Adultery, plagiarism scandal, hit-and-run…25th anniversary of “Maude. The “Case Files” of the OGs with too many personalities

The first five members of “Morning Musume。 Project, the idol project to which Morning Musume! Project” will be held on September 9 and 10 at Yoyogi National Stadium 1st Gymnasium in Tokyo to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the project.

The concert will feature performances by “Morning Musume。 23,” “Angulum,” “Juice=Juice,” “Tsubaki Factory,” and “BEYOOOOONDS,” as well as Morning Musume・OG including Kei Yasuda (42), Mari Yaguchi (40), and Sayaka Ichii (39) will perform at the noon concert on September 10.

MOMUSUMO made its major debut on January 28, 1998 with the single “Morning Coffee,” and on June 26, the group held a 25th anniversary concert at Nippon Budokan to unveil two new members. They sang many of their hit songs such as “Hajitate Hold On Me!”, “Happy Summer Wedding”, “Love Machine”, etc. They also announced the release of their 25th anniversary best selection album in August, which was enthusiastically received by 9,000 fans.

This year is the anniversary year, and there are a lot of projects in the works, but in recent years we have not had as much exposure as in the past, and the members are not as well known as they used to be. The level of performance in terms of singing and dancing has improved dramatically, and the members have become more sophisticated. The members have become more sophisticated, but they are still not as well known as they used to be. ……

Unlike the members of the past, I feel that they have lost their “sharpness”. I don’t hear any scandals. In the past, each member’s “sharpness” was the attraction that drew fans to them.

Speaking of past “incidents” involving members of the group, there is ……. Yaguchi and Fujimoto Miki (38), both leaders of the group, were forced to leave the group due to a scandal that broke out during their tenure.

Yaguchi left the group in 2005 after a report in “Friday” about her love affair with Shun Oguri. In May 2001, a number of women’s magazines reported her “closet affair” with actor and ex-husband Masaya Nakamura in their love nest, causing damage. She later divorced Nakamura and remarried her lover.

Fujimoto had just taken over as leader of Maude. In May 2007, just after assuming the leadership of the group, she left the group after “Friday” reported her love affair with her current husband, Tomoharu Shoji of the comedy duo Shinagawa Shoji. She married Shoji in July 2009, has three children, and has established herself as a mamatare.

Even the purist Natsumi Abe (41), who was overwhelmingly popular with men under the nickname Nacchi, had a scandal. In August 2000, “Focus” (Shinchosha) reported that she was dating Manabu Oshio, a former actor with whom she had starred in a movie. For some reason, there was no penalty at the time.

However, in December 2004, she was accused of plagiarizing poems from her past photo and essay collections, and she refrained from activities for two months. The photo collection was cancelled and went out of print. She withdrew from Kohaku, in which she was scheduled to participate as a unit with Aya Matsuura (37) and Maki Goto (37), “Natsumi Goura,” and changed her name to “Maki Goto & Aya Matsuura.” After marrying actor Ikusaburo Yamazaki in December 2003, she became a mother of three children and is now saving her entertainment activities.

On the other hand, Goto, who was a close friend of Abe’s, got the center of the group at the age of 14 with her new single “LOVE MACHINE. She became a very popular member of the group, nicknamed “Gomaki. After graduation, her solo career took off, and in February 2003, she got married and became a mother of two children. However, in March 2007, she was reported for alleged infidelity in the magazine “Shukan Bunshun” (Bungeishunju) and apologized.

The victim of the incident was Hitomi Yoshizawa (38), who became the leader of the group after Yaguchi left in 2005. In September 2005, she was involved in a collision while driving a car, and it appears that she had difficulty driving. In September 2006, she was arrested by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of hit-and-run after driving drunk into a red-light intersection in Tokyo and hitting two people who were crossing a pedestrian crossing. It was reported that he fled the scene of the accident, but called 110 15 minutes later and returned to the scene of the accident.

In November of the same year, the Tokyo District Court sentenced him to two years in prison with a five-year suspended sentence for violating the Road Traffic Law and other charges. After the incident, Yoshizawa asked his agency to retire from show business, and the agency terminated his contract. The following year, it was reported in “Josei Jishin” (Women’s Journal of Japan) that he was working as a trainer at a stretching specialty store in Tokyo, but Yoshizawa made it clear that he had no intention of returning to show business.

Yoshizawa’s probation will expire this year, but it seems unlikely that she will ever appear on stage as an OG of Maude.

The OGs of Maude, who have been involved in a number of scandals, have been involved in a number of scandals. OGs have been involved in numerous scandals. However, the secret of their popularity may have been their individuality, which was sharp enough to cause problems.