that’s where I draw the line since it to young for their age.
So I guess what I’m saying is if you’re a parent things will look differently. Maybe if I didn’t have kids I would have considered this show sick; but with three girls, hands are tied daddy yo!
Hey nutty, sorry for cussing to much. One person did cus though.
this is kinda disturbing for their age x.x but good show o.o
yeah, it might be disturbing at first, but if you guys look at those girls closely… they really are determined to perform well on stage with smiles on their faces.
if you guys consider that competition as “child exploitation”, then it’s because you guys think it that way. I don’t, because I know there’s no malice in those dances (not to mention the girls in their outfits).
it’s just like the controversial billboard of one of the leading rhums in the philippines, with their slogan “mag 15 ka na ba?” (you want 15s?). that slogan represents the 15 years since the first manufacture of the rhum (or the method of enchancing the taste of the rhum, y’know, “keeping the rhum in a barrel for 15 yrs”. pls correct me if i’m wrong), but some people misunderstood that slogan as “exploiting the teenage girls in their 15s” (coz they think it that way, of course), so the conservatives immediately made a complain to the authorities to ban that ad. i mean, what the hell was that implication?
but i’m just like everyone else. everyone is entitled to their own opinions.
How is this child exploitation? It’s just a dance competition, children go to swimming pools all the time in nothing but bathing suits? Christ. It’s pop music, and that’s what the pop industry wear, same as the dance!
Wow. It makes me feel lucky that my country hasn’t ventured into this form of “child exploitation”. A close example I could give and/or relate to are the kids dressed in not-for-children attire and are requred to sings songs that were supposed to be sung by adults.
HOT!