Their latest was "Sekai no hito e". No. Yes. Maybe? The only banned for sure are the three guys that were at the apartment the night of the assault. Inaoka allegedly was at the third anniversary show so he wasn't banned then, and I didn't see any news about him being banned since. Incidently, the bans are often only enforced at venues where AKS are in charge so while a banned fan couldn't go to the NGT theater, nothing stopped them from going to see the group at something like the snow festival, since management couldn't be arsed to pass info on the troublemakers to the people in charge of that event. It's something to keep in mind if one or more of those three are ever spotted at an event.
That is not how it works though, can you just punish some members without proofs and evidences? Your justification for those 2 getting punishment is only because you assume maho wants those 2 diciplined the most...that is ridiculous
That only applies to criminal trials. Other trials are decided on the preponderance of evidence. Not necessarily. I think that girls involved with the stalker/assault gang should have been "allowed to resign" and other members "consorting" with fans should have been demoted to KKS and dropped from the next single. Of course this should have been done in December or at the very least in January, management by drawing this out and not taking action has allowed this to fester and badly damage NGT and risks reputational damage to the entire group. One could conceivably conclude that there is a bigger scandal (possibly involving the SSK) that has yet to be revealed. I think people overstate this (in order to save certain members from dismissal). Such members would probably be finished in the entertainment industry (at least for a couple of years anyway) but they could go back to normal life, go to college or get a job. Is Ogiyuka unrelated to it? She could well have benefitted from large amounts of votes bought by an idol stalker gang. Indeed. From Maho's recent mobame she wants to talk to the fans. One could conclude from her forced hiatus from HS that management don't want Maho talking directly to the fans (or the public in general?) I think a large part of being an idol is that it isn't the real world Sadly yes, you are probably right. It's terrible, not just for the diligent members but also for the city of Niigata, having a major idol group to push the image of the city and region was a big point of pride for them. Management by their cynicism, opportunism, bad judgement and bungling have let it go too far. The Third Party Committee was an attempt to stall for time and brush the dirt under the carpet but management underestimated the incisiveness of the media at the press con and of course Maho out-witted Matsumura with her guerilla tweeting.
in the beginning, i thInk management thought covering everything up was the better business decision over possibly revealing several members might be involved in relationships with fans. then believed they could control the narrative way past the point of no return. one thought is if management hadn't forced the apology this story might have fizzled out long ago, and sweeping everything under the rug might've worked
They don't (or aren't supposed to know). They report states that when members were surveyed by the third party investigators, twelve names came up. AKS should have no idea who said what as the survey was confidential. Spoiler: Survey of Members After the start of the study, we conducted a survey to 38 members of NGT members out of 41 NGT members excluding the one who is also a member of AKB48. Three exceptions are Ms. Yamaguchi and the other member who we decided to conduct survey separately. The remaining one person was not able to participate due to fever on the day of the survey. The survey was conducted in 4 different locations considering the convenience of members and an estimated time to complete the questionnaire was set around 30 minutes. No AKS person was present at the location. In addition, the purpose of the investigation by the above-mentioned written answer is to understand how the NGT member recognizes not only the case itself but also the background situation, etc. It was notified that the questionnaire was for the above purpose only and the content would not be disclosed to any party (including AKS) than the committee. The participants could choose also to write down their name or answer anonymously. As a result, 24 participants wrote their names down, 14 answered anonymously. In either case, the committee observed the participants answered honestly to the questionnaire. Naturally, not only up to the present time, but also in the future, materials either with names or anonymous will not be disclosed any other person (including AKS) other than the Committee. Spoiler: Rumors of connections In the inquiry, 36 members stated that they have heard either from fans or other members as a rumor about those connections and names of 12 members cited as “connected” with fans privately. ============================== 40298ch was dead for the last two days so it's a big update: Spoiler: March 27 March 27 (Wed) http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/296 Hasegawa mobile mail. Last sentence is "I support Maho-chan." Ogiyuka, Gatanee and Ayakani Osaka hot spring trip on the 18th, and USJ on the 19th. On the 16th, Ogino implied she was going to a hot spring on instagram. Hot springs comments on Nishigata's instagram deleted. Girl's chan "leak" of member transfer. Yoshirin (Kobayashi Yoshinori) wrote that Maho is smart. Riko deleted almost all her likes of members, except 3 from Maho. Inaoka is seen at a pachinko parlor in Iidabashi. http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/297 Bunshun Real Live article. Radio Akushukai put on hiatus. Niigata prefecture's pending contract renewal with NGT, article in Niigata Nippo. Bunch of articles from magazines and newspapers. Weezy article. (deleted or moved) Daily article about Niigata government receiving complaints since January about NGT. Spoiler: March 28 March 28 (Thu) http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/298 NGT's empty April schedule. Port de NGT's sponsors disappearing away. Official NGT twitter starts blocking people writing 'rough' comments. (?) Su-Maten on Yomiuri TV suggest management's involvement in 'connections'. Daily about the prefecture contract renewal. JR East Japan ad contract with NGT ends. Posters removed. Articles. Aeon also ends contract with NGT. Knuckles article about NGT member suspected of being lover with a popular comedian. Summary of Bunshun articles and suspicion of third party lawyer breaking confidentiality. AKB group members column in Sankei ends. Rakuten Women article about the case. Tokyo Sports: Idol Hunter army seen at a hello project concert. Nishigata gives up deleting instagram comments. A famous Nishigata wota breaks down (and changes his twitter name). Spoiler: March 29 March 29 (Fri) http://40298ch.com/test/read.cgi/karakoro/1548413013/299 Prefecture puts contract on hold. Tano video deleted from homepage. Sighting Ogino at USJ - shocking development. More sponsors leaving Port de NGT. Two left. A tweet by Ogino leads some people to call Sashihara a liar. Ogino and Nakai on Music Station with AKB48 were mostly ignored by the cameras. Member(s) of the yakkai army is spotted/filmed during an Nogi46 event. The yakkai group were selling photos of members to fans at the event. Weezy article. Gendai article. Edits: Added the summaries of the 27th and 28th. Fixed typos. Added 29th.
Imagine yourself an innocent ngt48 girl whose future as idol is unsure thanks to the useless management. At this point every girl must have a backup plan once they're out of this group. Sent from my Redmi Note 6 Pro using Tapatalk
from what I recall, Imamura did his own "consorting" investigation in December and 8 members confessed, so that data at least should be known to management.
Someone from management said in the parent meeting about the report: "The twelve names are just teenage gossip." or something like that. Also, they stated when they released the report on the website that they are not interested in the twelve. The report was mainly about the assault with the section about the fan connections being in the 'background of the case' section, which is explaining the landscape of the group. Spoiler: Relationship between fan and NGT48 management (4) Relationship between fan and NGT48 management A. Fan activities (a) General fan The fans of NGT as "Idol who you can go to meet” would like to meet the "favorite", participate in various events to speak, shake hands and cheer the “favorite”. Also, in the general election, they would like to vote for the "favorite” and push the ranking of the “favorite” higher. (b) Very few limited fans Some fans were not satisfied with being one of the many fans and they try to have contact with members privately (so-called "connections"). For example, in the handshake meeting, the members by using the opportunity to talk to the members by the "put Together", can suggest the mass vote in the general election (citing the real name). They can also lure members quoting other members in “connection”. There are those who seek "connection" by way of requesting direct Mail on Instagram and Twitter. In addition, some try to locate the residence of the members by following the mini bus of the transport. In fact, many members’ residence was known to some group of the fan.In addition, at the time of the handshake meeting some hinted "You live in the XX apartment " and checked the reaction of members. Some shouted loud near targeted apartment during SHOWROOM streaming to identify the room of a members. The suspect of this case X even rented a room in the same building after identifying some members living in the apartment. Relationship between fan and NGT48 management department (a) Nuisance and Ban The members of the AKB48 group, the "Idol who you can go to meet", are doing their activities mainly in contact with fans who come to see the official events of the private theater and other venues, and this is the same in the NGT. Many of the fans are genuinely supporting their members, participating in concerts in various places including the NGT48 Theater, for cheering, participating in handshake meetings, purchasing CDs that come with handshake tickets and ballot tickets for the general election is held once every year. For the NGT48 Management department, it is a serious responsibility to prepare an environment in which "Idol who you can go to meet" is maintained in a good manner. On the other hand, there are limited number of fans who make nuisance such as shouting or acting rude on the venue. There is a measure to be taken against such fans and it is a ban from coming to the events. Actions consider to be banned are specified in the NGT48 theatre regulations and there actually some fans banned from coming to the theatre. (b) "Putting together" and Private contact The nuisance of a small number of fans is not limited in the NGT48 theater, but it is also considered to be a nuisance in the event of events outside the NGT48 theater. In particular, the "Putting together" of the handshake ticket in the handshake meeting is a situation where it is possible to talk for a longer time shaking hands. There is a chance of contact in a semi private area and some fans can suggest that other members are in private contact with them implying that this contact could lead to the sales of handshake tickets and the number of votes in the general election. There are members lured this way hinted they are as well being able to gain a favorable position in the group by private connection with those group of fans. However, the committee could not find the case of ban from the event due to such an activity by fans. Spoiler: Private Connections B. Private Connection (and the circumstances that cause suspicion) Although the contact with the fan in private was prohibited as described above, some members had the contact in private (so-called "connection") with a small group of the fan. We found It was not "rumor" level and observed them as concrete facts. For instance (1) A member having a conversation with Z without any hesitation that the content relates to the whereabout of some other members. (2) There is/are member(s) who met Z privately more than once. (3) X stated X came to know the room number of Ms. Yamaguchi from several members in the past. (recorded data) (4) X cited some members name who might have known the plan before the incident. (recorded data) (5) The suspects decided they meet Ms. Yamaguchi in the apartment building rather than outside as they had been meeting with other members in the apartment building. (recorded data) (6) X stated that he consulted with a member about going to Ms. Yamaguchi's house to talk with Ms. Yamaguchi (7) After the incident several members stated that they have "connection" with the fan and has declared it voluntarily. For (3) and (6), as X did not respond to the committee’s inquiry, the committee could not confirm his intention and credibility. In the inquiry, 36 members stated that they have heard either from fans or other members as a rumor about those connections and names of 12 members cited as “connected” with fans privately. C. Relationship between "connection" and NGT48 management (a) recognition and action by management The former general manager and the managers recognized those so-called “connections” between some members and limited number of fans to some extent. (including hearsay from members). It looks an investigation was conducted for a case, but there was no official disciplinary action was taken and no trace of investigations was seen for other cases. (b) "Connection" and contract The reason why the NGT48 Management did not actively investigate and act against "connections" is that there are no specific provisions for "connection". In addition, the exclusive contract with AKS stipulate AKS can terminate the contacts based on the fact that members in “improper relationship” or “not suitable for being AKB48 member” , but the “improper relationship” is usually related to “infidelity” and not immediately applicable for private “connections” and definition of “not suitable for being AKB48 member” is quite vague. Therefore, it is unclear if it is justifiable to terminate the contract based on the fact of private “connection” with fans. Moreover, it is the capacity of representative director to terminate the contract and beyond the judgement of the general manager. "(7) After the incident several members stated that they have "connection" with the fan and has declared it voluntarily." The number of person who confessed varies from story to story though.
I think that you have to part from the premise that for management, Maho was complaining about a non-issue, as it seems special treatment to high-spending fans is part of their business model. So Maho was basically being a nuisance to them. Acting against high-spending fans would send them a message that there is no privilege or protection for them, despite their investment. Silencing Maho was the easiest route. After the infamous apology, the incident became national news, so they scrambled to find a way to calm the situation down, still thinking that they could preserve the business model. It’s always about the lowest effort, while maintaining maximum profit. This stuff is actually in college business books, where the concept of social responsibility is about getting away with what you can until society calls you out; then your lawyer team formulates a way out, while claiming the lowest amount of responsibility possible. Of course these books use fancy terms like risk management and ethics “standards” (where any action is ethic as long as a competitor has been doing it without punishment, if anyone gets punished for it, then the standard changed). A better question would be: what has lead AKS to such standards, when competitors (H!P, Stardust) are so divergent from them? A possible answer could be that it became a systematical issue, created or aggravated by the SSK, the general election.
I was reading this business article yesterday and wondering if it was applicable, in as how much of AKS's failures is due to their overconfidence that they can do no wrong since they have been so successful until now...
I think these members should still be entitled to due process but the quantum of proof required to take administrative action against them is much lower than convicting them of a criminal offense. Reasonable certainty of guilt might be fair along with prima facie evidence. And imo they don't have to be directly involved in the assault, just consorting with the attackers which led to or made it possible for the assault to happen should already be grounds for major sanctions up to dismissal considering that they are idols. On a different note, I think maho is also aware that the attackers could have been lying (like us) when they mentioned the names of certain members. But she must have good reasons to believe that what was said is likely true such as circumstances and other things known to her and which we can only guess at. After all, why would she simply believe with conviction what her attackers said without anything else. She seems pretty smart with how she has gone about this, has had time to reflect, and should believe the members more than some dubious attackers. Involvement in the assault is almost impossible to prove at this point but I think it's more important for management to address this consorting with fans issue.
let them worry about their own self preservation. if they can't take the heat, they shouldn't be starting fires. i think there are at least two people who need to get the chopping block if ngt has any chance of escaping its path of doom. as you were probably referring to my posts about ogiyuka, did you even consider any of my points? i do not hate her, but her behavior is raising some red flags as far as i'm concerned.
i think that the dating/intimate relationship isn't really the problem after all. who cares, if the girls are willing to get close to fans, then so be it. the problem is when they drag girls into it that are unwilling to do so, especially if they are harmed like in the case of maho now. if the girls had just kept to themselves and said "it's maho's decision if she wants to get close to a fan, not ours" then none of this would've happened. so the other girls that weren't involved would fairly stay within the group if only those directly involved are punished
I wasn't referring to your posts. I could've easily added Katomina or someone else. My interpretation is that Ogiyuka believes she's doing the right and admirable thing by standing by her friends. She should consider how it looks like on the outside. Considering she's the face of NGT48 to boot, that means if her image gets damaged in this chaotic situation so does NGT48's. If Ogiyuka didn't want to pick sides and "betray" Gatanee/Ayakani (who she is closer to) she should've stayed firmly neutral instead.
Other fans, that's who cares. For a start if a member is consorting with a fan or group of fans then she's giving him/them better treatment than she's giving the other fans that go to her HS and buy her merch etc. Then there are the fans who support other members but they see a girl getting higher in the SSK because she's "consorting" with yakkai wota. And there are fans (and casuals) who like to see "diligent" girls doing well but then they see some girls cheating their way to success and also putting a "diligent" girl in danger. That policy is really working out well for them huh? Management's attitude is one of the reasons they're getting beaten up right now, the arrogance is something else!
the problem is the perception relationships with fans creates. the story isn't "members are becoming friends with fans" the story true or not is "members are giving special treatment to fans for those fans buying stuff that benefits that member"
