Earlier today, the contract of AKB48 member Mei Hanada was terminated, marking the first time that this has ever happened.
The reason for the termination started in December 2025. Around that time, Mei was late for her duties several times due to poor health. Wanting her to be at her best, management decided it would be in her best interest if she was to take a hiatus to focus on her health. The hiatus began on May 1. During this time, it was discovered that Mei had had a relationship with a fan, which is forbidden by management. Mei claimed that she had only met the fan twice, but it was discovered that she had in fact met him several times.
Mei expressed a desire to return to her activities as a member of AKB48, but when management reached out to her to begin discussions to begin the return the process, she refused to meet. This culminated in management terminating her contract.
Management took the termination of Mei’s contract very seriously, since it was the first time in the group’s history. Management issued an apology, and said it would work diligent to prevent a reoccurrence.
Mei also felt the need to apologize, and did so via a nine minute Twitter video, which can be found here. The thing that shocked people upon seeing the video was not her confession of breaking the rules, but her freshly shaved head.
Mei’s shaving of her head immediately brings everyone back to 2013, when former AKB48 member Minami Minegishi did the same thing in the midst of her dating scandal with a member of GENERATIONS. The image of Minami crying and apologizing for dating as young woman, with a shaved head, sent shockwaves around the world, with many people in Japan and overseas questioning the alleged “dating ban” that idols in Japan face. The image came to serve as a stain on the face of JPop for years to come. Will Mei’s similar action do the same?
