Some of you might already know this, but at the end of this month, I’ll be celebrating seventeen years as an anime blogger. During that time, I’ve seen some stories come out of Japan that broke my heart, which is why it’s always such a wonderful feeling when, even years later, I get to report on what ultimately became a happy ending.
Back in 2013, Minami Minegishi was a member of the incredibly popular idol group, AKB48. Unfortunately, though, her career hit a major speed bump when a tabloid published photos of her staying the night at a man’s apartment. Seeing as how idols are not allowed to have romantic relationships of any kind, this caused a major stir, and Minegishi was not only demoted down to “trainee” but they also forced her to shave her head to atone for her “crime”.
As mentioned, this was a huge deal within the idol community at the time (not that it ended up changing anything) but eventually, everyone moved on and Minegishi was able to continue her idol career until 2021, when she left the group.
Moving forward to this week, it seems that Minegishi has finally been able to enjoy life as she has announced via a letter on her personal Twitter account that she has gotten married to Japanese YouTube star Tetsuya.
In the letter, Minegishi gushes about her husband and sounds genuinely happy about her position in life now, which is always so wonderful to hear from someone who has encountered professional unfairness and tribulations.
While I enjoy listening to idol music, I’ve always found the entire industry to be troubling at best or just plain heartbreaking at worst. The pain that young aspiring idols go through for even a small chance at success is quite disturbing, and it’s wonderful to see that at least one of them found her happy ending after moving on.
Source: SoraNews24
