A Fan Who Allegedly Turned To Sex Work To Support An Idol Was Found Guilty Of Burying Her Baby
Details about a 29-year-old woman’s personal life began to emerge after she was accused of–and later sentenced for– burying her newborn infant in her parents’ garden.
Minagawa Kotomi, a former university employee and nursery school teacher, was sentenced by Japan’s Nagoya District Court to 18 months in prison, suspended for three years, after she was found guilty of disposing of her daughter’s body at her parents’ home in Tokoname in April of 2023.
Minagawa’s mother found the remains, wrapped in a pink towel, while weeding the garden at around 10:15 a.m. on April 18, 2023. Neither Minagawa’s mother nor her father knew about her pregnancy. An autopsy revealed that the infant, who had no visible wounds on her body, had been stillborn.
Prior to Minagawa’s sentencing, local news outlets published details about her circumstances. To pay for her rent and support an idol, Minagawa reportedly began doing sex work at nightlife establishments. This is where, according to one acquaintance, she met her late child’s father.
I heard that the infant was fathered by a man she met [at one of the businesses], but it seems that nobody really knows the identity of the father.
— Acquaintance of Minagawa Kotomi
According to this acquaintance, Minagawa became a steadfast fan of a popular male “chika aidoru” (an underground idol who is independently managed and performs at small venues) back in 2017. One insider described this idol as a pioneer who experienced limited success.
He originally very popular, but in the end, [the group’s] CDs did not sell as well as they had hoped, and fans who had supported them for a long time took desperate measures to support them.
— Club Insider
Minagawa was allegedly one of the fans who worked tirelessly to support the idol’s career after his popularity began to wane.
She has been hooked [on him] and attending all of the events of his group all over Japan. She spent a lot of money, and she couldn’t even pay her mobile telephone or utility bills. There were many times when the electricity in her apartment was turned off.
— Acquaintance of Minagawa Kotomi
In exchange for making mass CD purchases to support the idol–which totalled around 1 million yen (about $7,011 USD) per month–Minagawa, and other fans who made these investments, received photo sessions with the idol.
In the underground idol world, it is standard to hold a photo session after a CD purchase at a price of several thousand yen. Zealous fans will do this multiple times. [. . .] The members engage in hugging, leaning [toward the fans] and do some body touching.
— Club Insider
An acquaintance of the idol said that the idol became aware of Minagawa’s case after seeing news reports, and that the idol was interviewed by the police during the investigation.
[The idol] seems to have somehow guessed that the suspect was working in the sex trade, but when he was active in the group, he could only follow the [group’s management office] policy of ‘support’ [i.e. excessive CD buying]. In all honesty, he said that he was disgusted with such an approach. I also heard that he and his office were interviewed by the police in connection with this incident.
— Idol’s Acquaintance
“In order to make a profit, [companies] put a burden on the members and force them to engage in ‘love business,’ and then they make the fans outlay large sums of money,” the club insider said, commenting on the “dark side” of idols’ relationship with fans. “I pray that there will be no more incidents due to this darkness.”
