Frenzy from the Underground — An Economy Born of a Single Cheki

After the invention of the idol you can go and meet had set the era in motion, that heat spread in unexpected directions. It was not only the great venues where tens of thousands gathered. Nameless girls singing before a few dozen people in a small live house. Groups formed for the revitalization of a region, belonging only to their hometown. Idols multiplied explosively outside of television.

In the 2010s, the number of talents calling themselves idols was said to have become the largest in the history of Japanese entertainment. People called it the ‘idol warring-states era.’ This piece traces that frenzy from the underground — underground idols, local idols, and the buds of a new economy born of cheki and handshakes — through both the light and shadow of dream and labor.

Icons Multiplying Outside of Television

One trigger was the success of the group we saw in the previous episode. The story of climbing from a small scene called a theater to a national presence gave many people the idea that ‘maybe we could do it too.’ Even without a big agency or a TV station, with a live house and devoted fans, an idol could be started.

Thus were born idols who hardly appeared on television and made live performances their main field of activity. They were called ‘live idols’ or ‘underground idols.’ ‘Underground’ was a word that came to carry the sense of a scene smaller and closer than the major, above-ground entertainment world.

Changes in technology gave a push as well. With the spread of video-sharing services, anyone could send out a performance to the world. Without appearing on television, fans could be gained through the accumulation of net and live activity. Such grassroots activity gave rise to countless groups. Distinctive groups like Dempagumi.inc and BiS are also known for stimulating the underground scene of this era and greatly widening the range of idol expression.

Idols Who Carried Their Regions

Another great current was the local idol. Rather than aiming for the whole nation, these were idols based in their hometowns, with the purpose of contributing to their region. The prototype is said to date back to the 1990s, but it was from the mid-2000s onward that it spread nationwide as a boom.

The turning point was the serial morning drama ‘Amachan,’ aired in 2013. The story of a provincial girl aiming to become a local idol drew a great response, and all of Japan grew enthusiastic about local idols. According to records, the number of groups rose sharply around this time, and by one tally exceeded four hundred in 2014.

Why did the regions seek idols? Behind it lay the reality of population decline and stagnating local economies. Local youth shine in their hometown, that figure becomes the talk of the town, and draws people to events. The idol also became a bearer of a new story through which a region could retell itself.

A Relationship Bound by a Single Cheki

What supported the underground scene was a distinctive fan culture. Its symbol was a single photograph taken with an instant camera — the cheki.

After a live show, a fan takes a single cheki with the member they are after. They have it signed, or exchange a few words. Alongside the handshake event, such perks became a major source of income for underground idols. Buying a CD or merchandise became, directly, the power to cheer on one’s favorite and let their activity continue. Fans became, at the same time as spectators, something like investors supporting that activity.

This mechanism nurtured the buds of the culture and economy later called ‘oshikatsu.’ From among many members, one calls the one they especially like their ‘oshi,’ and spends time and money for that person. Fan-participatory content gives rise to a sense of ownership, and cheering itself becomes a reason for living, a form of self-expression. The prototype of this culture, which would grow into a huge market, took shape within the cheki lines of small live houses.

The Reality of Labor Behind the Dream

Yet this frenzy had its shadow too. Between the dream of becoming an idol and the reality of the labor that supported it, there was often a great gulf.

In the reporting, the harsh reality of underground idols was taken up again and again. They were bound to activity not only on weekends but on weekdays, and while other part-time jobs were forbidden, there were cases in which sufficient pay was not given, it was pointed out. One article conveyed an example of earning only a meager monthly income, and the structure in which fans buy large quantities of CDs to provide support.

Problems over contracts were spoken of as well. There were reported accounts of being asked for a high penalty fee when trying to quit partway through the term. The point of whether idol activity constitutes labor in the legal sense, and its relation to the minimum wage, have also been debated among experts. Precisely because it is a job that sells a dream, the rights of the workers who should be protected became hard to see — the underground idol scene laid bare that difficulty.

Thus Japan’s idols branched from the center of television out to countless scenes, and shrank the distance from fans without limit. Going to meet them, taking photographs, supporting their activity through cheering — that intimate relationship grew into something with few parallels in the world. But just around then, across the sea, idols forged on an entirely different philosophy were gathering their strength. Armed with thorough training and a global strategy, a polished and formidable rival was coming.