| The story below is originally published on Mainichi Daily News by Mainichi Shinbun (http://mdn.mainichi.jp). |
| They admitted inventing its kinky features, or rather deliberately mistranslating them from the original gossip magazine. |
| In fact, this is far from the general Japanese' behavior or sense of worth. |
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Talent scout takes troubled former AUM cultist under his wing 2006,08,17
Shukan Shincho 8/17-24 By Ryann Connell
Kazumi Kitagawa, a former follower of Tokyo gas attack mastermind Shoko Asahara and a woman who defected to North Korea only to return to her homeland late last year, continues to lead a bizarre lifestyle, according to Shukan Shincho (8/17-24).
Kitagawa has repeatedly shocked Japan, like when she posed for a series of nude photo shots and announced soon after her return that she had given birth during her sojourn in Kim Jong Il's peculiar paradise.
Now, almost a year after the 32-year-old came back to Japan, she's living in a bucolic part of Ibaraki Prefecture, being cared for by the family of Osamu Kaiho, the talent agency boss who brokered her departure from the communist country she had defected to after jumping out of a boat and swimming into North Korea a few years earlier.
"Well, the main reason why she is here is because I brought her out of there and I consider it my responsibility to look after her," Kaiho tells Shukan Shincho.
Kaiho says that Kitagawa was heavily brainwashed during her time in North Korea and she is still showing the effects of that. He says that she is nowhere near a condition where she could fend for herself, adding that she believes somebody is tailing her whenever she goes outside.
"We have absolutely no idea what might happen to her, so we don't let her go out on her own," the talent agency boss says.
"Compounding matters, though, she has no idea of what's involved in getting along with others and won't even wait her turn to use the toilet. We can't possibly let that be."
Upon returning to Japan, Kitagawa at first apparently refused to eat anything other than kimchee, the pickled cabbage concoction that is the national dish of Korea. Even though her tastes have changed slightly, the Korean flavor remains.
"Whenever we make her anything to eat, it has to be really, really spicy. Even when we give her miso soup,she turned it into a spicy tofu soup like they eat in Korea," Kaiho says.
Kitagawa spends most of her days sitting around on the second floor of the Kaiho home, watching TV soapies or the news.
"We can't let her just do that, so about once every couple of weeks, we take her out shopping. She's like any other woman in that she loves shopping. The other day we took her to Roppongi Hills where we all watched 'The Da Vinci Code,'" Kaiho says.
"I must admit it was a bit weird when it got to a torture scene in the movie and Kitagawa was the only person in the theater laughing her head off."
"She said she wanted to become an actress or a writer, but I reckon her talents would probably be better put to use with art," he says.
For the meantime, it seems Kitagawa is unlikely to be going too far from the talent agent's home.
"I'm the only person she can trust at the moment. She can't even trust my wife. She used to call me 'Dad,' but now she calls me 'The Chairman,'" talent agent Kaiho tells Shukan Shincho.
"I spent 50 million yen getting her back to Japan and some people are saying I'm going to try and make that money back by turning her into a celebrity. That couldn't be further from the truth. She's not capable of doing anything like that at the moment." (By Ryann Connell)
August 17, 2006
