The "Cool Japan" aesthetic often relies on the juxtaposition of the old and the new.

The training center was a nondescript gray building in Akasaka, sandwiched between a pachinko parlor and a love hotel. Inside, the walls were soundproofed and painted a cheerful pink, but the air smelled of disinfectant and desperation. Airi was one of fifteen girls in the "Third Generation" of a mid-tier idol group called Starlight Bloom .

Japan has a famously brutal work culture (though reforming). Entertainment provides a pressure valve. The popularity of Isekai (alternate world) anime, where a salaryman dies and is reborn as a hero in a fantasy RPG, is directly proportional to the stress of the real-world corporate kaisha . Entertainment is not just fun; it is psychological survival.