  In Japanese idol culture, meet-and-greet events where fans were allowed to
handshake with an idol member for several seconds were regarded as its
essential component until the spread of COVID-19. Now, idol groups are
struggling in the transition of such events to computer-mediated communication
because these events had emphasized meeting face-to-face over communicating, as
we can infer from their length of time. I anticipated that investigating this
emerging transition would provide implications because their communication has
a unique characteristic that is distinct from well-studied situations, such as
workplace communication and intimate relationships. Therefore, I first
conducted a quantitative survey to develop a precise understanding of the
transition, and based on its results, had semi-structured interviews with idol
fans about their perceptions of the transition. The survey revealed distinctive
approaches, including one where fans gathered at a venue but were isolated from
the idol member by an acrylic plate and talked via a video call. Then the
interviews not only provided answers to why such an approach would be
reasonable but also suggested the existence of a large gap between conventional
offline events and emerging online events in their perceptions. Based on the
results, I discussed how we can develop interaction techniques to support this
transition and how we can apply it to other situations outside idol culture,
such as computer-mediated performing arts.
