Slasher attacks Japan female pop group AKB48 with saw at fan event
PUBLISHED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 12:09pm
UPDATED : Monday, 26 May, 2014, 1:12pm
Reuters in Tokyo
The stadium in Takizawa, Japan, where the AKB48 group members Anna Iriyama (inset, left) and Rina Kawaei (inset, right) were attacked.
A man wielding a saw slashed two members of Japanese female pop group AKB48 at a fan event in Japan, leaving the country stunned at the extremely rare outburst of violence.
The group's members, known for their cheeky dance routines and skimpy outfits, were shaking hands with fans at a meet-and-greet function on Sunday, when the man attacked them with a weapon described variously as a 50 centimetre-long saw or a hatchet, Japanese media said.
“This sort of thing is unimaginable,” one fan told Japanese television. “I’m in shock.”
Group members Rina Kawaei,19, and Anna Iriyama, 18, received emergency surgery for cut and broken fingers, with Iriyama also suffering cuts to the face, media said.
File photo of Japanese girls' pop group AKB48 led by Rino Sashihara. Photo: Reuters
“The surgery ended successfully and their condition is stable,” their manager said. “They should be able to leave hospital tomorrow.”
A male staff member received cuts to his hand.
Police arrested a 24-year-old high school dropout for attempted murder after the event, in the northeastern city of Takizawa, was interrupted by screams of “Stop!” and “No!”
There were no bag checks, and fans have said most of the group’s events have only cursory checks at best, prompting newspapers to call for tighter security. The incident featured on several newspaper front pages and television shows.
Security checks tend to be light in Japan, which has stiff gun control laws, and violent crime involving weapons is rare.
AKB48, founded in 2005, is known for its high “kawaii,” or cuteness, quotient, and all its members are in their teens or early 20s.
Fans vote each year to determine 64 of the most popular girls from a 237-member pool, who then rotate in and out of four main troupes and several affiliated groups, based on their popularity.
The “AKB” in the group’s name is a reference to Akihabara, Tokyo’s high-tech mecca, where it has a theatre. They are also popular overseas, with a sister group based in Jakarta.
Every year fans elect the most popular members of the group, obtaining a ballot by buying the group’s latest CD. Some hard-core fans buy hundreds to give their favourite a boost.
A Tokyo concert by the group scheduled for Monday night has been cancelled, as have other meet-and-greets, their management company said on its website.
AKB48, a 237-strong pool of girls in their teens and early 20s, is a money-printing juggernaut that makes much of the accessibility – and the implied availability – of its idols.
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Fans have frequent opportunities to meet their favourites, who are rotated in and out of the public eye, according to popularity.
In return for their chance to grace television screens, subway adverts and the covers of Japan’s countless celebrity magazines, members of the collective must adhere to strict rules of behaviour.
They are allowed to have “one-sided romantic feelings” for a boy but can never progress beyond hinting at their crush – and must never disabuse their legions of male fans that they might one day stand a chance with their fantasy woman.
In February last year, 20-year-old member Minami Minegishi shaved her head as an act of contrition and issued a tearful YouTube apology after a popular weekly magazine published claims of a night of passion with a 19-year-old boy band member.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
