The spotlight these few days has been on Minegishi Minami, aka Miichan, the youngest from the 1st generation of AKB48. The year started off well for her with her coming-of-age ceremony, the release of No3b’s new single “Kirigirisu Jin” and a fortune teller on AKBingo declaring her the luckiest member in the entire AKB group in 2013.
Ironically, things quickly took a turn for the WORST when Shunkan Bunshun published photos of her allegedly spending the night at GENERATIONS’ Shirahama Alan’s place on the 17th Jan 2013. Source from here and here.
Miichan leaving the house of Shirahama Alan in the morning
Now if you’re not familiar with AKB rules, they have a strict no-dating ban. Crossing the line often means expulsion or self-declared resignation. But Miichan has been a key member of AKB48, often tasked with doing the MCs for their concerts due to her eloquence and variety sense. In fact, for this year’s Request Hour Setlist, she did the most number of MCs alongside Sashihara Rino. Personally i feel that she had the potential to replace Takamina as General Manager should Takamina decide to graduate. However, i guess this will never happen now as the management has decided to revert her to a research student.
Watch her tearful repent below, and don’t be too shocked by what she did to her hair!
Apparently, the first generation members including Maeda Atsuko have gathered around Miichan at this time of need to give her some support, as seen from a photo uploaded on Tomochin’s twitter here.
AllThingsJpop 
Nice post! Not even a fan but when I saw the video pop up, I had to take a look because I have noticed certain AKB members but to shave her hair off in an act of forgiveness to the public does seem extreme from a Western view. I do not believe for one second she shaved her hair off according to her, there must have been some “influence” from her company.
The demotion is really sad because I heard she is a 1st generation member as well. I heard this AKB member and the EXILE member are getting treated the same by idol fans but obviously with the girl’s video and how in most idol relationships, the girl seems to get the blame and negative treatment more than the male, the attention seems more on her not only in Japan but also in the West. The BBC and the Guardian over here in the UK have picked up on this story since it’s seen as human rights in the West. To be honest it deserves to have international attention and pressure but only if international media do not make assumptions and read up from a translated Japanese article.
Japan (and Korea too) need to fix that when idols hit certain ages, they would like to date, meet the other (or same) sex and go even further in their relationships. Idols are people too. The media and immature fans need to grow up and realise the idols are humans too.
I’m Asian and i find her actions extreme as welI. However, I’ve seen similar cases in Japanese manga(Slam Dunk & Prince of Tennis) where the main characters had to shave their heads to atone for some mistake, so Miichan’s actions should be related to Japanese culture.
I believe she shaved her head of her own accord though. According to a post from AKB48’s theater manager, staff had wanted to stop her but “she really wanted to put her reflection into action, so she cut her bangs using scissors without losing control over herself”. There have been at least 10 similar scandals in AKB48 previously, and most of them simply left. For those popular ones, the management either kept them out of the limelight for awhile or exiled them to sister groups. Now Miichan is rather popular so i had guessed the management wouldn’t ask her to leave, much less draw more attention to the scandal by asking her to shave her head.
It is indeed sad that the international media are seeing this as a human rights issue without understanding that this sacrifice was what the girl wanted to express her utmost regret. She probably sensed that her demotion is already light compared to so many others who were fired.
I would support lifting the dating ban when idols hit a certain age. When girls like Acchan, Tomochin, Miichan have been in the group for 7 years, it’s natural that they would grow tired of their idol lives and want to leave for some freedom. If they could date, they’d probably be happy to stay on in the group as well, which is a win-win situation for the fans.
Thanks for reading my article and lookout for more updates on Miichan soon!