On October 4, Richard Keita Kusama of the idol group “Ae! group” was arrested on suspicion of public indecency. The sudden news of his arrest has caused a tremor in the public. The suspect, Richard Keita Kusama, was “teased” by Taichi Kokubun for oversleeping for 3 hours. A passerby, a man in his 30s, called 110, and the incident was discovered. Kusama was arrested on suspicion of public indecency. At present, the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has not revealed the suspect’s identity. His agency, STARTO ENTERTAINMENT, commented, ‘We are still confirming the facts. In response, Yoshinori Shomon, a member of the group, who was scheduled to live-stream from 20:00 on the same day, announced, “The insta-live scheduled from 20:00 will be canceled today,” causing widespread unrest among those involved. This scandal follows in the footsteps of Daiharu Fukumoto, who was terminated by his office in December 2023 for noncompliance and had to leave the group. After overcoming such hardships, the group was set to make its CD debut in May 2024 with “A” Beginning, and just when it seemed like smooth sailing, the arrest took place. In addition, following Kusama’s arrest, there were concerns in the X community about the impact on a certain program. She was in DASH Village, wasn’t she? I was hoping that Richard would be arrested, but I was afraid that his life would be ruined if he was involved in DASH Village! I was expecting Richard to be arrested, but his life will be ruined if he gets involved with DASH Village! DASH! (NTV), a variety show in which Kusama appeared. Kusama has been appearing as a helper on DASH Island since the spring of 2019. He also appeared in popular projects such as “0 yen Shokudo” and “Grill Nuisance,” and helped enliven the village along with his seniors TOKIO. However, the program has lost people one after another, including Tatsuya Yamaguchi, a former TOKIO member who left the group for indecency with a minor, Tomoya Nagase, who left the group, and Taichi Kokubun, who was removed from the program due to noncompliance. The latest incident involving the suspect Kusama has become decisive, and people seem to be stunned by the succession of scandals involving the program’s performers, saying, ‘Oh, no, not again. Some even expressed sympathy for the program, which was forced to deal with the situation. After Kokubun’s scandal in June, I had the impression that the program, which had always been based on TOKIO, was barely on the air, relying on junior members. Furthermore, it is easy to imagine that the scandals caused by the junior staff we have relied on would be a headache for them. Nevertheless, this is a long-running program with a strong following that has continued for about 30 years. I don’t want to see any more tragedies of “Tetsuwan DASH”.
