Either way, I still feel sad for Sashihara. She's fought so hard to be where she is and simply transferring her to HKT48 is fundamentally making her restart from square one again.

Seriously, AkiP deserves to be slapped in the face for this. So much for the Senbatsu Elections. These girls deserve to be where they are because of their hard work. Some shocking management decision shouldn't be undoing of what they've literally sold their youth into making it for themselves.

^ She's not restarting, I bet she will be the center for HTK debut song

hmm so he knew about these photos! :shakehead

wow! it really surprises me...

What about Nacchan and Rumi? They were just booted and that was that...Nacchan not even allowed to stay in Warota. Sasshi is still in a 48 group (and the one that represents where she's from no less) AND gets to keep her position in Not yet. She did something stupid and she's paying the price for it, though not nearly as much as other, less popular girls have had to. I don't feel sorry for her at all at this point. Like Polyrhythm said, her humor was quirky and gave me a few chuckles here and there but I don't see all the fuss about her and I certainly don't believe she deserves special treatment over other girls. She's not even a first gen anyways.

Don't blame Aki-P then; blame Japanese society. That's what dictates what's acceptable for idols to do. He was generous to her if anything...too generous really.

Akip was very generous to keep her in Not Yet, I was kinda expecting her to be out, just like Nacchan.

so, Acchan's 2nd single released yesterday topping Oricon. though first day sales are only about 60k and Flower's 1st day sales were about 100k.

tbh I don't like the new song that much and I just saw her tv-lives and they didn't impress me at all.. :rolleyes

You're right... why is Aki-P treating Sasshi differently?

I think the evidence was more concrete against Nacchan and Yonechan anyway which is why they were booted.

This guy just wants money since he's the one who dumped her apparently.

Since Sasshi got transferred HKT has been flooded with new coverage. This will just bring more spotlight to them. She can possibly gain attention from HKT wota. She did a interview with some local TV station and they got a 9.0% the highest ratings they ever had.

Well there wasn't any hard evidence, and since the management has spend tons of money on her, they can't just fire her off like Nacchan.

But if any more pictures were to pop out, and proved the guy's words, it's gonna be bad for AKS and Sashi. Fans will be doubting whatever words the management would say in the future, so maybe AKS has bought off the other pictures from that guy or tabloids or something.

Just read this at akb48wrap, Shukan just publish color pictures of the previous photos, and the background seems to be real, they were just the right patterns as those Sashi posted.... This is bad, I rather Sashi to start owning up to what is true and what is not, or fans are now wondering....

Shukan has go over the top too, Sashi is underage, and publishing pics of her breasts is against the law, Sashi should sue them, but doing so means she will have to admit it.

http://www.akb48wrapup.com/2012/06/s...ull-color.html

AkiP, your move.

Ughhh....this will definitely damage AKB48 or HKT48 to some extent.

I may hate Sashihara as an AKB member but this tabloid is pretty relentless =/ They've definitely crossed some lines with the boob shot. They probably have more photos and are just lying in wait for the right time to reveal them....maybe when she rejoins AKB...or when HKT has become successful....it's very cruel. She should just come clean and resign if she knows what's best for herself and the groups.

I just got an e-mail from Seven Net (Japanese online shopping site) which announces a new album for AKB48 (release date 15 August) with 30 tracks (2CDs) which include "Sakura ni narou" up to "GIVE ME FIVE".

The e-mail:
I couldn't find anything about this on Amazon Japan nor HMV Japan.

I MET TAKAMINA TODAY!!!

I went to the handshake event at Saitama Super Arena and got to meet my oshimen Takamina; I'm still freaking out :scry

So I got there and waited outside the stadium to get in for about an hour or so, then I finally got in, where I gave a woman my ticket and got a numbered ticket (I was in the 12000s...) and another with a seat number. So I sat at my seat, which was a floor seat and only behind the A group, which was fenced off and only people who got there REALLY early I think were allowed there.

So after watching an hour or so of Nemousu TV on the big screens, a guy comes out and talks, then leaves, and suddenly the lights dim and it's "overture"! All the members came out and they performed Heavy Rotation! Then Yuko talked a little and they sang Flying Get and Oogoe Diamond. Then they talked some more and got questions from the audience and Takamina did some silly stuff. After Takamina talked about the "Dareka no Tame ni..." project, and then they performed that song. Then we saw on the big screens an announcement about the new album mentioned in the last post that comes out 8/15, and that there will be another single after the senbatsu one and then another janken tournament (as expected).

So the members left and eventually after they took some pictures with the crowds behind them, they started calling numbers, with 1-500 first to go to the handshake area. Since I was in the 12000s I knew I'd be waiting awhile, but I went to get a corndog and ran into my friend and she swapped her number with me because she went yesterday's event too, so I was now 4000-something. So a tiny bit later they called my group and I went to the area. It was a bunch of gated lines with a sign in front with the girl's number and name. I chose Takamina, who was 7, and was surprised that only like 25 people were in front of me. By the time it was my turn (minutes later), there was NO ONE in Yukirin's, Sasshi's, or Kojiharu's (lol) lines. Tomochin had twice as many as Takamina however, and Acchan and Yuko's were just out of this world long.

So I got into the little area and could see Takamina behind a white counter. One of the guys from OJS48 asked to see my hands, then cleared me to go, and I walked toward her and shook her hand! I said (in Japanese) "Nice to meet you! I'm a Takamina oshi!..." and already I was getting pushed away for the next person. You literally have like 2 actual seconds. But as I was being pushed away I was trying to stay "I'm always supporting you!" but forgot the word for support because I was so nervous. The word is "ouen" but I could only get "o..." out and she gave me a slightly confused sideways glance and said "ouen?", and I said "OUEN SHITEIMASU!" It was so cute that she helped me, and she gave me an extra three or four seconds while a new person was in front of her and I was pushed away just to let me finish, which I thought was really sweet. She seemed a little exhausted and not her usual cheery self, but was still very nice. AHHHHHHH I CAN'T EVEN BELIEVE IT! Sorry for the super long post, but I figure you guys might appreciate the story, especially if you've never been to an event before.

EDIT: Oops, totally forgot to mention Kitarie getting a birthday cake, and everyone in the crowd singing Happy Birthday to her in English. Cute moment. Folowing that, 6 kenkyuusei were promoted to regular member status. I know what they look like but I forget all their names because I just don't care much about the kenkyuus. Good for them though! Three were like uncontrollably crying, while the others were remarkably composed :P

You met Takaminaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!! That's wonderful, I wish I could meet her, I admire her so much!!!! Thanks for sharing your story!! Wow... I've never tried to attend this kind of event (not with 3 kids in tow, no), but it sounds fantastic!

Haha bondingo, I understand your feeling. I was very thrilled to see her last year when she came to Singapore for a cafe event and my seat was awfully close to her. I could see takamina dancing to Heavy Rotation as the cafe girls perform.
I will never forget her happy light up face when I gave her a present and told her there was a ribbon in there.

I had taken some pictures/video and posted to my Facebook. You can add me there, my email is genie_ayu@hotmail.com

Marie: maybe if your husband is home one day and he can look after them, you can try go, since you are living in Japan after all.

^
LacusClyne, I remember that!! My 7 year old daughter is sooooo envious of you (and bondingo)!!

I'm trying to work out that possibility... My brother's coming to visit me so I'm trying to have hubby stay home while I go to Tokyo to show my brother around!

Bondingo, I read your post few days ago and today I had a dream that I met Acchan! It was also a handshake event and I was so nervous that I could only say "Ureshii des" haha :laugh When I woke up, I immediately thought I had this dream because of your post :D

^ Awww, well I hope you can meet her at some point. Maybe you'll go to Japan and she'll have a handshake event for her solo single!

I'm glad you had a good experience with her too LacusClyne! She's so cute :D

I hope you can meet her at the next event yatsuda!

You are very lucky. That's awesome. :)

Veryyyyyyyy quiet thread lately...

Everybody probably knows already... but the CD jacket and tracklist were revealed earlier this week...

From Tokyo Hive
http://www.tokyohive.com/2012/07/akb...g-album-1830m/

And they performed Gingham Check, their upcoming 27th single, on last weekends Ongaku-no-hi.

From Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7l44fpyR_d8

***
I wish the new single had been a little more, er... different, along the lines of Beginner. Oh well, cutesy music + idols sell...