Fact checking was hard before the internet became widespread. And proofreading even harder for things that look right at first glance. It took me about a minute to realize that idol should be spelled aidoru.

If Marshall McLuhan can learn to live with the wrong spelling of "The Medium Is the Massage", I think Gibson can forgive himself for a rough romanization.

Isn't it a common transliteration of japanese to use R for L and show the devoiced U for voiceless consonant?

I'm pretty sure I've seen it used often when the intent is to show "japeneseness".