2025.05.19
Do you know what the biggest topic in the KPOP scene is as of now (May 19)?
Rather, it would not be an exaggeration to say that it is currently the biggest topic in KPOP for 2025.
Yes, it is the “シュシュ女”.
The large KPOP festival “KCON JAPAN2025” was held at Makuhari Messe from May 9 (Friday) to May 11 (Sunday).
Since Kep1er was also performing, the author participated on the 9th and 10th.
In addition to artist live performances, KCON features a meet-and-greet event called “ミーグリ” that includes talk events and farewell sessions, and an incident occurred during this ミーグリ.
To participate in the ミーグリ, a ticket costing 8900 yen (about 10,000 yen including fees) is required for each artist, and most fans purchase this ticket with the intention of attending the farewell session.
For those wondering what a farewell session is, it is where fans walk past their favorite group as they literally send off each fan leaving the event. There is time to exchange a word or two, and fans can receive direct words from their favorites like “I love you~” or “Thank you always,” making it an irresistible event for fans.
Moreover, normally, events like this require purchasing CDs to have a chance to participate, and even if you buy 10 CDs costing around 1500 to 2000 yen each, it is common not to win. In other words, being able to participate for a guaranteed 10,000 yen in an event where you might spend nearly 20,000 yen without winning is a must-attend event for KPOP fans.
However, this year, a major problem occurred at the farewell session of the ミーグリ, which was supposed to be a fun event.
That was the excessive “剥がし” towards fans.
“剥がし” refers to the act of staff pulling fans away from the artists, and to put it bluntly, this year’s KCON ミーグリ剥がし was abnormal. A certain female staff member who was performing the剥がし was wearing a chouchou on her head, leading to her being called “シュシュ女” on X (formerly Twitter), and the video of the剥がし quickly spread, causing “シュシュ女” to trend.
With over 2.8 million followers on X, the strongest influencer in the X community, Takizawa Gareso, also covered it (the post with the video attached recorded a staggering 74,000 likes and 33.49 million views as of May 19), and the name “シュシュ女” became known to people beyond KPOP.
After that, it was also covered on AbemaTV’s AbemaPrime and on the YouTube channel of the comedy duo Shimofuri Myojo, with media that usually do not cover KPOP also jumping on this topic.
Then, the aggressive online identification team quickly obtained the personal information of “シュシュ女” and spread it online, triggering an unending stream of defamation.
While I think it is excessive to identify an individual and defame them, the way the staff treated the customers who paid 10,000 yen to be there was, to put it mildly, unacceptable.
I participated in the Kep1er ミーグリ farewell session, and even while walking normally, I was pushed by staff, and the farewell session for ZEROBASEONE (commonly known as ゼベワン), which sparked the outrage, was even worse than Kep1er’s.
If you look at the video shared on X below, you will understand that anyone would be angry if they paid 10,000 yen for this.
And some may wonder about this.
Is it that this is the first time such a problem has arisen? In fact, that is not the case.
Recently, the attitude of staff at KPOP offline events has often been criticized.
So why did this particular incident spread so widely and become a major issue? It is simply because KCON allowed filming with smartphones as a general rule.
At regular offline events in Japan, filming is not permitted (though there are very rare events where filming is allowed), and even if the staff’s attitude is terrible, there is no way to leave evidence.
However, this time, clear evidence of the staff’s剥がし was left, causing those who had been dissatisfied until now to explode with their frustrations.
Seeing the seriousness of the situation, KCON published an apology on their website, and the event company “STARTPOINT,” which dispatched the staff, also officially issued an apology.
Honestly, it is quite rare for the organizers to apologize for such issues.
In the past, fans often had to suffer in silence. There must have been significant protests, and perhaps Samsung, the main sponsor of this KCON, also had something to say.
Of course, it cannot be denied that there are troublesome fans, and I believe that a firm stance should be taken against such individuals.
However, how can one justify treating fans who are following the rules and participating quietly in such a manner? I strongly hope that this incident will prompt event organizers and management companies to return to operations that consider the fans.
Fans go to beauty salons and dress up to meet their favorites.
Some people even travel from distant places just for this day.
This KCON ミーグリ farewell session cost 10,000 yen, but in events where you have to buy CDs to have a chance to meet, some people spend around 100,000 yen.
I hope that the feelings of fans who spend such money and time looking forward to their time with their favorites are considered a little more.
Is there any store that treats customers who have paid a lot of money so dismissively?
Isn’t it too much to take your favorites hostage and treat them poorly?
I’m not saying to be kind.
Just please act normally. That is all we, the fans, wish for.
End
猫町ぺこー
SKOOTA KPOP部チーム長
Originally a Western rock music fan, I once considered working for Rockin’ On. I started listening to KPOP due to BTS and later became obsessed with BLACKPINK, stepping into the KPOP world. I became a hardcore fan of Kep1er, who debuted from the survival audition program “Girls Planet 999,” and as a result, I fully immersed myself in the KPOP world.
