kanerich comments

If the South Koreans can meet with North Korea, a country that considers South Korea to be an illegitimate puppet state with which it remains technically at war, I think Japan can deal with a dessert that has Takeshima on it at a summit which they are not attending.

Hashimoto has more integrity than the millions of Japanese who get off on his extreme comments then claim to their gaijin friends they don't agree with Hashimoto and they have "no idea" why he is popular or widely covered by the media. They know exactly why, and they like it. Hashimoto at least is honest about the sort of man he is, and he is correct that more Japanese need to take that honest approach, even if it means pissing people off and starting fights, if these historical disputes are ever to be settled.

ICONIQ just seems like such a terribly contrived name for a repackaged pop idol group member, I don't really care how cute she has mysteriously become after a brief professional hiatus. Besides when I hear "ICONIQ" all I can think of is UNIQLO, which presumably is not what they were going for.

I'm not sure their case proves anything. I agree Mifune and Takahashi seem like good people and quite happily married. However, they originally met while filming a movie when Mifune was 14 and Takahashi was 38. I don't know where you draw the line at what constitutes an age-inappropriate relationship but I have to feel like that gets awfully close.

It worked out for them, great. But I would be uncomfortable presenting their case as some kind of presumptive evidence that 40-year old adults should be free from social scrutinty in pursuing romantic relationships with middle schoolers.