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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Hello! Project board asked fans to name “the most ‘who cares’ scandal in the group’s history,” and users who remember those days piled on with one memory after another. From Natchi’s plagiarism controversy to a “yakiniku incident” reminiscent of the SMAP era, all the way to the story of a bugging device hidden inside a stuffed animal gifted to Rika Ishikawa, the thread filled up with the kind of trivia unique to Hello! Project’s 2000s heyday. At the same time, genuinely serious cases that actually forced a member into retirement — like Ai Murakami’s “shared umbrella” scandal — got mixed in too, sparking disagreement over exactly where the line for “who cares” should be drawn.
What people said
She was literally just walking through Ikebukuro in broad daylight with a classmate
Ono/Akiyama's gay bar visit
Oda's paparazzi photo shoot
but I remember being surprised that every Sma fan I knew all knew about stuff like the "yakiniku personal message" or the "five months is a long time" line.
I still don't think it was a big deal, but apparently it was that shocking for them
She's basically a treasure trove of incidents symbolizing the chaotic 2channel culture of that era
Even the "will she or won't she" debate was about Ishikawa
I wonder why that is?
Photos were even published and it blew up into a firing controversy on the Ookami (idol) board, but it had zero effect on her personally
During a Niconico Live-style livestream,
Kamei's boyfriend's name was set as a banned word in the chat
The main character just kept getting fatter and fatter as the story went on
That literally forced her into retirement, so it's not exactly "who cares," lol
That's been a thing since the Gomaki era, right?
Doesn't that culture exist anymore?
Background and points of debate
Hello! Project ran multiple groups simultaneously through the 2000s, building up a history where tabloid scoops and 2channel culture itself got passed down as “incidents.” The morningcoffee board has long covered Hello! Project as a whole rather than any single group, which gives fans of different generations common ground to bond over shared references. Where the thread split was over the standard for “who cares” itself — anecdotes that caused no real damage to anyone’s career were placed side by side with events that ended up having serious consequences, like Ai Murakami’s retirement or Eri Kamei’s firing controversy. It’s also worth noting for readers that many of the stories raised aren’t officially confirmed facts so much as rumors and personal recollections passed down among fans at the time, so some mix of unverified claims should be expected.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Hello! Project) thread “[Breaking] The Most “Who Cares” Scandal in Hello! Project History wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”
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