14 DAY TRIAL // AKB48 has been ratified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the biggest girl band in the world, but more important than this is their huge success in Japan and other Asian countries. Listing over 140 members, the group has appearances every single day, be they performances or fan events.
One such fan event, held in the northern city of Takizawa over the weekend, ended very badly when one fan attacked the girls with a saw, the BBC reports. The man has been identified as Satoru Umeta and is now in police custody. He is 24 years old.
However, despite the massive coverage of the incident in the local media, no one seems to know what might have prompted him to act in such a violent manner.
Sadly, before the man was apprehended, he managed to injure a few people, including two girls from the band, Rina Kawaei, 19, and Anna Iriyama, 18. They suffered bone fractures and cuts to the arms and head, and were rushed to the hospital immediately.
The same goes for a male staff member who was also injured in the attack. It is believed that he tried to restrain the attacker or elsewise protect the girls.
The group’s manager has issued a statement to say that both girls are in stable condition and will probably be released from the hospital today. That’s not to say that they will be going back to work: events for the following days have all been canceled, and the two will sit even more out while they recover from their injuries and the trauma.
The group AKB48 was founded in 2005 and is named after Akihabara, the technology district in Tokyo where it has its own theater, where members perform daily. The number 48 stands for the number of original members: it has now gone up to 140, with many new members added each year through a national vote.
Once girls join the group, they have to adhere to a very strict set of rules, which includes a ban on dating. In February 2013, Minami Minegishi, one of the most popular girls in the band, made headlines across the world after she shaved her head as an apology to fans for spending the night with her boyfriend.
To have her message reach out to as many of the fans as possible, she posted a tearful video to YouTube explaining her gesture of remorse. Within hours, the video had topped 7 million views.