Yoshizawa Situation

[AyuHikaru]

I don't think I'm wildly speculating either. My husband has walked people out off the property for being drunk on the job (He's a manager at a warehouse, part of the gig) and every. single. one (Not an exaggeration) have said they drank "last night" despite failing the breathalyzer test by a large margin. It then comes out they were drinking that morning. Then they were fired and the police were called because they drove to work drunk. Alcoholism will ruin your entire life.

"I drank last night and woke up and thought I was fine" has become the such a standard go-to excuse for this kind of thing at Roy's job that I'm IMMEDIATELY suspicious.

[teth]

As much as I hate to say this, the best case scenario now will be for her to admit her faults and quit showbiz on her own.

She basically brought this whole scandal to not just herself but to also the 20 year MM brand.

People automatically associate this incident with the group whenever they hear the name.

[downfrontguy]

Not to defend Yoshizawa's actions (don't think anyone can, really) and don't want to speculate much - things like how she ended up 4 times legal limit at 7am on weekday (Thursday) morning, a few hours before a public gig with McDonalds.
......
It doesn't help that Yoshizawa is somewhat known for being a strong drinker, even from her H!P days.
.....

Just wanted to follow up on this and add a bit more details as there seems to be some false info spreading around on some English sites (e.g. aramajapan.com).

The McDonald's event Yoshizawa was supposed to attend (with Yasuda) were scheduled in the morning on 6th. Not in the afternoon/evening nor a day after. I tried to see if there was exact time of the event posted and found one article stating that it was at 9:30am.
https://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/20180 ... 01-n1.html
https://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=2018 ... spoweb-ent
Make senses as reports on the McDonald's event started posting around by noon on 6th (before Yoshizawa story blew up).

It also claims that Yoshizawa was driving on the way to the McDonald's store site in Tagara (Nerima) when she caused the accident and the timeline makes sense to me as it was in nearby Nakano at 7am. So yeah she was driving to the public gig when the whole DUI/Hit 'n run happened.

Taking taxi wasn't probably an consideration as she doesn't live in Tokyo (central Tokyo, rather) but in Saitama. I mean, she still could've but it would defeat the purpose of taking the gig as the fare would just eat the whole appearance fee. Uber isn't so big in Tokyo and more expensive than Taxi IMO.
She is not loaded, she didn't marry another celebrity or professional athlete - she is no Satoda or even Ishikawa, Mano or Tsuji level.
That leaves taking train/subway or arranging a friend or someone else drive her to work but it's extra step. Yeah sensible people do it as it's the right thing to do but some gets complacent/lazy and makes wrong choices. Some gets away and some gets caught. Why else people get busted for DUI? Most likely she didn't think too deeply and just hopped on her car and drove to her work as it's the easiest. She got caught and will face consequences.

i don't know if she had drinking issue, but there are some known heavy drinking anecdotes from her H!P period (if I remember correctly, one told by Fujimoto, another with Niigaki on radio, to name a few) and she had reputation of being one of heavy drinkers from old H!P. That doesn't necessarily means she had addiction or it led to developing one now, of course. But as wrote previously, I wouldn't be surprised and could understand if she did.

[JonCC]

there seems to be some false info spreading around on some English sites (e.g. aramajapan.com).

That being said they do seem to offer a round-up of other members reactions:
https://aramajapan.com/news/former-morn ... awa/91138/

Ogawa

5th generation member Makoto Ogawa tweeted about the incident, expressing her shock and anger towards the whole incident, saying that it felt like time had completely stopped while reading the news.

Yasuda

The day after the accident took place Yoshizawa was supposed to appear at an event promoting McDonalds with 2nd generation member Kei Yasuda. Known for her comedy variety appearances, she was the complete opposite in a statement released on her blog

She began the entry apologizing in general to the public and the victims, hoping for a speedy recovery. Yasuda then had some harsh words for Yoshizawa, with her feelings going back and forth from anger and sorrow to regret and pity.

“I was cheering for you, I trusted you, a lot of other people feel betrayed in the same way. It’s a truly embarrassing feeling”

Yasuda also apologized to the current Morning Musume members, as this scandal will follow them around for a bit.

Konno

When asked about the incident Asami Konno shared that she hopes Yoshizawa is ready to accept the full responsibility of her actions.

Fujimoto

Miki Fujimoto commented that she can’t properly express how she’s feeling right now, offering apologies to the victims and public.

Nakazawa

Morning Musume’s first leader Yuko Nakazawa questioned what happened to Yoshizawa’s self-awareness, “There is nothing that can be defended“, calling the entire situation mortifying and sad.

Tsujii

Yoshizawa’s fellow 4th generation member Nozomi Tsuji has not released a statement, but in an SNS update from her husband Taiyo he shared that the situation has made Tsuji considerably depressed. She’s completely removed herself from social media, not posting on her blog or Instagram since the incident took place.

Others

Other Morning Musume OG including Mari Yaguchi and Maki Goto have also taken a break from social media.

------------------------------------------

You have to wonder if Yoshizawa's arrest has delayed any projects internally at UF.
A lot of their attention is no doubt drawn to resolving this incident and doing damage control.

There's tentative listings for a new Morning Musume single and Tsubaki Factory's first album (all unconfirmed of course) floating around.
There's the still unresolved ONLY YOU audition, the new groups, ANGERME's new single's just been announced.

I hope the damage caused by all this can be kept to a minimum. This is more serious than Kago Ai's troubles.

[vikitty]

On top of everything else, Yossi has clearly lost some friendships due to her actions. In the end, it’s going to cost her everything.

[Amped]

"Dear everyone"

as leader of H!P and on behalf of all active H!P members, Wada Ayaka apologizes expresses her condolences to everyone who suffered injuries and can recover as soon as possible. Without naming her, she says she is a very important senior to them.

all H!P members and groups will be continue active,especially for the release of the 20th anniversary single.

While there are so many thoughts about this during their activities, H!P members got to move on and do what they need to do.
https://ameblo.jp/angerme-ayakawada/ent ... 41822.html

people in her blog comments also share her feelings. They say Wada Ayaka is a strong leader and their love for H!P won't change after this incident.

[Shoujo Q]

I see Tsuji finally gave a statement too. She must be taking it very hard considering she stopped using social media. Kago doesn’t seem to have mentioned anything. Not that I expect her too. But you never know. I didn’t expect Ogawa of all people to come out of the woodworks and say anything.

[JonCC]

I didn’t expect Ogawa of all people to come out of the woodworks and say anything.

Well she's no longer under UF so (professionally at least) there's nothing holding her back.

[teth]

I see Tsuji finally gave a statement too. She must be taking it very hard considering she stopped using social media. Kago doesn’t seem to have mentioned anything. Not that I expect her too. But you never know. I didn’t expect Ogawa of all people to come out of the woodworks and say anything.

Aibon did but she deleted it.

She said something to the effect of telling her to overcome this, which could come off as sounding like a positive encouragement comment for her when the standard response is to condemn her actions.

[downfrontguy]

BTW if UF decides to scrub all Yoshizawa footages for the upcoming H!P DVD, Ichii is screwed.
Should've appeared two different days like Kago: 1st day = safe, 2nd day = NG due to Yoshizawa yet again.

What a coincidence that Yoshizawa just happened to show up only when those two comeback women came. ...at least thanks to Da Pump, there are some footages from the press for Ichii.