Doesn't matter, japanese celebrities can't even sneeze without having people criticize them; not to be edgy, but just look at how they treat r*pe victims and how more often than not the victims end up getting it worse than the culprit(s).Why is he being treated like one of those pitiful Japanese girl idols who can't live any sort of life, as long as they have a contract with a (yakuza) agency? That single paparazzi photo is also meaningless. It shows the dude obviously uncomfortable, wearing a mask, assaulted by some random girls in the middle of the street. It bears absolutely no significance.
Dude should switch agents, but of course he won't because he's Japanese and used to apologising for his sheer existence.
And what does that change? Everybody and their cats'n'dogs knows that's how garbage papers work. So, certain types of people buy them to read the articles that are 90% fiction and 10% fact. Whether any among the buyers actually believe what they read is irrelevant, they just want to read that kind of stuff. So, it won't actually affect a celebrity's status at all, if it's as ignificant as this. There's basically nothing you can do to prevent it, either, since the "news" are fake. It's not like the photo would be showing him entering a love hotel with the girls, or anything of that sort. It shows exactly what it shows, which is a whole lot of nothing.Doesn't matter, japanese celebrities can't even sneeze without having people criticize them; not to be edgy, but just look at how they treat r*pe victims and how more often than not the victims end up getting it worse than the culprit(s).
Besides, a single unedited photo is more than enough for tabloid magazines to simply make up some story about "rising star being caught with his harem of prostitutes and him reacting in disgust when one of them hugs him publicly in spite of him thinking of them as just onaholes. Truth doesn't matter for tabloids, only amount of sold copies, so they simply state whatever they want, pin it as a "rumour" or "hearsay" and cash in the money.
You are missing something of key importance when it comes to Japanese, honestly, East Asian Culture with celebrities and people in general. The fact that he was even involved in that fake story, enough so that a real picture exists (fuck context), is enough for people to blame him;And what does that change? Everybody and their cats'n'dogs knows that's how garbage papers work. So, certain types of people buy them to read the articles that are 90% fiction and 10% fact. Whether any among the buyers actually believe what they read is irrelevant, they just want to read that kind of stuff. So, it won't actually affect a celebrity's status at all, if it's as ignificant as this. There's basically nothing you can do to prevent it, either, since the "news" are fake. It's not like the photo would be showing him entering a love hotel with the girls, or anything of that sort. It shows exactly what it shows, which is a whole lot of nothing.