Former Visual-kei Band Vocalist “Sent Sexual Photos Every Day” to 14-Year-Old Girl

Former Visual Kei band member indecently assaulted…

At 9:00 a.m. on February 13, the suspect Hayato Nakano, 36, appeared at the escort gate of the Mukojima Police Station of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department. The waiting press relentlessly flashed a strobe light at him to capture his face and facial expressions. Despite this, Nakano did not change his facial expression or turn his face down, but walked straight ahead. However, his “face without makeup” was a far cry from the “him” seen on stage or in his publicity photos.

The Mukojima Police Department announced the arrest of Nakano, an unemployed former vocalist of a visual-kei band in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture, on December 12 on charges of demanding the transmission of obscene images and non-consensual sexual intercourse.

In September 2013, Nakano demanded that a junior high school girl (14 at the time) living in Tokyo, who had sent him a message on a SNS saying, “I support you,” send him naughty pictures of herself every day on the condition that he exchange contact information with her. He demanded, “Will you send me naughty pictures of yourself with your face on every day? In October, he allegedly indecently assaulted the girl at a karaoke bar in Koto Ward, Tokyo. The incident came to light the same month after the junior high school girl and her mother consulted the police.

Nakano denied some of the charges, saying, “I thought [the girl] was a high school or college student. As for the fact that he made her send him images, he stated, ‘I am more famous than most people because I am a band member, and I didn’t want my personal information to be exposed, so it was a condition of the exchange.

Nakano is the vocalist of a visual-kei band called “A.M. Midnight. Nakano is said to have been the vocalist “Suiyo” of a visual-kei band called “A.M. Midnight. The net was astonished at the difference between the visual appearance at the time and Nakano’s “face without makeup” revealed by his arrest this time.

He had the support of his core fans.

Criticisms of Nakano’s words “ more famous than ordinary people” are also rife on the Internet, even though he is “better known than ordinary people” (despite his F rating). A veteran band member who has been active in the visual-kei scene for many years also responded, “I don’t know anything about you, ‘more famous than ordinary people,'” according to a report in “Toso Web. What kind of activities was Nakano involved in?

What kind of activities was Nakano involved in? The predecessor of “A.M. Zero” was a band called “Death Nitagari,” which was active for 103 days from May 23, 2006, and at a live concert on September 2 of the same year, which was said to be the “anniversary” of the band’s death, it was announced that the band would start as “A.M. Zero. The concept of the band was to provide a way to help people who had been diagnosed by doctors with mental illnesses.

The concept of the band is “life-size modern-day illness” as depicted by Suinei, who was diagnosed as mentally ill by a doctor, and the visual image is an illustration of a girl covered in blood. The music video for the song “Ayashite?” released on September 23, with the warning “The following contents may contain topics related to suicide and self-harm,” received 100,000 views in three months and seems to have a core fan base.

They performed live in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, and other cities, but due to the COVID-19 crisis, they suspended their activities on March 31, 2008, and announced the end of their activities a year later on April 11, 2009.

(A music industry insider) “Many of the places where they performed live had a capacity of about 200 people, and it seems that the band was supported by enthusiastic fans. If they had been active for a longer period of time, they might have had more fans. What was Nakano doing for nearly five years after the end of his activities?

It seems that he was working as a “singer,” but we do not know the details. According to the Internet message boards, he was also broadcasting on Tweakath. He was also asking for money and selling chekis, but since many of his fans were young girls without money, he probably didn’t make much money.

There were many posts on the bulletin board expressing their frustration with the suspect, Suinei Nakano, who has not “started” at all. The latest incident has made the day of “start” even more distant.

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