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The story
When NHK announced the lineup for its Kōhaku Uta Gassen (the broadcaster’s famous New Year’s Eve song contest), =LOVE and CUTIE STREET were revealed as first-time performers and AKB48 landed its second consecutive appearance — while Juice=Juice was left off the list entirely. In response, a crowd of several dozen fans reportedly gathered outside the Orix Theatre in Osaka, holding placards and banners reading “Let Juice perform!” and marching in protest toward NHK’s Osaka broadcasting station. Eyewitness reports flooded into a live-discussion thread on 5ch (Japan’s largest anonymous forum), but posters soon split between those questioning whether the protest really happened and those claiming police and talent-agency staff had shown up on scene — with plenty of accusations that posters were simply exaggerating.
What people said
Eyeballing it, there's a group of like 40 people doing a protest march lol
They're chanting "Let Juice perform! Let Juice perform!" and marching with placards and banners lol
Made it to the Yahoo front page already
"Fans stage protest march," huh
They could've just trash-talked normally, but instead they got all hyped up and started making stuff up — honestly par for the course lol
Today's "Gato" guy (a poster known for over-the-top troll posts) is hilarious lol
How do you keep coming up with one bit after another like that lol
Are you some kind of genius
Probably the "Gato" whose handle starts with "d"
That guy's a genuine genius
No pics or anything? lol
"Our Army" (Hello! Project fans' affectionate nickname for their own group) didn't get rejected — they turned it down
Every Hello! Project fan has heard the rumor that "our army" declines NHK's offer every single year before it's even formally extended
Our agency is the kind that tells its members to go home and relax with their parents at year's end
Totally different from the AKB camp ("Akekasu," a derogatory AKB nickname) that works its members right up to New Year's Eve
https://kizuna.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/morningcoffee/1794551604/
Stuck waiting in the park out front 😊
Kinda need to pee though
Guess I gotta hold it lol 🤣
Not even 40 people
I counted, it was 28
Some otaku were swinging their penlights around too, kind of dangerous
I get the feeling, but this is just pathetic, so cut it out
It just keeps growing lol
if you're lying about it, better not post it…
that can actually get you in legal trouble
If the agency actually wanted to, they could get IP disclosure on anyone slandering Juice without any trouble — these diehard fans ("ult fans") have just gone numb to that reality
Police are stepping in between them too
Wonder how this plays out
The guy wearing Reirei's (a Juice=Juice member's nickname) birthday shirt?
That's genuinely embarrassing, I wish they'd stop
Smells fake
C'mon, you can tell, surely
https://ift.tt/hB4q3V6
#NHKKouhaku @nhk_kouhaku
The guy's got real writing chops, way too skilled at this lol
Got me too lol
Hate to admit it, but yeah
Getting toyed with, having the thread padded out, being played like that — that's actually a crushing defeat for "Gato" right there
Background and Key Points
NHK never discloses its exact criteria for picking Kōhaku Uta Gassen performers each year, but the broadcaster is said to weigh factors like ratings and buzz before making its overall call. Fans of snubbed groups pushing back against a rejection is nothing new, but what stands out this time is that the backlash reportedly escalated into an actual protest march. That said, eyewitness accounts in the thread disagree on numbers and details, and some posters even question whether the demonstration really happened at all, so there isn’t much solid evidence to confirm what actually went on. The thread also floated the theory that “Hello! Project turns down NHK’s offer every year on its own,” but that’s just a rumor circulating among fans — not an official statement from the agency or NHK — and should be treated with caution.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Breaking] Crowd with placards and banners reading “Let Juice=Juice perform at Kōhaku!” staging a protest in front of the Orix Theatre, marching toward NHK Osaka lol.”
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