Just when you thought that the scandal would die down after Hirosue Ryoko's admission of her affair...the next installment in the saga came in an unexpected manner.
Perhaps if Hirosue did admit straightaway that she was having an affair, things might not have gotten this messy because the following week after her denial, Bunshun published the private letters and exchange diary written by her and her lover Toba Shuusaku. This was said to be the key factor that led to her admission since the proof of her infidelity was out in the open. It makes me wonder though - who had access to these private correspondence and leaked it to the media? And is Bunshun going to stop at this revelation or go ahead with more private revelations?
It may be common for the cheated-on spouses to speak up for their cheating husbands or wives in the Japanese entertainment world but most of the time, they issue written statements to the media only instead of appearing in person. As such, for them to come out into the open voluntarily like what Hirosue's husband Candle Jun did on 18 Jun 2023, it was definitely very unusual in more ways than one.
First of all, he was said to have organised the event on his own and there were no staff members present on site so he even had to be at the reception for the registration of the reporters. In addition, there was no host to help with the proceedings of the event so he was effectively both the MC and interviewee. Last but not least, the reason or rather purpose of this press conference was seemingly about giving his version of the story about his marriage and his wife's affair but it was intertwined with various topics like his thoughts about peace, disaster recovery efforts and SDGs so it makes people wonder what his true intention was.
For those who are interested in reading the full transcript of what he said, you can view Nikkansports' report
here.
Frankly speaking, my first thought after reading about this press conference was, is he trying to help Hirosue clean up her tattered image or put himself in a more favourable position for future divorce proceedings? By giving all these details about their troubled marriage and painting her as a somewhat emotionally unstable person who was a repeat offender when it came to affairs, it certainly doesn't help in repairing their strained relationship nor make it possible for them to reconcile. And much as he tried to say that he wants to protect their children including the eldest child from Hirosue's first marriage, all these details will no doubt remain in the public domain for a long time and affect the kids as they grow older.
On the other hand, for him to go to this extent and washing dirty linen in public, it comes across as a desperate attempt to clear the air about the misunderstandings about him and her and save their marriage especially since he mentioned death threats, rumours and false allegations made against him. Compared to Hirosue, he is not exactly a celebrity and may not have the same resources to give his version of their story in the public domain. As such, a lot of what is known about him and their marriage comes from media reports which may not be accurate or in line with the truth. And since the situation facing him may be quite dire now, this could be why he had decided to step out at this moment.
No doubt at this stage, it is his word against hers for now until Hirosue herself decides to go public with her version of the story. I don't think that her agency will allow her to self-destruct like that though because they probably won't be able to control what she says and the narrative if they do a press conference. As such, the preferred handling method should be letting the storm die down over time. However, with Candle Jun stepping out like this and giving first-hand information away so freely, this storm probably won't end so soon especially since it is developing from a relatively straightforward affair scandal to one with a troubled marriage exposed for all to see.
My purpose of translating this is not to take sides or criticise one side for being more at fault.
What I thought was especially worth highlighting among the various points Candle Jun made was what the spouses and family members of celebrities have to bear with to stay outside the limelight and yet have untruths being circulated against their own will but they have no way of setting things straight. And when something happens to the celebrity, these people are the ones who may have it a lot worse but nobody knows about their pains. Especially since most media outlets paint an entirely different picture of Hirosue now as compared to what her husband says (the good things about her), the gap between these two extremes only serve to divide people further as to how they view this issue. As such, please do not get overly affected or upset over what may be said by Candle Jun or the media because it is normal that we will all have differing opinions even if we are looking at the same thing.
And there are always two sides to the coin.
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Given the length of the press conference, I will just list down the key points pertaining to the scandal and their marriage.
* He apologised for the inconvenience and trouble which his wife caused to everyone.
* Clarified that Hirosue has never neglected her duties as a mother despite what some media reports claimed. She is a great wife to him and the best mother to their three children. She does her best for everyone in the family and is a wonderful woman.
* He has always known that his words would be misinterpreted and/or taken out of context ever since he married Hirosue in 2010. However, this wasn't the sole fault of the media because he himself was also not careful with his words. As such, it created the misunderstanding that he would "do something" to retaliate against his wife's affair scandal when he made a public comment on 11 Jun that everyone should "look forward" to what he was going to do in the near future although he didn't mean it that way.
* When he first met Hirosue, she was emotionally unstable but had gone through a complete change after marriage to become a good wife and mother. She used to contact him almost every night by phone calls and letters right from the beginning which he was happy about but also worried about her young son at that time. He suggested bringing her son along when they went out. At that time, the boy was very resistant to any adult men who came close to his mother and would kick and beat these people so it was important for them to spend time together and for the boy to accept him. Candle Jun revealed that he was friends with the boy's birth father and promised the latter that he would raise the boy well.
* Despite what others said in the media, they were a happy family. However, at the time when they got married, her agency's president made him promise that he would not release any photos of them together or talk about their family in public. Although he was not able to understand why he had to do that, he was aware that his unconventional appearance including his looks, tattoos, ear piercing would probably reflect negatively on Hirosue. And in order to meet the expectations of her agency and family, he stopped going out at night, hanging out in entertainment districts, taking on jobs which required him to work at night and drinking outside because he didn't want the media to write about anything controversial which could hurt her and their children. This was in huge contrast to his pre-marriage lifestyle.
* As he doesn't know the entertainment industry well, his own guess as to why Hirosue's behaviour changed drastically was due to the pressure of meeting expectations from everyone around her especially since she debuted at a very young age. And being someone who expects a lot from herself, she tried to deal with all these which ended up causing damage to her psychological health.
* Candle Jun went to great lengths to state that Hirosue was a very hands-on mother and would do her best for the household and kids without paying too much attention to her appearance e.g. no make-up, no perfume or not doing much for beauty. However, when she was under immense pressure, she would suddenly dress in a loud manner, put on heavy make-up and be unable to sleep at night. She developed the habit of writing down her thoughts and had to be in constant contact with anyone so as to feel at ease.
* Despite her problematic behaviour multiple times, he was constantly told by her agency to tolerate this and hide it from the public. As such, there was nothing he could do but to look on helplessly from the sidelines. And he felt that the person who had it worst than him or her agency's president when Hirosue behaved like this was her mother. Given that Hirosue would distant herself from anyone who tried to drive some sense into her whenever she behaved strangely, her mother could only look on and bear with the pain of seeing her daughter be like this as she didn't want Hirosue to push her away. No matter what happened, his mother-in-law would just tolerate everything even as she often came over to take care of their kids. Even Hirosue's relatives and friends were unable to say anything frankly to her. However, as Hirosue's behaviour got worse, Candle Jun realised that her family seemed to be supportive of her getting a divorce as the solution to the problem. This was when his mother-in-law asked him if he could at least give a date as to when he would divorce Hirosue when he asked for help to deal with the situation.
It was also then when Hirosue would start going out at night because she viewed Candle Jun's silence to her erratic behaviour as a sign that he was angry at her even though he actually didn't want to agitate her further by speaking out.
* Hirosue's behaviour would escalate for the worse whenever she was told off so she would often make unreasonable requests such as asking people to sing karaoke with her till dawn or go to the beach with her on short notice or stay by her side all the time and not leave her alone. However, Candle Jun couldn't confide in anyone nor seek help because he was made to promise to keep this behaviour a secret.
* Candle Jun said that he had always been receiving intimidating calls, messages and letters ever since he got married. There was even a death threat in 2011 where about 30 police officers came to ask him to cancel a public event in Shibuya but to date, they haven't been able to find the culprit nor know the motive.
* The couple's second son and youngest daughter did not know that their eldest brother's father is not Candle Jun until this affair scandal broke. They had planned to tell the younger children about this when they grow older so for this to be known in such a way, it was difficult and he worried about how they would be affected even though they are innocent parties in this issue. He also felt bad that his neighbours, both at his residence and office, were so concerned and worried for him but thankful for their words of encouragement. He called upon everyone including the media and netizens to be mindful of what they say and report on for the sake of their children as well as the other party's children (Hirosue's lover) because they are innocent victims and should be left out of this. If there is anyone who wants to hear what he has to say, they should come to him directly instead of disturbing the children. He also felt regret over not stopping Hirosue earlier and if he had gone to Toba's place earlier to talk to him, he might have been able to stop this from being revealed in public.
* Currently, Hirosue and the children are staying at somewhere safe arranged by her agency while he sleeps at his office or atelier. Before the scandal broke, Hirosue's mother revealed that Hirosue already wanted to divorce him because she felt that he would get angry when she talked to people on the phone in the middle of the night. Hirosue herself also told him not to come home as she was stressed and couldn't sleep when he was around. He had to move out in the end because she brought up the topic of divorce to their kids even though they hadn't talked about it and asked them to choose between staying with their father or mother. As the sons wanted to protect Hirosue, they chose her on the spot while their daughter kept on crying. The last time they were in contact was the day when she issued her public apology for the affair and she said sorry to him over the phone. (
Source)
* There was once in the past when he went to meet another man who Hirosue had an affair with without her knowing. The other party felt that she was abnormal at that time and they reached a settlement then. However, he did not mention who this person was.
* He went to visit Toba's wife to apologise for what happened but stopped short of meeting her because he didn't know how Toba would feel to see him come alone as he saw Toba's car there. Candle Jun then dropped a written message into the mailbox but received no reply. Before he could talk to Toba directly, the latter had already released an apology statement on the same day as Hirosue did. When he searched online for the phone number of Toba's office, he was further angered by the staff who answered the call and even asked him why he was calling despite identifying himself by his real name. The staff claimed that Toba was working remotely elsewhere and there was no further word from him. Candle Jun claimed that he will be consulting a lawyer on the next steps to take. (
Source)
* He was fully aware that whatever he said here would destroy what her family has been protecting all this while and may torment Hirosue further. However, he wanted to be able to talk to her directly on what to do for their kids and there was no way he could reach her other than making his thoughts known through this press conference. (
Source)
* Candle Jun's real name is Hirosue Jun because he took on her surname after marrying her. In Japan, the wife usually takes on the husband's surname upon marriage but it was reported that he did the reverse. This was so that their eldest son from her previous marriage would not have to change his surname a second time because Candle Jun married his mother.
