Amidst the excitement about the recent series of surprise performances in Shanghai, many fans have been enraged by the inappropriate behaviour of YUI’s host at the Jiu Guang Departmental Store 7th Anniversary event.
Cai Xinyi ( ???), a local VJ, was the host of the anniversary event that YUI performed at on Saturday. After the event as he was taking a photo with YUI, fans caught him tugging on YUI’s hand to pull her closer beside him, subsequently putting his hand on her shoulder, and then moving down to her waist, for the photo.
Even though this is may not be an issue among various cultures, such close contact is very inappropriate in Japanese culture. As seen in these photos, YUI also seemed to be surprised by his actions. While some fans chose to grant him the benefit of doubt that he might not be familiar with Japanese courtesy, his status update on popular Chinese social media site WeiBo raises questions about his intentions and motives.
(Done with styling for the meet-and-greet session! Yui is waiting for me *drool*)
[Cai Xinyi’s Weibo page: http://www.weibo.com/caixinyi]
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This incident has even caught the eye of the press in Shanghai, and made it onto the papers as a half-page feature today on Oriental Daily:
A rough translation of the article:
translated by Tan Shi Yin on Facebook
The talented YUI whereby considered a music diva by some, decided to venture out of Japan this year. Following the earlier concert in Hong Kong which received unprecedented reaction from fans, YUI went to China this time to meet her fans. Like the time when she went to do a street live in Hong Kong Tsim Sha Tsui, she held a street live at ShangHai Xin Tian Di, resulting in a large group of fans supporting and watching her street live.
That afternoon, YUI went to Jiu Kuang Shopping Mall to perform, attracting a few thousand fans to turn up, after she sang together with the fans << Good-Bye Days>>, the male host took the chance and took a picture with YUI. Unexpectedly, the male host first held YUI’s hand and then wrapped around her shoulders followed by the waist.
Due to the fact that their idol got taken advantage of, the fans below the stage started to boo and some even displayed their middle finger thus showing their anger, till now the fans had been discussing about the male host’s action.
…
Following the popular group AKB48,YUI went and attended the Shanghai Japanese Cultural week and talked about her trip and described the difference she felt between Shanghai and HongKong. (…)
Web-version of the full article here http://orientaldaily.on.cc/cnt/entertainment/20110926/00288_019.html
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Fans in Hong Kong who were keeping track of the events in Shanghai were so enraged that they repeatedly e-mailed Sony Music Entertainment Hong Kong (SME HK). In response, SME HK posted this on its Facebook page:
??YUI???Fans, ??????????message, ????, ?????????????????????????????Sony Music China?????, ??????????????YUI???????. ?????????????, ??????????, ?????YUI?????????????????.
translation by cyclo
Dear YUI Fans in Hong Kong, we have received your messages, and early this morning, we have already forwarded the news to the headquarters in Japan, Sony Music China, as well as transmitted your displeasure directly to YUI’s managing company. Even though this incident did not occur in Hong Kong, but we will use this as a warning, in order to prevent similar incidents from happening in future when YUI visits Hong Kong.
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For those of you who have been concerned about this incident, there is some consolation in that a similar incident is unlikely to happen again. Meanwhile, fans across Asia remain concerned if this incident might scare YUI away from future promotional activities like this one.
