The Yashio Hihokan – Japan’s only dedicated love doll museum – has published a scalding letter in which it calls major VTuber agency Nijisanji “a bunch of scumbags” and “a lawless organization,” barring all of its VTubers from visiting for interviews and other forms of content. The museum owner accuses Nijisanji of visiting without an appointment, recording without permission and sending him rude emails.
Yashio Hihokan is a privately held museum that showcases the personal love doll collection of Japanese photographer Yoshitaka Hyodo. The building doubles as Hyodo’s home, so even regular visitors are required to make an appointment via email beforehand. It seems that a Nijisanji-affiliated VTuber visited the premises without prior notice, and after being turned down made a reservation while concealing the fact that they were there to record monetized content.
The VTuber released a video (now delisted) including some audio recordings that Hyodo alleges were taken in secret and without permission. This included explanations of the dolls by a third party who didn’t consent to being recorded. Hyodo explains that to avoid such complications, he always schedules interviews on special days, but that Nijisanji disregarded this in an attempt to take advantage of the museum for profit.
Hyodo says that given the VTuber’s young age, he initially intended to brush off what happened and move on, but that he ultimately decided to speak out after a manager at Nijisanji started sending him emails he describes as disgusting. “If you want to do an interview, there’s a proper way to go about it. You people didn’t follow any of that, and then had the nerve to act rude toward someone who was being tolerant. I will never deal with you again,” reads the museum’s official blog entry.
