J-Pop Idol Reveals Her Managers Forced Her to Apologize After Being Assaulted
By Bryan Ke
NGT48 member Maho Yamaguchi has revealed that her managers forced her to make the on-stage public apology following the idol unit’s latest statement and press conference.
On March 21, the idol group announced the result of an independent third-party investigation into the incident that occurred on December 2018, when Yamaguchi was attacked by two men in her own apartment.
In the investigation, it was found that a member or members of NGT48 (sister group of the popular AKB48) had inappropriate relationships with specific fans, providing them with undisclosed preferential treatment, according to the statement released by the group with information taken from the investigation of a third-party consisting of lawyers and other specialists.
As a follow up, AKS, the managing company who also heads AKB48, said that members who were involved will not face any sort of punishment for what they did and that the fault lies with the company for not giving them proper guidance and protocols, according to SoraNews24.
The same sentiment was echoed in the March 22 press conference where they reiterated that the members who had relationships with their fans would be pardoned.
However, Yamaguchi is not taking the recent turn of events very well. That same day, she expressed her side of the story and a little bit more on her Twitter account, revealing that the management, specifically Operating Officer Takumi Matsumura, was the one who forced her to apologize on stage on January 10.
“Right now, [AKS] operating officer [Takumi] Matsumura is giving a press conference. Before the independent committee was formed, he promised me that ‘All of the members who had personal relationships with fans will be dismissed from NGT48.’
That was the purpose of the independent committee, and was why I was able to endure the situation for so long. There has been no communication with me about keeping the members in the group, and the questions I have asked about doing so have gone unanswered,” Yamaguchi wrote in her tweet below, as translated by SoraNews24.
Then, in a follow up tweet, as can be seen below, she wrote: “On January 10, Operating Officer Matsumura requested that I make an apology. ‘If you don’t make an apology, at the anniversary event we’ll have someone else from your sub-team read a letter from you to make an apology on your behalf,’ he said.
I didn’t want any of the other NGT48 members to be made to do that, and that’s why I apologized.”
After that, Yamaguchi also disclosed the apology letter that Matsumura wrote for her to present as her own in public: “I sincerely apologize for causing a commotion. I was able to get a lot of things off my chest and feel better, and there were some things that I misunderstood.
I think this has been a good opportunity for me. I’ll continue doing my best, and look forward to your support.”
It is still unclear how Yamaguchi’s account, if proven to be true, will affect what’s happening in the assault case.
Images via Instagram / nohohon_mahohon
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