Oh it’s always fun to see one of your favourite idols in the news, isn’t it, especially if you can find out interesting little details about what they’re up to in their spare time when the camera’s are not rolling.
The story in a nutshell: Hey!Say!JUMP’s Morimoto Ryutaro met with a 17-year-old boy at a family restaurant near his home in Yokohama last night. The 17-year-old had been following Ryutaro around for months, and Ryutaro met up with him to tell him to stop it. Outside the restaurant the 17-year-old then told Ryutaro that he was carrying a knife. Ryutaro got scared, the other boy grabbed his arm, Ryutaro got scared even more and took out his mobile phone to call his parents. The 17-year-old grabbed the phone and ran away. He was later arrested by police. The incident occurred at around 11:45pm last night. The 17-year-old suspect described himself as a “fan” and had previously been hanging around the neighbourhood and making phone calls to Ryutaro’s home and his cellphone. In fact, Ryutaro’s parents had already reported the boy to the local police as early as December last year. (Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 6)
Okay, stalkers are creepy and everything, especially if they carry knives, but…
Can somebody please tell me why parents would let their 14-year-old (idol or not) walk the streets on his own late at night? Especially when they know that he’s being stalked?
I’m imagining this conversation at the Morimoto family home last night at around 11pm:
Papa Morimoto: Oi, where’s Ryutaro?
Mama Morimoto: He’s at the restaurant, meeting with that boy who’s been following him around for half a year.
Papa Morimoto: Oh is he?
Mama Morimoto: Yeah, he’s going to ask him to stop stalking him.
Papa Morimoto: Oh, that’s good, isn’t it?
Shintaro: Yeah, that’s definitely gonna work. >.>
Honestly, people, what the hell is wrong with you?
The crime rate in Japan may be lower than in most western countries, but still this is kinda irresponsible isn’t it? If this had happened in London Ryutaro‘d probably be dead now.
