Japanese underground idol sparks overseas shock over armpit-sniffing fan service

Foreign news outlets are going wild with disgust over an underground idol’s fan service in which she lets men sniff her armpits.

Hari Matsumoto, formerly a member of Miracle for Z, offers a service in which her male fans can get up close and personal with her armpits, instead of the usual handshaking fan service at events.

Outlets like the South China Morning Post, the Times of India, and Vice have published somewhat sensational and clickbaity articles claiming that the idol has sparked “outrage” in some corners.

And now, as often the case, things have come full circle, with Japanese-language media like the Chuo Nippo reporting on the news by framing it as a “foreign media has noticed this about Japan” story, and summarizing the South China Morning Post article’s content.

This isn’t a new development because Matsumoto has been offering the post-show service for a while (at least since March), and we’re not sure why it has suddenly attracted interest from news outlets, but such is the mystery of the interwebs. A lot of the “armpit service” images and videos seem to come from one particular fan, a middle-aged guy who posts as naru_idol2, and he may be the only one who has even asked to sniff Matsumoto’s armpit.

In the highly competitive world of underground idols (chika idols), performers have to offer all kinds of fan services and gimmicks to stand out and retain loyalty.

Matsumoto has a relatively small following on some social media platforms, but is strong on TikTok, with over 400,000 followers. One thing’s for sure: the current round of news articles is definitely going to raise her profile.

Armpits are also a big fetish in Japan, whether for their shape or smell. There are even armpit-themed masturbator toys for satisfying your kinky, and armpit-licking often features in Japanese adult videos. Here’s an example featuring blog favorite Eimi Fukada.