Drunk and Naked in Japan? That's a First

Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, one of the 5 members of the hugely popular boy-band-entertainment-super-power known as SMAP, was arrested at 2am yesterday for doing something nearly every Japanese man has done sometime in his life: Get drunk and take off his clothes in public. In a country where comunal bathing is common place, the media drumming he is getting seems a bit over-blown. I can't count the number of times I have seen a Japanese man who has had 5 too many drinks start taking off his clothes. I remember one guy pull down his pants while a friend of his lit his ass hair on fire. A teacher freind of mine sang a little song about penises and at the end pulled his out. These antics were performed in PUBLIC and drew roars of laughter from everyone around.

So, what is it about a talento (celebrities) when they do similarly stupid things that they have to get crucified? A few years ago another of the members of SMAP was stopped for speeding, and the public out cry was immediate and harsh. Like Kusanagi, Goro lost all of his lucrative advertising gigs, and was banned from television for months. What's the deal? Here is an actual quote from Kunio Hatoyama, minister of internet and communications which hired Kusanagi for the switch to digital campaign:

"It's embarrassing. He is a character who is calling for public understanding of the cancellation of analog broadcasting, which will burden the people. I have no choice but to think he is a disgusting person."

A disgusting person? What about Japanese Finance Minister Shoichi Nakagawa getting drunk and attending the G7 meeting in Rome last month? Maybe he should have gotten naked too...