A family trip video that former AKB48 member Tomomi Itano posted on YouTube has sparked controversy over a scene showing her drying her daughter’s hair in the changing room of the Ritz-Carlton Nikko, with viewers asking “Isn’t that a privacy violation?” and “Did she actually have permission to film there?” On the 5th, Itano explained on X that she had “obtained special filming permission from the hotel,” but a report from Shukan Josei PRIME published on the 7th claimed no such permission had been granted for the changing room. In response, rakugo performer Tatekawa Shiraku wrote on X on the 8th, “Just say ‘sorry, I lacked common sense,’ and it’s over” and “Social media is truly frightening — it’s like it’s hunting for prey every single day.” On 5ch’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ board, opinions were split both on Shiraku’s comment and on the backlash itself.
Rakugo performer Tatekawa Shiraku updated his X account on the 8th, addressing the ongoing controversy surrounding former AKB48 member Tomomi Itano’s video.
The controversy began with a video Itano uploaded to YouTube documenting a family trip to Nikko. It showed her stay at the luxury Ritz-Carlton Nikko (Tochigi Prefecture), but a scene in which she blow-dries her eldest daughter’s hair in the changing room of the hotel’s large communal bath drew a wave of criticism over privacy violations and accusations of secret filming.
Whether she had permission to film in the changing room became a subject of debate on social media. On the 5th, Itano explained on her own X account, “As for this scene, we filmed it after receiving special permission from the hotel. The Ritz-Carlton also cooperated with the filming of this video overall.” However, a report published on the 7th by Shukan Josei PRIME stated that no permission to film in the changing room had actually been granted.
Source: tokyo-sports.co.jp / Original article here
It's not secret filming, it's just filming to feed her own need for validation — totally different thing
Bullying dressed up as justice
In this case the biggest problem is that Itano lied, so that's not it
But she hasn't apologized, lol
Let's see how she reacts to being called someone who lacks common sense by Shiraku
It's not that someone's out hunting for prey — she's the one scattering the bait herself.
All she had to do was apologize honestly, but like a lot of other former idols, maybe it's pride — instead of apologizing she made up a false excuse (one that this time drags the hotel into trouble too), which just scatters even more bait
No, it's about time YOU apologized
'Finding prey,' lol
She'd be the one joking 'ugh, there's always some clueless person filming in the changing room,' don't take cameras in there
Right, right
You'd normally think celebrities would hate that kind of thing more
Seriously, this should've ended right away with 'my bad, I'll be more careful'
It's the response afterward that makes her look like a problem
What exactly do you think she did, in your head?
Jumping into a minefield and dancing around is on you
Quit doing what, exactly?
It's the celebrities who are desperately hunting for people to envy their high-class lifestyle
That kind of thing is just youthful indiscretion
All that needed was for an adult to tell them 'that's not okay'
Background and Key Points of This Topic
The controversy began with a discrepancy between Itano’s own explanation and a weekly magazine’s report over whether she had permission to film in the changing room — a private space. Rather than a simple accusation of secret filming, the criticism centered on distrust of the facts themselves: after she initially explained that she had “obtained special permission from the hotel,” a subsequent report contradicted that claim. On the thread, opinion split over Shiraku’s phrase “as if hunting for prey every day” — some criticized the surveillance-like atmosphere of social media, while others countered that TV and weekly magazines have long profited from these controversies in much the same way. The pattern where a story that could have ended with a single word of apology instead drags on because of how the person handles it afterward is something that has repeatedly come up in similar past controversies.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “Tatekawa Shiraku on Tomomi Itano Backlash: ‘Just Say Sorry, I Lacked Common Sense, and It’s Over’ / ‘Social Media Is Truly Scary — Like It’s Hunting for Prey Every Day’.”