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Foreign man arrested for grabbing former AKB48 idol on Tokyo street, forcing her to ground

18 Comments
By Casey Baseel, SoraNews24

In 2005, Haruna Kojima became one of the inaugural members of AKB48, the Akihabara-based multi-vocalist unit that would go on to dominate the Japanese idol singer scene for the next several years. While AKB48 operated under a policy of regularly cycling out less popular performers and replacing them with fresh faces, Kojima remained a member for over a decade before “graduating” from the group (to use the idol industry’s preferred parlance) in 2017.

Kojima may no longer perform on stage, but that doesn’t mean she’s completely out of the spotlight. Since leaving AKB48, the 36-year-old has worked as a fashion model and started her own fashion/lifestyle brand, called “Her lip to.” As proof of Kojima’s enduring popularity, on Oct 25 her first photo album in nine years, titled "Kamoshirenai," went on sale, and she attended a promotional launch event at the famous Shibuya Tsutaya building in downtown Tokyo’s Shibuya neighborhood.

▼ Cover of "Kamoshirenai"

Screenshot-2024-10-29-at-15.26.27.png

However, what should have been a happy night for Kojima took a frightening turn after the event’s scheduled program wrapped up. After leaving the building shortly after 9 p.m., Kojima was on the street, walking toward a car that was waiting to take her home, when a man suddenly approached her and grabbed her from behind. Maintaining his grip on her, the man then forced Kojima to the ground before event staff could restrain him and call the police, who arrived and arrested the man on the scene.

The man, who is in his 40s, is a foreign national, though it hasn’t been disclosed whether he’s a tourist in Japan or a foreign resident of the country. Investigators believe that he is a fan who knew Kojima was attending an event in the building and was lying in wait for her to exit the venue. In his post-arrest statement, he admitted “There is no mistake that I grabbed her arm,” though it’s unclear whether or not he’s admitted to purposely forcing Kojima to the pavement, as he added “I held her, but I had no violent intentions.”

Kojima did not suffer any injuries in the incident, and was remarkably chipper in a Twitter post (seen directly above) that she sent later that night saying: “Today was the event for my photo book. It was fun seeing so many faces that that I haven’t seen for a long time! I was surprised to see both veteran otaku and new fans cheering for me. Thank you for coming!”

Source: Nitele News via Jin, Jiji, TBS News Dig, Nikkan Sports, YouTube/ANNnewsCH

Read more stories from SoraNews24.

-- Justin Bieber kisses two of Japan’s most popular idols, breaks the hearts and minds of their fans

-- Ever wanted to work with legendary video game creator Hideo Kojima? Kojima Productions now hiring

-- Hideo Kojima huggy pillows keep showing up at American anime and game conventions 

© SoraNews24

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

18 Comments
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The man, who is in his 40s, is a foreign national

I don't know about this foreign national but Japanese perpetrator will say "I don't remember"

-15 ( +14 / -29 )

Yes, we know. This point is made in the comment section about just about every crime story on this website.

8 ( +11 / -3 )

I hope this idol recovers from that incident. My guess is that person is a foreign national resident. I don't think many foreigners know about AKB 48 outside of Japan. I'm glad they got that guy before anything worse happened.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

The foreign man could not resist her Marshmallow Body...!

-7 ( +9 / -16 )

Don't do the easy thing and just deport him. Convict him of sexual assault and lock him up for a while first. Then deport him to wherever he originally came from.

-6 ( +4 / -10 )

Stewart GaleToday  08:47 am JST

Yes, we know. This point is made in the comment section about just about every crime story on this website.

You didn't see this article today. Maybe the point is made because it actually occurs regularly.

Today  05:00 am JST  2 Comments

20-year-old man arrested for assaulting 4-month-old baby, says he doesn’t remember doing it

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Apparently he is a 42year old man from Taiwan who is in Japan on a STUDENT VISA. I just had a feeling that the man must be from an Asian country because of their obsession with idol groups!

10 ( +17 / -7 )

MilesTag,

The point about “not remembering” and “being drunk” is usually used in a jokey way in comments by various posters on crime stories here.

Was funny the first time, about ten years ago.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

GBR48,

This sounds like plain assault, there doesn’t seem to be a sexual element to it. Not from the facts described in the story, anyway.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Last paragraph says "Nojima". It should be "Kojima".

Moderator: Thanks for pointing that out.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Is the attacker being a foreigner relevant? Because the headliner makes it the focus point of the story.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Sora News hacks probably know exactly where the "foreigner" is from.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Don't do the easy thing and just deport him. Convict him of sexual assault and lock him up for a while first. Then deport him to wherever he originally came from.

I'm sure that's what will happen to him. Convict - prison - deportation.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

3Rensho; marshmellow body? that foreigners cannot resist? please we all are supposed to be living in 2024.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Again, another incomplete article copy/pasted from SoraNews.

As other websites mentioned, the culprit is a 42 years old Taiwanese resident, obsessed with idol groups.

There you have it.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

No idea really what to do with such crazy men, regardless if Japanese or foreigner. In this case I would say, as she was not injured, put him in the next airplane immediately, back to Taiwan, banned to enter Japan for the next 10 years.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Why the rough handling? He could have just held her gently and say how much he likes her. Strange that he knocked her over. He must be a bit loopy!

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Seems he wanted to get a real handle hold on her...the down side of being overcome by your obsession, hopefully he can get some help and reset his approach to life.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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