It’s a crowded market for minor celebrities and idols, especially if you come from the competitive ranks of AKB48 or its sister groups.
While a few former members have gone on to have major careers — mostly the original generations of idols — hundreds of others have faded from view or pursued careers like porn that they perhaps did not expect (but for which we are grateful).
That said, we think this is the first time we’ve heard of a former idol from the AKB-related groups turning to crime to make ends meet.
Juna Yamada (山田樹奈) was arrested on March 16 in Nagoya for fraud, reports Kotaku.
The 22-year-old, who joined the Nagoya-based SKE48 in early 2013 and left in January 2019 and is now without regular employment, apparently defrauded a man through a dating site (deai-kei site) — well-known places for fraudsters to trap unsuspecting men looking for romance or hook-ups, sometimes by pretending to be women, even famous ones.
The allegation is that Yamada swindled the man out of half a million yen in cash (about $5,000), claiming it would cove instruction fees related to financial investment.
She denies the charges. Three others were also arrested. Yamada’s role in the fraud is not quite clear but she might have served as the “persuasive” cutie who worked her magic on the victim.
You might think that Yamada could have used her former SKE fame to attract boyfriends willing to “compensate” her for dates — a common practice that is something of an open secret in the idol world, as the recent case of Nonno Satake shows — but it seems she hid her identity when registering on various deai sites and apps.
Perhaps fans can be grateful at least that Yamada didn’t turn to prostitution like was rumored about one of her former SKE colleagues.
