On Aug. 30, former idol singer and tell-all autobiographer Hiromi Go staged an unannounced live show from the back of a tractor trailer parked near the Hachiko intersection in Shibuya. The five-minute performance, which featured four other dancers, stopped traffic and clogged up the area as pedestrians rushed to catch a glimpse of Go's hairless, flabless torso.
The police, however, were not entertained and have since raided several show-biz companies to determine whether or not laws were broken and someone should be punished.
Pretty reckless stuff, especially for a singer who once epitomized the nice-boy idol image that the mavens of J-pop have hoisted on the Japanese public over the last three decades. No one in show business pulls a stunt like that without a good reason and at least some guarantee of a beneficial return in the long run. What did Go accomplish with his high-wire act? He showed everybody that, at 43, he's still got the stuff of idols, if maybe not the manners.