Japanese ONCE Realizes How Toxic Sasaeng Culture Is After Participating In It Themselves To Meet TWICE

A Japanese ONCE is feeling super guilty after going a little too far in their quest to meet TWICE while a few of the members were in Japan.

I wanted to translate this, it is a story told by a Japanese fan who went to Kansai International Airport to meet NaMoSa. I hope that people will read it and think about it. They are people, who should be respected and left to lead their own lives. Please consider them. #TWICE pic.twitter.com/D3rpNwQbUA

— サナたん推し❤️TWICEの翻訳垢🍭 (@sanatanslator) January 15, 2019

Thanks for @sanatranslator who provided the JPN-ENG translation, we are able to get the full scope of what went down.

The unnamed Japanese ONCE (who goes by the Twitter handle @Queen_jihyo1102) mentions that after falling in love with TWICE after seeing them at the Idol Star Athletics Championships, they headed over to Kansai International Airport because they heard that Nayeon, Sana, and Momo was going to fly out of there when heading back to Korea.

The ONCE stressed that even before they made it to the airport,  they felt “uneasy” about it because they knew that the members weren’t on an “official schedule” – so the ONCE would be essentially intruding on the members’ private time.

The ONCE attempted to justify their actions at the time, especially when seeing other ONCEs there with their cameras ready. They specially said that they remember thinking “well, anyway, this is something they’ll also often see in Korea.” However, they immediately started to feel “gross” when they curiously went to see if they could see the girls inside the cafe they entered, but then noticed a huge group of ONCEs waiting outside the cafe for the girls to emerge.

After heading upstairs, the ONCE stated that they wanted to just give a “fighting” cheer to the members, but then things got hectic.

The ONCE said that once the members started to come up the stairs, cameras started flashing like crazy and ONCEs started getting in the members’ faces.

The ONCE describes Nayeon as being “frozen” by the onslaught, “almost as she was terrified” while Momo looked “really creeped out”. The ONCE also says that an overzealous ONCE got too close to Sana and stuck their camera “centimeters from her face to take photos”. Seeing how close ONCEs got to the girls made the Japanese ONCE feel “gross” – even though the ONCE was also taking photos (from a “safe” distance”) at the same time as everyone else.

After seeing the positive reactions K-ONCEs had to the photos of the girls being all smiles when they were exiting the airport in Korea later that day, the Japanese ONCE had a moment of introspection as they wondered why the girls reacted so differently in Japan when they were in essentially the same situation in both locations.

Going on Twitter to upload their photos, it was then when they were given a bombshell by other ONCEs who started talking with them about the photos: “even though it’s a struggle for them to act the same regardless of country, to follow them downstairs and to go as far as to ambush them when they’re trying to spend time with loved ones isn’t good.”

It was then that the Japanese ONCE realized the severity of their actions. At that moment, the ONCE realized how hypocritical they were being because even though they felt “sick” by the sasaeng behavior, they had participated in it themselves.

It was that moment of clarity where the Japanese ONCE deleted their uploaded photos and vowed to stop trying to meet TWICE when they are not at an official schedule. They realized that their actions were not respecting the girls’ private lives and stated that they would never do it again.

After the translated tweet was posted on Twitter, responses were positive regarding the Japanese ONCE realizing how toxic their behavior was. The response was also very positive regarding the ONCE realizing that their sasaeng-like behavior was “gross” and commended the ONCE for vowing to change their ways..

They also applauded the ONCE for speaking about their experience, and hoped the message would be translated to other languages so other “problematic” ONCEs could realize the extent of their actions and how it harms the girls and in turn stop their sasaeng-like behavior.