Note: If you want to get a handle on everything that happened with this story, why I added the point below, read the comments.

This is something that people need to take in.

[instagram_embedding url=”https://www.instagram.com/p/BNZRmyKBKfjpAOkBws8ugPZv_YcVSVSazXuD-A0/”]

If you can’t Japanese, Viz Major provided a translation (with extra clarification in the comments) [Viz Major’s post was taken down; a translation appears in the comments]. This is important stuff.

The girl in the picture is Kuromiya Rei, mostly known for her work in Ladybaby but also of Miss iD and Brats fame. She shared this photo as a celebration of her 16th birthday. The image belies real emotional damage being worked out by a young woman who’s been an object of sexploitation since she started modeling at an age in the single digits. Her history has been covered here and extensively gone over all over the J-music world. It in no way should be considered an indictment of Rei, but of the adults who exploited and failed her.

There’s a lot of pain in her message, and the emotional and psychological damage are written plainly on her face, but she also shows hope and happiness with where she is now.

Editing to clarify: The updated translation paints a different picture of Rei’s current state; she is happy with where she is now, and doesn’t feel dead inside the way she did before. Her biggest issue is the mounds of haterade from people who want to hold her responsible for the choices made for her by her parents and agents when she was a child. Basically everybody that I just mentioned who isn’t named Rei should be thrown off a bridge.

Returning to original: Her story is working toward a much happier ending than I’m sure she sometimes feels. Continue reading →