NGT48 Assault Case

One more translation of an article from today's issue of Niigata Nippo, this time it's an interview with a close family relative of Maho telling about episodes of the case as experienced from their perspective.
The last paragraph in particular is interesting to me. I also have to assume that the food-making company that Maho personally went to with the intention to excuse herself could have been Ichimasa Kamaboko.

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"Shed light on the truth"

On the 13th of this month, a family relative of Yamaguchi-san has agreed to answer to an interview by Niigata Nippo, over the issue in which Yamaguchi Maho-san (23), of the idol group NGT48 active in the Niigata prefecture, ended up victim to physical abuse. The relative told us that what Yamaguchi-san herself is requesting for is "that the true facts will be made clear, along with appropriate countermeasures for the group", adding that they are placing close attention onto the report of the third-party committee, which will soon come to a conclusion, as well as the response from the management company AKS.

Based on what the Niigata prefectural police department and such had related, on December 8 last year, Yamaguchi-san suffered a physical assault at her own residence building in the city of Niigata, when two men clutched her by the face with their hands and then pinned her down, among other things.

Citing what is said by her relative, who has chosen to respond to our interview on this occasion, "on the moment when she was just about to close the door of her own apartment, the men then went on to force it back open without saying a single word", they recounted regarding Yamaguchi-san. As she brought up the fact that the men did already possess a clear understanding of her own habitual daily living situation down to the smaller particulars, Yamaguchi-san later went on to denounce to the management side that "other members are responsible for leaking personal informations to the outside", they told.

Even so, when at the information meeting for the families and guardians, the management side explained matters just as "she [note: one such member] had been accosted for a talk at the time she was returning home…" and such, while on the official website it was announced rather how "Among the members, no one have committed illegal actions". For that, Yamaguchi-san was described as having been feeling indignant at the way "the incident is being downplayed".

Regarding Yamaguchi-san's condition in the aftermath of the incident, the relative recalled how "She couldn't help crying just by remembering it all over again, for a prolonged period. She was terrified of the outside too, and couldn't bring herself to walk out of the house".

At the request of Yamaguchi-san, back in January said relative had accompanied her by car all the way to a certain food-making company in the city of Niigata, which was still one of the sponsors at the time [note: likely Ichimasa Kamaboko]. "It's going to be troubling if we will have our sponsors stepping down, so I want to go give my apologies", Yamaguchi-san said by then, and it took as much as 30 minutes of persuading her while at the parking lot before they could make her desist, they said.

"This is how important she is considering NGT to be", the relative said while adding on the other hand, "Maho is contemplating how she might as well resign from NGT at this point. However, "if she would be gone without the group itself changing anything about itself, she fears that the same thing is going to happen once again to other members as well, and thus she is requesting for countermeasures to be taken", they said relaying Yamaguchi-san's own sentiment.

 

it would be nice if there were more opportunities like the janken, where cheating is pretty much impossible and the outcomes are random. for me a lot of "wins" in ssk feel contrived and i'm sure a lot of people are tired of seeing the same people rank year in year out, as well as members feeling obligated to participate for various reasons/pressures. and there's no way of really knowing if votes have or haven't been manipulated and whatnot.

 

The premise is that ever since the Okada Nana (the 70s solo idol, not the AKB/STU member) incident, it had became common for idols to get "protection" from yakuza groups. Imamura entered the idol industry in that era from FujiTV. This vid has Kyo Mayumi and Kyo Hirakazu talking about idols with yakuza, and FujiTV:

if the video does not show watch the video here

Nowadays, any connection with the yaks will get you blasted online and in the medias so Imamura could have moronically decided to use foxes to guard the hen house by asking Inaoka to keep an eye on the members in exchange for various favors instead. This would explain why the creep was getting preferential treatment and why the attackers could have had an apartment on the dorm floor.

 

But not the only stalkers, nor even the only group of yakkai wota involved with NGT.

I don't find random outcomes satisfying. Unexpected ones, sure, but they should still be for a reason, not just because someone happened to throw rock instead of paper. If there's nothing the members or the fans can do to affect the outcome, that is, if "hard work" of any kind is meaningless, then there's also no reason to be invested in the result. Janken is boring.

And cheating is far from "impossible", if anything rigging the outcome of Janken is safer because they aren't risking any legal problems. It's Janken people have been saying was rigged (with good reason) since the second event, not SSK. Meanwhile aside from some of the delusional fanfics being written by disgruntled antis to explain e.g. Jurina* and Ogiyuka's vote counts (despite very obvious, non-cheaty explanations for both), there's not really much reason to think SSK is rigged.

Spoiler: *

Management threw everything they had into making Jurina win SSK while they were in talks for selling SKE to KeyHolder, but that "everything" was timing the release of SKE's single, placing the SSK in Nagoya, laying down multiple narrative threads though Tofu/WIP etc. to whip up fan frenzy to vote for her. The vote counts themselves were in line with Sasshi and Mayu's counts from the previous years, and most probably came from the same source: fanclub accounts sold to Jurina fans by the Sasshi and Mayuyu clubs, or perhaps newly created ones.

The legal consequences of rigging the event were even greater than usual, given the impending sale of SKE to KeyHolder. Not to mention, even besides the legal problems if it ever got out, it would murder their greatest cash cow. It's absurd.

 

@wlerin

legal or not, their credibility is still on the line. how could it be rigged without involving members? how well do you think members would cooperate with being told they have to lose on purpose? one "wrong" move and the whole thing would crumble. that seems a lot more complicated than changing some secret vote tallies. at any rate, my point wasn't to only have janken, but generally more opportunities that aren't based on how much money fans can burn. whatever i've seen of janken they seem to be having actual fun sometimes, which is more enjoyable for me than a bunch of nerves and tears. /shrug

 

For the first time after akb 1st documentary movie,
I think only ngt deserve a documentary movie,
Cuz ngt at least have real "story" to be documented.

 

I hope Mahohon will give us something like "#SakuMail" , Miyawaki always asked her fans to reply her mobame on twitter by write to her by #SakuMail so Miyawaki can read the comments and replies from her fans around the world. Lets make #MahohonMail



Sent from my SM-G7102 using Tapatalk

 

Oh, actually for all those who don't know already, fans do already have their own Twitter tag: #マホメ (after of course Maho's term for her mobame mails, Mahome), which they tend to attach when they want to send in their impressions about the recent mails they received. This used to be already an established practice long before then, but you can still see the activity has risen up significantly due to the recent situation.

Other than that, well, the NGT48 mobame service is one of the few (along with the STU48 one, that I know of) which comes already with a reply function available, this means that normally the members can get to read the comments aimed at themselves about a certain topic, but in this case I think there must be filters in place.

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While on topic, there was another mail that Maho sent in yesterday which was delivered only way past midnight by Japan's time, but I had to put it on the backburner due to being busy with the Niigata Nippo article that suddenly came in. This one really sounds almost like a farewell message to me by the way most sentences inside are written in a past tense (with some people even nothing that, in contrast to the previous mail being more composed, this one is reserved to more emotional expressions).
The second half of the mail seem to be an indication of something that happened inside which we weren't aware of...
Well, as much as I want to keep myself from reposting the content as per orders, for the sake of understanding here is a quick translation of it:

Spoiler: 2019-03-14 Mobame

2019-03-14 00:49:00

Subject: March 13

Many and many times had I though how greatly I hated certain things.


Even then, no matter what I was forced to withstand,
I also had inside of me a feeling that I liked this group, as well as idols.


Thus, I couldn't bring myself to completely hate anything.




I came all the way here bringing with myself hopes and expectations.


Even though there were things that felt painful, there were also a sense of fun, of joy, and of meaningfulness in one's task which managed to surpass that.


That I could be a member of the 48 group was to me something to be proud of.




There are fans supporting me with all of their efforts.

And, in turn, this one is a job that cannot be made possible without the presence of fans.



Being an idol is something in which everyone is striving together, not just by yourself alone,
inside of it, there are also situations that feel daunting,
but on those times, I had others giving me a helping hand to a great degree.



At times, there are distressing situations to deal with,
but it's also true there are people alongside yourself to overcome that together.



What an extremely wonderful thing it is.



To have people liking me,
feeling worried about me,
rejoicing together,
and sometimes even feeling sad together,
all to the point it gets me wondering why they would.
I'm honest, even right at present, it all makes me wonder "why they would ever...?"!



It is truly to such an extent that I personally find all my fans, as well as you my reader, marvelous.


Thank you for having had the chance to meet with me.




Hadn't I engaged into this job,
I would have never had the chance of meeting and talking with so many people in a single day alone, that's what I think about handshake events.


At some point it would feel trying in terms of physical endurance,
but regardless of this, to have people who would come to meet me makes me feel so happy,
that's why I could never get myself to think about taking a moment of rest, no matter if I felt in a bad shape or anything else.



It's not only handshake tickets and transportation fare,
I do consider even the time it takes until one can come to meet myself as also something people are purchasing for me.


That they would help me realize to such an extent that I am not being alone,
and that I could be able to receive so much love,
is something I had never imagined.
There has been so many wonderful encounters I could experience,
as there were so many of you who came to meet me,
for all that, I could feel glad that I had gone on become an idol.



This is the incontrovertible truth,
as long as it is still possible to me, I'll keep being an idol,
I want to have a talk again with all you fans as normal,
I want to get to see many, different moments.



But anyway, this all owes exactly to the fact that there was a definition of idol which I used to like, and there was a model of idol that I had desired to be like.



I've been carrying out my own idol job according to the rule that is the "love ban".
If there is not meant to be any such thing, then the definition of idol as I had once conceived just becomes absolutely incomprehensible, this is why up until now I had discussions on it multiple times already.



If such a rule, or anything like that, is supposed to be completely non-existent,
then, well, better to stop there and tell it out that it has long ceased to exist, that's what I had thought.




What's even the point of being an idol while also deceiving fans?

This is not what I can regard as being an idol, either.





Was I having just a dream?



I used to like this group.


I used to like it, hence why I believed in it.




But even so, I have to wonder if still holding onto even a little bit of faith about it has become a pointless sentiment at this point,
one little thing after another, this is becoming more and more obvious.



I would have never expected there would have been nothing but hope-dashing things ahead, up to such an extent.


Was the thing I used to love just a mirage?


What exactly was the thing I once used to admire?


Those sentiments I used to have back in the day, right now I can feel nothing but a sense of sad disappointment about them.

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Translator's note: for some reason, in this case "renai kinshi"/"love ban" was written in all kanji instead, unlike the previous instance when she found herself forced to write it down fully in hiragana

 

Oh thank Cisalpine, i will use #マホメ to support Mahohon next in my Twitter.

Sent from my SM-G7102 using Tapatalk

 

March 14
http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/251

• Niigata Nippo article "Shed light on the truth".
• Kado Yuria posted an instagram video with a Yamaguchi sign. It was quickly deleted.
• Zaikei Shinbun article about the general election's cancellation.
• Mahohon sent two mobames. 1 2

 

Sorry, but what it means a Yamaguchi sign? Did she wrote Maho's name somewhere or was she openly supporting her?

 

March 15
http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/253

• Announcement that Niigata Friend ends this month. This gets in the top news on Yahoo.
• Management notified that the NGT handshake lanes will have surveillance cameras.
• Ayakani liked a tweet. (Deleted now)
• An examination of the Togasaki bar meeting incident.
• A PhotoLog by Murakumo Fuka.
• 3 online articles.

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I haven't seen the video or screencaps of it so I have no idea what it actually was. Sign is usually used as "autograph" in japanese so maybe a piece of cardboard with Maho's signature.

 

That is, re-translated from google translate
"including the lane of kenin member Kashiwagi Yuki"

 

https://twitter.com/8myoUtHwEUgha4D/status/1106324383126085633

Asked the user who mentioned it (at first to ask if he saved it and could let me show it), by his explanation it appears it was a video of a placard at the Niigata municipal office (I have to guess it's the Urusei Yatsura one that is there), gradually closing up on Maho's autograph, but for some reason (presumably by management orders...?) it was deleted not long after.

 

So now I'm in front of NGT lane. Looks pretty normal here. Aside from camera instalation (the same camera system at ske handshakes). Some extra OJSs and female staffs are stationed inside the booth. The staff on the lane is just usual (timer+usher).

Also, none of the NGT has oshimashi available which means only their ticket holder can see them, not a random fan with other girls ticket.

More will be updated.

 

How the Togasaki leak threw a major wrench into the gears of how AKS had to deal with the incident and resulted in Imamura's contract being terminated, the sousenkyo getting cancelled, etc.

It's an interesting ~30 posts read of speculations by a guy venting on his cats' twitter account.

Spoiler: The tweets

https://twitter.com/julycats2018/status/1106083814378430464
https://twitter.com/julycats2018/status/1106084202678611968

 

Oh lookie I'm gone for a few days and board turns naughty with personal attacks. "Shaking little girls hand apex of life", jeez LUIS. If I order some hamburgers at a restaurant and already paid, the restaurant better damn give me what I ordered. I don't care if they got your order wrong, and you have no right with your self aggrandizing righteous indignation to hold up me from getting what I paid for. Even though the person herself says how she loves the group yadayada apparently it's ok to drag down all the other members who had nothing to do with it, because the world revolves around one person.


What's funny is why the company is even taking the third party seriously at all at this point. Obviously one side is never going to trust the results anyway so I have to ask myself why they even bother at all. If she really doesn't want it to happen again, just sue the damn company into bankruptcy so it actually doesn't happen again! Volá!

 

Our admin wrote about the same topic on Twitter. I personally love the tweet he sent out.

https://twitter.com/ithebigc/status/1106782664059572224

 

I have a single ticket for an NGT member tomorrow and I’m strongly considering using it on somebody in another group. I feel bad for the member because I know there’s no way in hell she’s involved in anything shady but I’ve lost all interest in NGT and I hope management counts how many NGT tickets get used in other lanes.