NGT48 Assault Case

No assailant ever "just wants to talk". I always believed such an excuse is BS.

 

We still need to fight.
Maho, Riko & rena have gained new places and new opportunities.
However, the organization remains unchanged.
The same will happen sometime.


if the video does not show watch the video here

 

A post I saw on facebook recently I thought was amusing

 

Looks like AKS, and Sponichi to which it is beholden for more than obvious reasons, after months of nonstop attempts at passive-aggressive provocations toward Maho have finally committed the proverbial "shitting out of the potty", which resulted in Maho having to come out on Twitter just a few moments ago to roast them publicly. Now, for those who don't religiously follow @SaitoWinterStar 's daily translations about the updates on the assault case, for whose work I can't thank him enough, I'll put it briefly and first explain on the progress of what it is too generous to call a "civil lawsuit" (some irony added except where's specified otherwise).

A recap of the previous episodes:
1) AKS sues the two (yeah, they spared the third guy for reasons unknown) for damages, based on the disingenuous reasons I have covered more than enough some time ago by translating AKS's lawsuit paper.
2) Perpetrators: "We, we do not mean to fight AKS. Here, we'll freely collaborate to show I had private consorting with Yamaguchi since before and how it's all her fault only"; AKS: "Oh yeah, forget about the reparations, even though the point of contention is entirely about how the assault stopped our activities and how your actions ~made Yamaguchi believe~ other members were involved in it. If you make new statements, then provide new evidences about it, pwease... [rubbing of hands intensifies]"
(note: the last sentence is as real as ever, said at the end of last month's court sitting, in fact)
3) Fast forward one month, to a couple of days ago, when the dumbasses finally produce what the same cohort of lapdog media (Sponichi on top of the list, of course) reports in unison as being "evidences of private consorting with Yamaguchi". At the sorry excuse for an on-location interview, the poor lawyer on AKS side is forced to play his part and express how "he can't deny the compelling power of it" in front of them (seriously).
To the question posed by some unnamed journalist that "Are you possibly moving the point of contention of the court case to the consorting with Yamaguchi [and the perpetrators]?", the AKS lawyer just hops out of the Trojan horse since why even hiding it anymore and replies "We can also take this outlook, perhaps. Since this would lead to determining whether or not an assault occurred." (seriously)
Now, stop a little to re-read the last part, because it's the most troglodyte, knuckle-dragging, dim-witted statement you'll probably ever hear this side of the Talibans. The basic premise is -- you understood it well -- that if AKS lets the assailants prove they had ~private contact~ with Maho, then it means that an assault couldn't possibly have taken place, which in turn would on their plans convince the judge that AKS did nuffing wrong. Try imagining this argument used in a case of, say, domestic violence, to understand just how backwards and plain retarded it can get.
Also yeah, a lawyer is trying to take over the role of both the investigation police and the prosecutors.
Oh, and maybe I should have also told you that they have come so far with this farce and AKS has not yet contacted Maho once while they proceeded as they pleased with this joke of a civil lawsuit. Even more ridiculously, the AKS lawyer replied how they are still "thinking about it" on the possibility of having Maho show up as the sole testimony (seriously).
Legally speaking, Maho is in fact a third party uninvolved to it, since she is neither on the defendants or the plaintiffs side, despite both sides having clearly a bone to pick with her and the whole talk revolving exclusively around herself. Seriously. Add to it that in a civil lawsuit neither the defendants nor the plaintiffs can be charged for perjury for the crap they each spew (seriously), and it's no wonder that people already sniffed out that this is a plain old instance of "collusive lawsuit".
4) At this point AKS's personal-use media are on a trip and, being above themselves as they are, publish ~as an exclusive~ said evidences.... Of course, it couldn't be anyone else but Sponichi to do so. Anyway, wanna have a little laugh?
One, two...

Spoiler

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Now, with this whole nonsense out of the way, here are the responses by Maho from today:


スポニチさんが名誉毀損すぎるのでもう関わりたくないけど言わせてもらいます。ファンの方はご存知の通りイベント写真会はリクエストされたポーズをします。それをカメラ目線でやるので相手が何のポーズしているかもほぼ分かりません。AKB新聞やってて写真会の仕組みも分かっているはずなのに酷すぎる
https://twitter.com/maho_yamaguchi/status/1189307747273269250

Sponichi is going over the line with the slander, which is why I want nothing to do with them anymore, but let me just say one thing. As any fan should know, at these photo-shooting events you would strike the pose that you have been requested. And since you would do it while staring right at the camera, you basically don't know what kind of pose the other side is doing in the meantime. They run the AKB Shinbun, they are supposed to know how such photo-shooting events work, but this is just awful.

[Quoted tweet:
スポニチが「山口真帆と主犯がツーショットで、お互いの部屋番号を表す写真を撮っていた！」とあたかも個人的なつながりがあるかのようなこと書いていたけど、そんなもん、チェキ会では客からリクエストされたポーズで撮るの基本。山口さんに意味を知らせずに撮影することなんて誰でも出来るｗ（続く）
https://twitter.com/rupazo/status/1189290449158184963

Sponichi just wrote a piece as if there were any sort of private consorting [note: between Maho and the culprits], to the tone of "In this two-shot of Yamaguchi Maho and the main culprit, they took a photo of themselves showing each other's respective room number!". You know, about that, at cheki-kais it is the norm to take photos doing poses you are requested from the venue-goers. Having a photo taken with Yamaguchi-san without letting her know about the actual meaning behind it is something just about anyone can do. lol (continues)

Tweet below from the same thread tree:
（承前）これを持って、繋がりがあったことに出来るなんて考えるのは、山口さんの立場を悪くしたいと考える人間と、それに加担して一枚儲けに絡みたい奴らだけだろ。そういえばスポニチさんもAKB新聞発行することなって大変ですもんねえｗ
https://twitter.com/rupazo/status/1189290676908900352

(continuing) The ones who hope that by using those [note: photos] they can make it seem there was any consorting are either the people who think of undermining Yamaguchi-san's position, or those goons acting as their enablers who want to bet their all just on that for their gains. On the subject, when you add to it how Sponichi is also the one that publishes the AKB Shinbun, things sure get thorny, y'know... lol]

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独占入手って昨日の裁判資料？横流ししてもらった以外何があるんだろう？ 襲われたら会社に謝されて、メンバーにはSNSで嫌がらせされて、辞めてからは他のメンバーがやってたことを私のせいにされて。こんな会社ある？ 犯人との私的交流は現メンバーが認めてるのに。出してないけどその音声もあります
https://twitter.com/maho_yamaguchi/status/1189320193669029890

By "obtaining it as an exclusive", they are referring to the court trial material from yesterday? Outside of them having received that from under the counter, is there any other way they had? After I was assailed I was forced into apologizing by my own agency, I received harassment on social media from other members, and then once I have quit from the group, they are trying to pin the blame on me for things that other members had been doing. Is it even possible for such an agency to exist? Never mind the fact that there are currently-active members who have themselves admitted to having had mutual relationships on a personal, private level with the criminals. They aren't getting released out still, but there actually are also recorded voice statements of that.

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いや、「俺も写真会でポーズ指定して2ショット撮ったから繋がりの証拠ww」ってイベントの写真送ってくるのやめてください
イライラしてたけど笑っちゃった
皆さんありがとう
https://twitter.com/maho_yamaguchi/status/1189328855129116672

But really, stop replying with photos from events while saying "I too asked for a specific pose at a photo-shooting event and took a two-shot photo, so that too counts as evidence of consorting. lol"
I was furious before, but I couldn't help laughing.
Thank you, y'all.

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My only hope is that NGT48 won't last long enough to see the end of the year, at this point. Nothing more.
And to think I even had a pious church boy accusing me on DM once that it's me who is on a "petty revenge hunting" in all of this story, as he personally put it. Pfeh. Don't huff too much frankincense during Mass, dudes. ;)

 

Yeah can't imagine why they'd spare the bystander who had nothing to do with the assault and barely spoke in the park.

edit: My mistake, slipped my mind that he was the one who asked whether Mahohon was on the bus. He's still not one of the attackers, and didn't make the misleading claims that are the basis of the suit.

Your source linked here says the opposite. 「証拠として不十分だ」"There's not enough evidence."「説得力が足りないと思っている」 "I don't think [their argument] is compelling." All of your translations appear to be pulled from the Tokyo Sports article, which publication has been hostile to AKS since the beginning. Based on the Daily Sports article which you've also linked, the "I'm not denying the weight of evidence" seems to be him lawyering out of his earlier statement that they don't have enough (which ToSpo omitted, or maybe even got wrong)--it's not his business to determine that, it's up to the judge. I don't want to spend too much time analysing the specific wording since all of the articles disagree with each other in one way or another, and it's difficult to tell what his actual statements were in those cases.

I also don't want to waste time untying all other the little twists and omissions you've made of this case (e.g. the 30 million yen is still the reason for the trial).

The submission of two-shot photos with Mahohon is a bullshit attempt at defamation by the attackers, but that evidence is no more ridiculous than similar used (including by you) to slander other members of NGT during the 10 months prior to this.

The irony of these two lines together.

 

>Yeah can't imagine why they'd spare the bystander who had nothing to do with the assault and barely spoke in the park.
Consider that the purported point of contention here, at least before the bait-and-switch, is not the assault but the assault PLUS the statements that followed afterwards at one point or another during the investigation, there's no reason to spare him who is the chief suspect of consorting with other members. Also, please let's not even try to pretend that "they are just the assaulters acting on their own, we have no responsability for what they do", it's just another way to pass the bucket for your own actions while pretending to play dumb and washing your hands of it, especially when you see how the AKS lawyers act complacent and unresponsive to the actions of the other side of the lawsuit, even in front of stupid shit that in fact they personally were blatantly begging for. Even if it's bullshit claim, you can rest assured AKS isn't even trying to challenge them. They couldn't care less about defending Maho back when she were in the group, much less nowadays that she is no longer under their care. Hell, remember the audio recordings they are supposedly holding against the culprits? They didn't even submit them for evidence, which means that they won't be taken into account when evaluating the criminals' claims! Looks like they are unsatisfied with the first take and they are rejecting it for a second round...
By the way, the only metrics in a civil case is to determine how deserving one side is of reparations for a purported wrongdoing, anything beyond claims concerning the stated point of contention is pure Chewbacca Defense...

Oh, and by the way... Sponichi in particular was one of the most digusting asslickers on AKS's part during this entire shameful story, if they thought that they had carte blanche on directing personal attacks on Maho after graduation, they thought wrong. You should really remove the slices of bologna from over your eyes and read article they had cooked up for Mofu's graduation, to get a clear idea: it was one petty jab at Maho after another that doesn't even begin to deal with the theater show itself, not only completely distorting what Mofu said on her social media (hint: the reason she chose to sing Sekai no Hito he was NOT what Sponichi claimed at all) but putting it into her mouth expressions or implications she never made but were all suspiciously in line with the management's narrative.
By the way, the one who wrote that piece of shit was probably the same Setsu who writes on AKB Shinbun, lol. Glad that rag is no longer sold on shelves.

 

I'd love to be a fly on the wall of AKS's strategy meetings, is this the best that their big-brain management could come up with? Did they think that based on previous evidence (like the infamous press conference in March where maho wrecked AKS) that Maho would stand idly by and let herself be destroyed by AKS and the yakkai in this courtcase? Did they maybe think that Ken-On would muzzle Maho because she was under contract and her social media would be controlled by the agency? Have they learned nothing?

AKS has lost AKBshow, ANN, AKBingo, 2019 SSK, their new centre but what they choose to concentrate on is throwing Maho under the bus? Is this some kind of obsessive-compulsive fixation by Yoshinori? It's fascinating in an awful kind of way. I'm glad at least that Maho is choosing to remain the adult in the room in all of this.

 

Yeah that article is pretty bad. Almost as low a ratio of facts to biased personal interpretations as your post just above.

Does he even write for Sponichi? They just publish AKB Shinbun, that doesn't mean he's suddenly become a staff writer.

And jokes on you, it's even easier to obtain now lol

 

In addition to these tweets above, there's also this screenshot from Maho's Instagram stories, which remained up for a limited amount of time (the cleaner, raw picture on the right has the text more readable). The messages are unrelated to the question asked in the box, I should point out, so I am only translating just the relevant bits which are the two large columns of text at the bottom.
Have a nice day, this is all I need to know.



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Since I have some good memory -- in addition to the fact that it also smelled fishy -- I do still remember this, but at the photo-shooting event from which those Sponichi photos are taken, I had been requested a lot of incomprehensible poses at that.
About the 3, it was a request for a "Nyaa Nyaa Pose" [note: a pose often done by Seiji and Kusakabe of NGT].
As for the 6, it was a request to "open the palm of your hand and place your index finger in the middle". I recall how I couldn't make sense out of it, so I asked what pose would it be, I was told back "It's alright like that, it's alright", and ended up having photos taken in quick succession well before the time limit was over.
Thinking back about it today, it feels so very much disturbing how this was a premeditated crime to such a large extent.

Being it my job, even if I am requested something unpleasant while at work, like if I'm asked to please write this or to please perform that pose, there's no other choice but to do it in short order. As a professional, I would do it with a smile on my face.
But if it means to be used as an excuse for that crime, then I'll honestly say this is creepy.
They did admit to everything about the physical assault. Not only that, since there's been no consorting with me, while at the police station (as I heard from the police itself) they also tried on negotiating with the management, saying "If I go on to sell the scandal infos I have about the other members, NGT is finished, alright?".
Yet despite that, once now they got demanded for money compensations to pay, they are now trying to shift the blame on me, acting in cahoots with the management to attempt to exculpate and save themselves, and that is extremely disturbing. (Oh, and for what is on the voice data from that parents briefing meeting, it's been already all confirmed that the management and the culprits have already been keeping themselves in contact since before the court trial, as I have heard it from a certain person within AKS)

 

Whoa.. at this point, it's like both AKS and Maho can sue each other for defamation. Like it's obvious one of them is lying.

AKS seems to be the one guilty of it though, with all the inconsistencies and all.

 

One that took them almost 2 years to accomplish? While these photos are no proof of connection, if one of those numbers really is her room number, it proves he knew it on 2017/04/15, when the photos were taken. This is also around the time MahorinOniichan claims to have connected with her.

Members always have the option to refuse poses. The rules actually state it's up to the discretion of the venue staff, but that's for the same reason the member isn't the one to shoo you out of the booth when your time is up. Of course just not understanding the pose is probably not enough reason for Mahohon to want to refuse it, especially if, as she says, she'd already had a lot of weird poses requested.

 

Just pure lying scum. How deep can they go? I can't imagine there's anybody alive who would still have enough brain damage to lay even 1% of blame at Maho's door.

 

They are trying to deny that the assault even HAPPENED??????

God damn. GOD DAMN. AKS is so disgusting.

 

AKS' defense at this point is that Maho was the black member associating with yakai wota, and that the "assault" was a falling out/lover's spat.

 

It's beyond ridiculous what they're doing. We know they're wrong, they know they're wrong, everyone in the general public, advertisers and even the local politicians know they're wrong and yet...

They make this play as though ANYBODY will buy it.

If they just backed her at the start they would have had enormous support. Get rid of those wota, warn the black members or gradually phase them out with graduations and we all move on happy and they keep the sponsors and make money.

They instead burn the house down and accuse Maho of supplying the petrol. LOL!

 

Do you think the courts will buy it though? I remember reading Japanese courts handing out incredibly fucking stupid rulings such as "father accused of raping daughter is found not guilty as the daughter could have resisted".
Even though it seems so cut and dry that AKS is a piece of shit, I fear that Japanese courts will side with them regardless.

 

I can imagine some old bought-and-paid-for judge not wanting to 'rock the boat' and either siding with them or passing out some do-nothing judgment.

The public know though. Nobody is being fooled here.

 

Just for good measure, there's another translation of a public document from the Prefecture archives, which the people at Secret Night have sent a request for information disclosure for, and which they released today. This one is dated January 17, some days before AKS reportedly coming to their offices to offer an apology.
Funny how it's made evident how they clearly don't trust a single word of what they are saying. At this point, I'm really eager to see if they can request for the briefing document of the other apology visit to the Prefecture, the one which had Yoshinari and her entourage personally visiting it after the third party report conference and the fallout in terms of advertisement deals. That would be even funnier, I can only imagine.
The showcase of the document can be watched here on YouTube (alternate mirror here), along with the rubber-stamped notice of request approval.
Cheers.

Spoiler: Translation

On the apology visit by AKS, pertaining the controversy sparked by the assault incident on NGT48's Yamaguchi Maho
Summary of the lecture by vice-governor Mizoguchi

Date: January 17, 2019 (Thursday), 15:30~40
Hosts: Assistant advisor Shinoda, Policy Planning member Ogawara

(Assistant advisor)
・ On the 15th a document arrived by way of [blacked out (3 characters)], which does subcontractings of PR services.
・ Given how they say they want to come here to apologize by the 21st, we'd like to make arrangements, in a manner that the Chief director and the PR supervisor will be meeting with them.

(Vice-governor)
・ When there, which way are you going to address them?

(Assistant advisor)
・ "Make yourselves clear, here at this point in time", that is.

(Vice-governor)
・ It's necessary to go with a firm way of stating about it.
・ "Do you mean to continue with that, are you renouncing on it, should we put it on hold?" [note: referring to the contract deals, especially for the National Cultural Festival], I'm referring to that part.
・ What wordings should we use to tell that?

(Ogawara)
・ Considering how there are many critical opinions around, we may want to have a consultation with the Chief director and the Department chief while also taking those opinions as a reference.

(Vice-governor)
・ Once they'll come here to apologize, from what standing should we tell that?
・ "Alright, we understand", like that? That would be difficult.
・ What's written on the document states the obvious. But that's not what the general public is seeing as a problem.
・ That they didn't commit any illegal act themselves -- that is not what is being treated as the issue.
・ Who is supposed to come [note: from AKS]?

(Assistant advisor)
・ It is yet to be decided.

(Vice-governor)
・ We cannot tell them "Don't you dare to come apologize", but how do we intend to cope with them when they arrive?

---

・ I mean, if we accept their apology and say "Alright, we understand", we'll make a public laughing stock out of ourselves.
・ Anyone is fine for dealing with them, but the matter is still that it's going to affect the prefecture as a whole.
・ The most terrible thing of it is that if only they come here waving around the same sort of trifling infos as written inside that document, go on to apologize with that, and then the AKS side comes out saying "The Prefecture accepted our apologies", it means we'll find ourselves in a predicament.
・ They are speaking in a way which is all smoke and mirrors, that's why. The people on the other side...
・ What I'm saying is -- what things must the Prefecture speak out regarding the matter, and from what standing? It all depends on that.
・ So please have an exhaustive consultation with everyone, decide with what face to go on about it, settle clearly on a course of action, and then go have a discussion accordingly.
・ It's truly deplorable, I say.

 

https://twitter.com/48timesJP/status/1190205587813855233

AKB Shinbun has put out a press-release stating they are a separate company (KimiBoku) from Sponichi, and only use the latter for printing and distribution. They had nothing to do with that article.

 

AKB48, where everything is nobody's responsibility, and everybody but the victim is a poor unwitting victim. Maybe they should make Passing the Bucket a sports discipline for the next sports festival they'll hold, the higher-ups can join in too if they want. ┐(´ｰ｀)┌

Next time you take material fresh out of the court -- which only the two parties involved (either plaintiff or defendant) can access this easily and early -- and use it as gossip fodder (because that's what it is meant for ultimately, to be recycled for this purpose in the most lowbrow and obtuse way), show us rather the real names of who wrote those pieces anonymously and who are the "informants" giving you info if you care about transparency.
This way people can find out on their own how some unusual convergence of interpretations and wordings was all ~coincidental~, too. Like it sure was when Setsu tweeted on the "message" allegedly behind Sekai no Hito he at Mofu's graduation show ("stop insults to muh NGT members on social media", nothing of what Mofu really told), just before that Sponichi article on it wrote the same, with in turn the same oddly specific phrases as Sponichi echoed again by him on AKB Shinbun, sans the aspersions on Maho.
Can you? You aren't a gossip magazine, why hide?
And for one thing, yes, AKB Shinbun's Setsu does write pieces on Sponichi as well, when they do care to sign the articles, claiming no links between the publications is useless.

And how fucking rich of AKB Shinbun to be the ones that are trying to invoke their "hurt reputation" and complaining about "denigration" on themselves (!) because of it. Who do you think you are? What do you think your generous ~distributor~ was attempting to do for months on end, without you saying a peep? And mind you, you are disassociating from it days later not because of Sponichi having wrote that piece (no words of condemnation says more than enough), but due to the media/Internet reaction that sparked afterwards (bad netizens, bad!) and caught you in, as it's clearly stated in that communication. If you were so offended, you'd break your contract with Sponichi tomorrow.

Always thought so, but why in a civil litigation of AKS against the defendants, an AKB-aligned newspaper who has played the "yes man" game with AKS all along is passing along the excuse of the defendant side unfiltered and unchallenged, while calling into question a long-graduated member with wrongful insinuations instead?
Some of the most mind-numbingly egregious excerpts out of it, note that it's all stated as if it were done conclusions, not allegations:
加害者と被害者が同じマンションの互いの部屋番号を仲良く“隠語”のように示し、しかもその意味は2人しか知らない“秘密のポーズ”。これは一体、何を意味するのか。
«The victim and the perpetrator friendly show each other's room number in "secret signs", in addition this is a "secret pose" whose meaning is known only to the two of them. What could this possibly be meaning?»
今回入手した写真では、山口は同じマンションに住む男性ファンの部屋番号を知っており、自分の部屋番号も伝えていたことになる。しかも、この男性ファンが自分の部屋番号を認識していることも承知した上で“秘密のポーズ”で撮影しており、同じマンション内で2人の私的交流があったことをうかがわせる写真だ
«In the photos we have obtained this time, Yamaguchi is shown knowing the room number in which the man lives inside the building, while she was communicating to him her own room number as well. Anyway, by thus taking a shot of this "secret pose", being also conscious of the fact that the male fan knew that it was his own room number, this one is a photo that lets it show there was a private mutual interaction between the two in the same building.»
事件は「ファンの暴走」である一方で「私的交流があったアイドルとファンのトラブル」という側面が浮き彫りになった。
«While this incident represents a case of "fan's reckless behavior", another side is also highlighted that it was an "accident between a fan and an idol who had private mutual interactions"»
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/news/2019/10/30/kiji/20191029s00041000396000c.html

And I'm keeping myself strict with quoting that trash from Pravda Sponichi, but I can keep on with more. I'm sorry, but who the fuck are you even doing information distortion for, and who's paying you for this? Sad thing is that someone was even dumbly defending the intention of the article as if it were innocently neutral. Even standard gossip rags have the decency to add "it seems" at their end of their sentences.
Not the first time it happened either, even then using the same derisive remarks. Who's at fight with who here in that civil case, after all? Keep in mind all I have said in the previous posts.