Former idol Hana Honjo is talking about the side of the job that doesn’t make the handshake events. In a Nikkan Spa! interview published October 3, she says weight rules and constant pressure pushed her into mental illness before she left the industry and debuted in AV.
Honjo started as an idol in middle school, under a major agency, and later led her group. The selection process was brutal. Out of about 30 trainees, only nine got to perform live each month. To stay in the mix she memorized the vocal parts and formations for all nine, waiting for someone to drop out so she could step in.
The body rules were worse. She is 156 centimeters. Management ran mandatory weekly weigh-ins and wanted her around 40 kilograms. She calls that borderline harassment. Trying to set an example, she drove herself down to 38. She packed her own calorie-restricted bento, ate a little after lessons, then ran around the neighborhood. Some days she walked extra stations just to burn more.
She also says makura eigyo, trading sex for a better spot, is not an urban legend. Her own group was kept clear of it, but she saw it around her. The women who went that route, she says, were usually used up and dropped fast.
The pressure broke her. Public scrutiny turned into bipolar disorder and an eating disorder, plus a fear of being watched. She quit, disappeared from public view, and took a receptionist job at a women-only beauty salon, partly to get away from the male gaze and possible stalkers.
The spotlight pulled her back. Inspired by Yuna Ogura, she debuted in AV. For the debut she wore a replica of her old idol costume. Her former agency scrubbed her idol history off the internet. Old fans flooded her with hate messages.
She isn’t apologizing. She says the pay is better and she can finally eat what she wants. As an idol she bottled everything up and told herself enduring it would work out, until it didn’t. Now, in her words, she isn’t bound by anything, can act as she wants, and feels closer to herself than she did on stage.