Interest

AKB48's Akimoto Steps Down From Team Captain Role

Sayaka Akimoto, a member of the popular AKB48 idol group's Team K, has stepped down from her role as the team captain on Saturday, after a magazine published photographs of 56-year-old Sakura Wars creator Ouji Hiroi entering and leaving her apartment complex overnight. Akimoto made the announcement on the AKB48 no All-Night Nippon radio program.

Bungeishunju's Weekly Bunshun magazine photographed Hiroi visiting the idol's apartment in the evening and reported that he did not leave until the morning. Akimoto and Hiroi have both denied any untoward relationship on their respective blogs, saying that he came over to discuss work. During her radio program, Akimoto added that Hiroi had fallen asleep as they were watching a video, and Akimoto had decided not to wake him until morning. Listeners responded by asking her to reconsider her decision to step down as team captain.

Akimoto says that she will work hard towards becoming the team's captain again. Akimoto appeared as the character Nightmare in a stage musical inspired by the Fairy Princess Minky Momo anime and scripted by Hiroi in April and May. Hiroi also planned and directed an AKB48 musical called Infinity, and Akimoto performed in that production as well.

Source: Sankei Sports via Tokyograph