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The scandal over celebrity Mona Yamamoto, 32, hit Fuji TV and resulted in her withdrawal from “Sakiyomi” news program after only one appearance. Much criticism concerned her inappropriate behavior as a TV anchor. But was her behavior really as irregular and immoral as critics say?
Well-known TV anchor and journalist Yuko Ando, 49, whom Yamamoto took over for on "Sakiyomi," reportedly had adulterous affairs twice. She had a relationship with a married man who finally divorced and married her in 1989. That marriage ended in divorce and Ando again married a news producer in 2006 after a 10-year adulterous affair with him. But she never had to give up her news programs in disgrace.
Ex-NHK announcer and freelancer Mitsuyo Kusano, 41, was also reported to have had an affair with a married man during her regular appearance on a news program in 2002. Although she denied the claims, she was never penalized in any way by her network.
What makes the recent cases a big deal? Media critic Yoichi Matsuo points out that the reaction of sponsor companies is more important than TV anchors themselves. He says, “If you are going to punish announcers who are employees of TV stations, then their bosses also have to take responsibility for a scandal, and that puts sponsors in an awkward position. Hence, TV stations tend to make softer decisions with one scapegoat. In the case of freelancers, it totally depends on sponsor companies. If the sponsors complain about the scandal, TV producers can attribute it to bad management by freelancers' agents.”
What is clear is that TV stations don't have any universal morality. Some might be sympathetic toward Yamamoto who has lost all her jobs on TV, radio and ads. (Translated by Taro Fujimoto)
© Japan Today
10 Comments
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blackfeet
The difference is that Mona is not Japanese.
franz75
Japanese or not has nothing to do here. She had adulterous affairs with public persons.
John Lawrence
One point to note here - Mona is significantly younger than the others mentioned in this article. Even though Yuko Ando started romping around 20 years ago and was about the same age Mona was when started her dalliances (around 29), impressions of such liasons were different back then.
I'll bet Mona's relative youth backfired on her here.
Richard_the_First
Plus her beauty too. Jealousy
IchyaParadise
I seriously doubt it was from her beauty, way better woman on air then her that are romping around. This is her second big time adulterous affair. One with a public official and the other with a kinda "big" name baseball player. I agree with Zonker that the times have changed. And she did not lose all her jobs cause she still on London Boots...at least for now.
NagoyaGaijin
But..why don't the cheating guys get any crap? The women are supposed to feel so terrible for the role as homewrecker, I suppose..but what about the married guys who are romping as well..why aren't they taken to task as well?
blackfeet
Franz75, please read the article before answer.
other women have also adulterous afaire, but have not resign.
She was the only one, who should do it.
Unfortunately, she was not totaly Japanese...
terebiko
As far as I can see, nobody needs to resign at all. These affairs are private matters, not public. If what they are doing doesn't affect their performance at work, then so what. The morality of these announcers has little to do with the lowering morality in Japan, when so many other public figures, television programs and magazines/manga seem to blatantly promote immorality.
I also agree with NagoyaGaijin. Hey, it takes two to tango, so why are the women the only ones being punished and not the men. Oh, I forgot, it's a cultural thing.
IchyaParadise, Mona's probably still on LondonBoots because they taped those episodes. She should be back on a lot of shows soon though.
Triple888
Cameras make people feel kinky.
bushlover
She can come to me for some consolation.