2025.05.19
Do you know what the biggest topic in the KPOP scene is right now (as of May 19)?
In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it has taken the spotlight for KPOP in 2025 so far.
Yes, it is the "Chouchou Woman."
The large KPOP festival "KCON JAPAN 2025" was held at Makuhari Messe from May 9 (Friday) to May 11 (Sunday).
With Kep1er also performing, the author participated on the 9th and 10th.
In addition to artist performances, KCON features a meet-and-greet event called "MiiGuri," which includes talk events and farewell sessions, and an incident occurred during this MiiGuri.
To participate in MiiGuri, a ticket costing 8,900 yen (about 10,000 yen including fees) is required per artist, and most fans purchase this ticket with the intention of attending the farewell session.
For those wondering what the farewell session is, it involves fans walking past their favorite group as they literally send off each fan leaving the event. There is time to exchange a word or two, and fans can hear direct words from their favorites like "I love you~" or "Thank you always," making it an irresistible event for fans.
Moreover, normally, you wouldn't get into such events without buying CDs, and even if you buy 10 CDs costing around 1,500 to 2,000 yen each to apply, it's common not to win. In other words, being able to participate for a guaranteed 10,000 yen in an event where you might spend nearly 20,000 yen without winning is a must-attend event for KPOP fans.
However, this year, a major problem occurred at the farewell session of MiiGuri, which was supposed to be a fun event.
That was the excessive "removal" of fans by staff.
"Removal" refers to the act of staff pulling fans away from the artists, and to put it bluntly, the removals at this year's KCON MiiGuri were abnormal. A female staff member who was performing the removals was wearing a chouchou on her head, leading to her being called "Chouchou Woman" on X (formerly Twitter), and the video of the removals quickly spread, causing "Chouchou Woman" to trend.
With over 2.8 million followers on X, the strongest influencer in the X community, Takizawa Gareso, also covered the incident (the post with the video attached has recorded a staggering 74,000 likes and 33.49 million views as of May 19), and the name "Chouchou Woman" became known to people beyond the KPOP community.
After that, the topic was also covered on AbemaTV's AbemaPrime and on the YouTube channel of comedian Shimo-furi Myojo's Soshina, with media that usually do not cover KPOP jumping on the bandwagon to discuss the issue.
Then, the extreme online identification team quickly obtained the personal information of "Chouchou Woman," spread it online, and triggered an unending wave of defamation.
While I think it's excessive to identify and defame an individual, the way the staff handled the removals that day was, to put it mildly, not appropriate for customers who paid 10,000 yen to be there.
I participated in the farewell session of Kep1er's MiiGuri, and even while walking normally, I was pushed by staff, and the farewell session for ZEROBASEONE (commonly known as Zebewan), which sparked the outrage, was even worse than Kep1er's.
If you watch the video shared below on X, you'll understand why anyone would be angry if they paid 10,000 yen for this.
And some may wonder here.
Isn't it usually more gentle, and is this the first time it has become a problem? In fact, that's not the case.
Recently, the attitude of staff at KPOP off-events has often been criticized.
The reason why this issue has spread so widely and become a major problem is that KCON had allowed filming with smartphones as a general rule.
Typically, filming is not permitted at offline events in Japan (though there are very rare events where filming is allowed), so even if the staff's attitude is terrible, fans cannot leave any evidence of it.
This time, however, clear footage of the staff's actions was left as evidence, causing those who had been dissatisfied to explode with frustration.
KCON, taking the situation seriously, posted an apology on their website, and the event company "STARTPOINT," which dispatched the on-site staff, also officially published an apology.
Honestly, it's quite rare for the organizers to apologize over such issues.
Until now, fans have often had to suffer in silence. There must have been significant protests, and perhaps even Samsung, the main sponsor of this KCON, had something to say about it.
Of course, it's undeniable that there are troublesome fans, and I believe that a firm stance should be taken against them.
However, what about taking such an attitude towards fans who are following the rules and participating quietly? I strongly hope that this incident will prompt event organizers and management companies to return to a fan-centered approach.
Fans go to the salon and dress up to meet their favorite artists.
Some even travel from distant places just for this day.
This KCON meet-and-greet event was 10,000 yen, but for offline events where you can only meet the artists by winning through purchasing CDs, some people spend around 100,000 yen.
I wish they would consider the feelings of fans who are looking forward to spending time with their favorites after investing such money and time.
Is there any store that treats customers who have paid a lot of money poorly?
Isn't it unreasonable to take a terrible attitude while holding the artists as hostages?
I'm not asking for kindness.
Just please treat us normally. That is all we, the fans, wish for.
End
Nekomachi Peko
Head of the SKOOTA KPOP Team
〈Originally a rock music enthusiast who once considered working for Rockin' On. Started listening to KPOP due to BTS and later became obsessed with BLACKPINK, fully immersing in the KPOP world. Became a hardcore fan of Kep1er, who debuted from the survival audition show 'Girls Planet 999,' resulting in a complete dive into the KPOP scene.〉