Takahiro Sakurai, a popular seiyu known for voicing Reigen Arataka in Mob Psycho 100, has been embroiled in an adultery scandal after an article appeared in Bunshun Online. The voice actor and radio personality explained the details of his affair in the final episode of a radio show he had hosted for nine years, which then went off the air.
Takahiro Sakurai is best known for playing Reigen Arataka in Mob Psycho 100, as well as Yuuji Kazami from the Grisaia series, Suzaku from Code Geass, Meme Oshino from the Monogatari Series, and Rohan Kishibe from Jojo: Diamond is Unbreakable.
Ten Years of Cheating
According to online reports and Mr. Sakurai’s comments on the radio program, he had been in an adulterous affair with a female broadcast staffer named Ms. Ako for ten years despite being married. Ms. Ako was seeing Sakurai for ten years without knowing he was in fact married. When she found out the truth through the Bunshun Online article, she quit her job in shock.
A Popular Voice Actor Has Been Caught Cheating. Who Cares?
This strange news event is a good chance to learn something about Japanese society. There are a few bizarre cultural hang-ups that Japanese people have as a group, including a strong mistrust of anyone with tattoos and a happy acceptance of “health mask culture” that was common long before COVID appeared. Another strange hang-up is a love of socially lambasting anyone who gets caught in an adulterous relationship.
In Japan’s entertainment world, getting caught cheating is a serious no-no, up there with being officially charged with a crime by police. Japan’s busybody masukomi — the word for the news media, from “mass communications,” though most people call it mass gomi because it’s usually garbage — loves to catch actors or movie directors or professional baseball players coming out of a love hotel with a person who isn’t their designated spouse. Newspapers and magazines then spend weeks being judgemental about the indiscretion, as if they were perfect.
It wouldn’t be worth mentioning to Western fans if there weren’t a nonzero chance it could affect the anime that we all love. Singer Aska of the band Chage & Aska was arrested for possession of marijuana right before the release of a Studio Ghibli Blu-ray set that contained the music video On Your Mark. The Blu-ray was removed from the boxed set as punishment to the singer…though it was re-issued to fans a couple months later so they could own the complete disc set.
In theory, if a popular seiyu were involved in a bad enough scandal in a currently-airing anime, the show could be put on hiatus and his voice actor changed out for someone else. Let’s hope this doesn’t happen to season 3 of Mob Psycho 100.
Japan’s Unique Culture Around Adultery
The Japanese word for adultery is 不倫 furin, literally meaning “immoral.” Cheating on a partner you’re not yet married to is called 浮気 uwaki, literally “floating attention.” It’s also frowned upon, but on a much lower level.
In Japan, female adultery used to be a crime punishable by several years in prison. It was called 姦通罪 kantsuuzai and only applied to women or their partners, never to a man who cheated on his wife. The law was abolished in 1947 as Japan was adopting its postwar Constitution which declared equality between men and women. Interestingly, adultery was also a crime in South Korea and was only abolished recently, in 2015. I’ve watched many a Korean drama with Mrs. J-List where the plot revolved around whether a woman and her lover could escape being charged with this crime when her husband found out about their relationship. Now that it’s not illegal I guess they’ll have to come up with new storylines.
In the end, it’s quite odd the way Japanese media is ready to pounce on adults going about their day, potentially ruining their careers. To my mind, if a man or woman cheats on their spouse, it’s a serious but private situation involving the couple only, and is none of our business.
Got any thoughts on this strange story?
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