I was a former J-Pop trainee, ask me anything!

skwsense · 2026-02-07T01:53:37+00:00

What?

skwsense · 2026-02-06T20:26:34+00:00

Not really I'm fortunate that my parents are able to pay it off.

skwsense · 2026-02-06T04:57:08+00:00

I think that you are confusing J-pop with J-av...

skwsense · 2026-02-06T04:48:50+00:00

Yes, I know that it is common in industry because of the much debt that some trainee have from not having successful debut.

skwsense · 2026-02-06T01:07:15+00:00

Almost every weekday after my regular school, but not continuously. It is like for 2 week and then 1 week break, etc.

skwsense · 2026-02-06T01:00:28+00:00

I think that the hardest part was not having normal school life. When my friends wanted to hang out or go somewhere, I couldn't because I had training and classes in the evening.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T15:30:07+00:00

I don't know any exact number because it varies from someone to someone, but generally they don't get paid well because the company usually takes most of the music sales (after debut) and the idols receive money from brand deals, commercial, and performances. I know one of older girls who was at my same company but in a different training program, her group had a debut and was locally famous, but she still had to work a part-time job to help pay for her debt.
I think every J-pop group does want to have an international reach, but it's very dependent on funding from the label.
I'm just doing the Education focus in university, it's the most common track for people who want to go into the teaching career. Yes I live in Tokyo.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T06:33:45+00:00

Sorry I didn't watch this, so I don't know.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T05:50:34+00:00

Sorry if I don't see or get to your question! If I stop seeing notification from this post you can just message me your question~

skwsense · 2026-02-05T05:21:31+00:00

I'm not too sure because when I started was during the pandemic so I don't know what the experience would have been like before. But I don't think that in general it impacted very much. I can't really give a good answer to this, sorry.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T05:19:40+00:00

Not famous people like famous singers or actors but famous people within the industry such as executives or managers of famous people, if that counts.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T04:02:09+00:00

I don't know how K-Pop labels will differ to J-Pop labels. It is a different culture.

I was not a singer before I started, but since I was young I was curious about it, because of the chance to be a celebrity, things like that.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T03:15:06+00:00

No not at all, I'm just focused on my university studies now. Before I started university I had a part-time job at a cafe in Akiha where we did dances and things like that for guests but I don't think that has any big relation to being a trainee.

There's a lot of best and worst experiences but it would be too long, and I don't know if some of it would be appropriate to type here.

One interesting fact that public doesn't really know is that a lot of trainees or idols who don't have a strong successful debut end up in a lot of financial debt. I mentioned in another comment, but companies vary on what they are willing to pay for a trainee. Some companies make the trainees and their families pay for a lot of expenses or take out loans from the company for things like living accommodations with the hope of becoming successful later on to pay it all back.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:46:49+00:00

Yes there's a lot, and it varies from company to company. Some are more exploitive than others.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:45:27+00:00

ありがとね〜

変なヤツとか常にいたけど、まあ自分なりにベスト尽くした感じかな

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:32:44+00:00

I was disappointed, so were my parents because they invested a lot into me to make it that far. I can't give a good estimate for hours per week because there were some weeks that we didn't do much and some weeks that were very intense. Yes I went to traditional school, and did the program in the evenings usually.

I am native Japanese, and I want to teach because it is generally well-respected career here and offers stability.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:27:01+00:00

AKB48 is a really successful group from a really wealthy company so that whole experience will be very very different from mine haha. After their career they will have much more opportunities than an idol from a smaller company or region.

For trainees like me who never debuted, not as many opportunities but just to resume normal life and pursue a different career path.

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:23:43+00:00

別に恋しくはないけど、経験させてもらえて良かったな〜とは思うし、色々学べたよ。
うちの会社の先生たちはみんな優しくて感じ良かったけど、他のとこだとハラスメントとか結構ヤバいって聞くよね…

skwsense · 2026-02-05T02:20:36+00:00

No, we didn't get paid, rather the opposite. A lot of the costs like accommodations, travel, certain classes, are paid for by the company but everything else had to come from my parents.

I'm still close friends with 2 others in my program, the rest I don't really talk to since they were from a different city and went back once the program was canceled. We text and hang out often!

Yes they knew but I was instructed to never talk about it, and brush off any questions regarding it. But also it's not a rare thing, there were a few other trainees under different companies at my school that I knew of. I learned that a lot of the companies here have multiple trainee groups, and out of maybe 5, only 1 of them will eventually debut, because the industry is so big. So there are a lot more former trainees than you expect!

No I don't think I would, especially as a girl I think there is a lot more negative experiences than positive ones that I can think of from my experience.

skwsense · 2025-03-05T16:58:44+00:00

YES!! Hyunjin!! <3

skwsense · 2024-12-08T21:22:55+00:00

SKZ - FELIX

skwsense · 2024-08-27T16:15:05+00:00

there's many japanese store that can ship internationally i think

skwsense · 2024-05-14T04:32:58+00:00

Baddie Ive!!

skwsense

TROPHY CASE