Popular Idol Admits To Working As A Delivery Driver And Getting Into Shocking Debt After Group Disbanded
A former Japanese idol from the 2000s recently confessed to being in deep financial trouble, shocking netizens across Japan and beyond.
Otani Masae, now 42 years old, was part of a popular girl group from the 2000s called Melon Kinenbi. The four-member girl group was beloved by many people in Japan—they were able to stay active for over 10 years thanks to the love received from fans. Sadly, it seems that was not enough to secure the members’ futures, as Otani recently revealed she had declared voluntary bankruptcy after receiving public welfare support.
After Melon Kinenbi disbanded, Otani left the agency and started working as a freelancer. However, the following year the former star was unable to pay her taxes, which forced her to turn to part-time jobs. She even ended up working in a factory sorting products! Despite the extremely low wages, Otani shared she felt as though she couldn’t complain — she even revealed that she was doing these jobs alongside schedules in the entertainment industry.
Later, aged 36, Otani started working as a delivery driver.
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She said she earned an average of 300,000 yen (about 2.77 million KRW) per month, and up to 500,000 yen (about 4.62 million KRW) during her best months. Logically, she quit her other part-time jobs and focused only on delivering. Unfortunately, this also didn’t last long for the former idol as following the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of delivery workers flew up while the number of Otani’s income from deliveries dropped to 15,000 yen (about 140,000 KRW) per month.
The singer then revealed that she went into debt trying to improve the quality of her delivery service, shocking her family, friends, and even the audience when she disclosed that the debt had grown to 5 million yen (about 46.15 million KRW). As a result, in 2020, at the age of 38, she began receiving public welfare support.
I was able to get back on my feet while receiving public assistance, but I declared bankruptcy at the age of 39.
— Otani Masae
Since improving her financial a bit more, the singer no longer relies on public assistance and now works as a nail artist, balancing that with her activities as a singer and in the entertainment industry
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