Last week, on 26 Apr, Haru from the K-Pop girl group NATURE made a shocking announcement that eventually led to the group’s disbandment.
She announced it on a promotional video for a Japanese adult entertainment social media account.
The video has since been taken down. It included her explanation for her involvement with the hostess bar and she had appealed for support from fans for her new venture.
From Haru to Sakura Ruru
in the video for the bar, she introduced herself as Sakura Ruru, a supposed genjina or professional name that guests of the bar will know her by.
She said that she had been working there for three months.
She explained that she had been a K-pop idol since she was 18 years old, and after six years, she was hoping to save up enough funds to “establish my own dance studio” through this new job.
As an idol, she was popularly known as Haru, short for Haruno Abe. She is a Japanese dancer and singer and is NATURE’s Main Dancer and Vocalist.
On the same day the video was published, she wrote a statement to her Instagram followers appealing for support.
“There are some negative comments on social media, but I hope you will warmly support me as I’m working hard for my life goals.”
NATURE’s Disbandment
Following the promotional video, NATURE’s agency n.CH Entertainment released a statement. It announced that NATURE would not be continuing any group promotions at the time and is trying to contact Haru who was in Japan and was unreachable.
One day later, on 27 Apr, n.CH Entertainment made a follow-up announcement that sealed the fate of the group, stating that the group would be disbanding and that the decision was made after discussions with the other members.
The agency also called for support for one of the members, Kim So-Hee, who would be continuing individual promotions in “music, acting and more” under the agency.
“Thank you to everyone who has shown their love and support and we hope you continue to support and encourage the future activities of each NATURE member in the future.”
When we think about being a hostess in a bar, there is an underlying sense of discomfort. Because of what we see in the movies, we typically think of hostess bars as having drunk sleazy men throwing cash at women in lingerie.
However, the hostess culture in Japan is often misunderstood.
Japanese kyabura are business hubs that are lucrative and have allowed many women to achieve a stable stream of income without the need to indulge in sexual activity.
According to Australia’s ABC News where they did a deep dive into hostess culture, they found that a majority of hostesses in Japan do not provide sexual services.
A hostess bar manager said, “Being a hostess is just like a restaurant waitress”.
“You have to take care of them, talk to them, sit with them, mix their alcohol for them and just like that”.
It is a space for businessmen to network and relax, given the workaholic culture in Japan.
Therefore, it’s no surprise that NATURE’s Haru announced it so casually, unintentionally conflicting with current misconceptions about what she was potentially getting into.
She said that she is enjoying her work as a bar hostess because it allows her to meet “many great people”.