Candy Candy Reborn

June 28. 2012

I am so sorry for the significantly delayed explanation of the circumstances, because I was waiting for the difficult situation change for the better in any way. These are the background of the sad situation which Keiko Nagita is living in now.

Yumiko Igarashi and Asian Dirty Companies

In 1995, Igarashi had started doing business infringing copyrights together with a company based in Hong Kong. But 2001, she lost the civil suit and consequently, became no longer able to do Candy Candy character merchandising in Japan. At this time, she started to concentrate her business efforts in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea; around the same time, the sales of Candy Candy character goods which were without license from TOEI had been increased in Asian countries. (However, there is no incontrovertible evidence that she was implicated in such illegal business.)

As is well known, such illegal business in Asia are almost all operated by companies related to Asian Mafia.

Japan Expo in France and South Korean Companies

Japan Expo is an convention held by French private organization and is not of particular interest to the Japanese government or industries. This is because the scale of French market is extremely small compared to Japan's, and it lacks sufficient appeal to prompt the government to devote funds and support it.

On the other hand, from South Korean perspective, French market is quite attractive, Korean government support to promote the sales of manhwa K-pop and other Korean pop culture.

Japan Expo was organized by French fans originally, but in the past few years, South Korean companies were receiving backing from their government and joined the convention. They pushed their commercial activity and spread propaganda for anti-Japanese policy at Japan Expo. Some xenophobia people on internet who are called netouyo, are extremely uncomfortable with this kind of action by South Korea. In particular, when South Korean organization which is insisting “Kendo originate in Korea” attempted to participate on 2011, netouyo's attention toward this convention, along with their antipathy to South Korean, increased notably.

Under such circumstances, Igarashi who has had a deep involvement with Asian companies for long time, received an invitation to Japan Expo 2011, then netouyo suspected that she joined hands with South Korean companies.

And they attempted to take advantage of Nagita as a propagandist of their racism, because she was the victim of a crime committed by Igarashi in the past. They posted coercive messages on BBS on Nagita's official fansite, which resulted in many readers, including minors, being exposed to terrible, discriminatory sentiments. Ultimately, the BBS was forced to close down, And there are no plans to reopen it, even now.

Nagita who is out of touch with the political issues was intimidated by their posts, and she fell into a state of panic. Moreover, it was revealed that an acquaintance of her was a member of netouyo, which schemed to mold her into a propagandist, and that one of the regular posters of the BBS was a supporter of anti-Korean political activity and cooperated with the harassment by the netouyo. These facts caused further distress to Nagita. She was also shocked by how French media reported about Igarashi, and has developed a distrust of foreign companies.

As a matter of fact, just before my signature-collecting campaign reached 1000 signatures, some netouyo harassed Igarashi's business partners' blogs, under the assumed collaborators of me. Because of it, I was suspected that my signature-collecting campaign was connected to the netouyo's political activities, so it became difficult for me to present the signatures I had collected to Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs and urge them to take action to solve the problem. When I was tied down by netouyo's interference, Igarashi again participated in Taiwanese event. And then the solution to the problem became still more difficult.

Conflict Between Fans Over Final Story

Immediately following the publication of her novel Candy Candy: Final Story, Nagita had a positive attitude. She determined to move on to a new stage in her life after many years of bitter struggle with this publication as a turning point.

However, a profusion of problems erupted soon after the publication.

The novel had mixed reviews, and triggered a severe emotional standoff among its fans; there was even some fanatic fans who brought pressure on Nagita. The Annie Wilkes like fanatic fan said, “If you don’t tell me definitely that Candy and Terry got married, I will have relapse into my depression.”

And SHODENSHA promoted the book that the story—which actually differed little from the former edition—was a “concluding volume” or a “sequel.” Because Nagita did not clarify this point either, there were not a few readers who, buying the book mistakenly thinking it to be a sequel, demonstrated their anger to her.

Furthermore, she had the imprudence to say an unpleasant subject in the afterword of this book, then many longtime Candy fans were offended by her insensitive comment about the motive for writing. I think she is to blame for the insensitive afterword, and the editor who did not warn her of its risks will be also to blame.

Then SHODENSHA was supposed to have agreed to Nagita’s conditions for writing before publishing her work, but after the novel hit bookstores, they broke their promise and pushed proposals to make money by Candy without regard to her feelings. Their trusting relationship has been damaged by the publisher's avarice.

Rainette and Anti-Nuclear Power Movement

Following the massive earthquake that struck in 2011 and the nuclear disaster, anti-nuclear power movement groups have been active in Japan.

In 2007, Nagita wrote a novel called Rainette--The Golden Apples, in which the main character was a boy who received doses of radiation after Chernobyl disaster, and the novel won a children's literature award. Because of it, some anti-nuclear thought she is the very person that will disseminate their messages. Nagita's an old friend is an important member of anti-nuclear power group, and she has been helping with that group's activities as a guest, but because of her friend's extreme and too emotional words, other groups which are acting to help victims of the disaster in a rational way view that acquaintance as a problem. Nagita was not publicly making thoughtless statements herself, but in functioning as their poster girl some have called her “Hysterical Radiophobia” and she has become the object of criticism and ridicule.

I feel sorry for Nagita who become a target of abuse, but on the other hand, it is too hard to deny the fact that she has been carelessness when she is involved in the social activity.

These incidents have occurred one after another in the time between 2010 and the present, she is mentally exhausted, and she has fallen into fear and doubt. Since 2010, there is serious emotional conflict between Candy fans, and even from among fans that were earnestly sympathetic to Nagita, not a few people have now changed to side with those that criticize her.

There are a great many reasons for why we should take compassion on Nagita. She became enmeshed in these ugly incidents shortly after she was mustered up the strength to write Candy Candy again, so it can be understood why her heart was wounded deeply. However, she herself has not yet attempted to give an explanation to her fans, but with her behavior of only trying to evade her troubles. On a frankly personal basis, I can't defend her behavior. Especially about netouyo, in order to protect the readers' children she should resolutely deal with this, but she was frightened and ran away. She has accepted the threats of netouyo, and she is very afraid that her own family and supporters will be harmed by Asian Mafia, but her behavior is too childish and shallow.

Speaking honestly and without sarcasm, what she needs now may well be a psychotherapist.

Until she recovers her mental state and can rationally cope with her problems, it will probably be difficult for her to undertake Candy, but if she pushes herself to undertake this writing then this regrettable confusion will likely deepen.