The official website for the NGT48 idol group announced on
Tuesday that the staff has canceled the Team NIII subgroup's performances on
January 22 and January 23.
In addition,
the website announced that NGT48's junior "trainee" subgroup will
perform all currently scheduled shows at NGT48's theater from January 25 to
January 31. Team NIII was previously scheduled to perform on January 27 and 29,
and the other main subgroup Team G was previously scheduled to perform on
January 26 and 30.
Food company
Ichimasa Kamaboko also announced on Monday that it will hold back on airing its
commercials that featured NGT48. The company noted that it made the decision to
do so in response to customer feedback, even though it has not yet confirmed
all the details of the recent news around NGT48.
The
cancellations follow the alleged assault of Team G vice captain Maho Yamaguchi,
Yamaguchi's comments on the incident, and the replacement of NGT48 theater
manager Etsurō Imamura.
Background
The alleged
assault occurred in December; the two suspects allegedly confronted Yamaguchi
outside her own home in Niigata and grabbed her face as she was entering her
home. According to the police, both suspects were 25-year-old unemployed
university students. The police said that the suspects "only wanted to
talk to Yamaguchi, and didn't think it would be a big deal." The suspects
denied the assault and were subsequently released without charges.
Yamaguchi began
speaking about the incident on social media about a month later. Yamaguchi said
that she initially kept silent about the incident so as not to cause trouble,
but eventually spoke out because, as she said, "it's been so hard on me I
don't want the same thing to happen to the other girls [of NGT48]."
Yamaguchi also reportedly spoke out on Twitter against Imamura for keeping
the issue silent, and against a fellow NGT48 member for giving up her home
address, although ANN was not able to verify if Yamaguchi posted and then
removed these tweets.
At a
performance last Thursday, Yamaguchi apologized for "causing
trouble," apparently because of these statements.
The group's
management company AKS posted a statement
last Thursday, saying that Imamura had been working with the police to
investigate the issue, and that another member of NGT48 had given up the time
in which Yamaguchi returns home to a man who accosted her on the street.
However, in
another statement on Monday, the company announced that it had not found any
evidence of "unlawful action" by NGT48 members, but it will still tap
lawyers and experts to form a third-party committee to investigate if any
members had performed "inappropriate conduct." The company announced
Imamura's resignation in the same statement.
AKS company director Takumi Matsumura appeared with the new
theater manager Maiko Hayakawa and new assistant theater
manager Tsuyoshi Okada at a press conference on
Monday to apologize for recent events and for the delay in responding to the
issue. Matsumura explained that Hayakawa was appointed because she is a woman
and understands a woman's point of view.
Yamaguchi and
two other members, Riko Sugahara and Ayaka Tano, were absent from the
group's performance on Saturday. Sugahara was absent due to an illness, but
Tano mentioned that, while she was not involved in recent events, she and her
family were worried for her safety after police showed up to question her
without explanation.
NGT48 is a
sister group of the AKB48 idol group based in
Niigata prefecture, and it launched in 2015.
Sources:
NGT48's website, Ichimasa, Oricon via Hachima Kikō, Otakomu
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NGT48 Idol Group Cancels More Performances, Changes Other Performances' Lineups