AKS, the company that manages the idol group AKB48, NGT48, and its related sister idol groups, held a press conference on Monday in Tokyo and has finally released a statement in relation to the attack incident of NGT48 member Maho Yamaguchi that happened last month. This happened just days after Yamaguchi publicly apologized for “voicing out” during one stage performance event.
The said conference was headed by AKS operating officer Takumi Matsumura along with executives Tsuyoshi Okada and Maiko Hayakawa. The company officially made an apology for being unable to prevent the attacks and for disclosing the said incident to the media and the general public.
“All we can do is apologize. The primary reason we did not disclose the incident immediately is because the police investigation is still ongoing…Taking NGT48’s members’ safety into consideration, we believed that making the incident public knowledge could lead to copycat attacks. Ultimately, I apologize for the results of that decision, and regardless, it was my responsibility to properly communicate with the victim herself.” Matsumura said,
They also confirmed that the manager of NGT48 Etsuro Imamura has resigned and will be replaced by Hayakawa with Okada as her sub-manager. Hayakawa is involved in managing the company’s idol groups AKB48, STU48, and SKE48.
In relation to the attack, they have also released a statement regarding the allegations made by Yamaguchi that some NGT48 idol members were responsible for leaking her personal information. Fans of the group have speculated that Ayaka Tano and Marina Nishigata are responsible, but have denied involvement in the incident.
With Nishigata complying to a police interview request as well as an examination with her smartphone, neither has led to any charges being filed against her.
A statement by AKS representative director Natsuko Yoshinari and Takumi Natsumura posted on NGT48’s official website reveals that although any NGT48 member who had broken the law have been reported to authorities, the company strongly believes that none of the members’ actions was illegal.
However, they will not take this lightly as a third party investigative committee (composed of lawyers and other professionals) is formed to investigate the incident further and to prove if any members’ actions and statements were inappropriate and endangering. AKS will also be enhancing its security measures to make sure the same incidents will not happen again in the future.
Source: Yahoo! Japan News/Oricon News, Hachima Kiko, NGT48 official website, Livedoor News/Sponichi Anex, SoraNews24
