The Dark Side of Japan

Purpose of the Existence of Idols in Japan

Japanese are so mesmerized and hypnotized with idol. Not only Japanese in that sense; it is actually a dominant trend in Asia I believe. 

One of my friends sent me this photo and I thought it illustrates the strangeness or weirdness of Japanese idol fans. The photo is from here and with description of 

"In the Japanese Idol business each CD purchased comes with a ticket for a 10-second handshake at a public meet-and-greet. This leads to fans buying huge stockpiles to get hour long handshakes with their idol of choice.".

This is one of the weird examples of fan boys. But I would like to ask if it is all about shaking hands of their fan figure? Perhaps things aren't that straightforward so let's dig deeper into the topic shall we?

What are idols? Are they singers? Obviously not, I mean they sing but it's to make a reason to hold live performances but they are never singers who have been actually professionally trained. Then are they actors or actresses? They occasionally go on dramas or movies but only in Japan do they act. Their performance as actors or actresses are far inferior to those whose professions are acting. This happens a lot in Japan and I heard many stories, where idols themselves are talking about the awkwardness of being in dramas or movies where they are surrounded with professionals. Idols are no match against singers or actors or actresses. So having said so, if they are no match against them why is the idol industry popular and why people demand idols in Japan?

People in Japan tend to demand so called "Ba" in Japanese and it is translated as maybe somewhere, where you feel you belong to. I can't give an exact translation for this word, but many of such fans I know personally, when I ask them what is the most interesting thing about being a fan, most of them told me that they love the feeling of getting involved and be in the "Ba" together with their fan figures and other fans. Maybe this comes from Japanese togetherness or harmony? 

Well, I do not really understand their emotional state from that but I might be able to associate it when I watch football matches. Actually, I still don't know exactly. 

I can't give a clear cut answer to the question, but I believe the word "Ba" is the key concept to understand this seemingly odd behavior of those idol fans.