LIVE UPDATE: TOKIO Emergency Press Conference – Yamaguchi Tatsuya has resigned from TOKIO

We will update everyone on the TOKIO Emergency Press Conference.

The members of TOKIO came out and are making their apology to the victim and her family by bowing in unison.  Joshima Shigeru is apologizing to the fans, their sponsors and staff who have supported them.

The group is apologizing repeatedly.

Joshima Shigeru is talking about how the members of TOKIO were discussing what they will do without Yamaguchi Tatsuya?  What should they do?  Joshima talked about what are they going to do without Yamaguchi?  As a friend who has been with them for 23 years.  Joshima said that he believes that Yamaguchi’s responsibility is a responsibility shared with each of the members.

When the five met on April 30th, Joshima explained that Yamaguchi said, “I will quit TOKIO and handed in his resignation.  I am responsible for hurting TOKIO”.

2:09 p.m. Drummer Matsuoka Masahiro is now speaking about Yamaguchi Tatsuya.  He is in tears while talking about Yamaguchi and what he has done.   You can see Matsuoka in conflict, anger but also saddened by all that has happened.  Matsuoka does not want TOKIO to end.

When he heard Yamaguchi saying he wanted to return to Tokio, Matsuoka said, “If TOKIO is a place where it makes him to not realize that he is going down a cliff, in my opinion, I would rather see TOKIO eliminated as soon as possible!”.

2:13 p.m. – Vocalist Nagase Tomoya is now speaking.  And he is apologizing to the victim, the victim’s family, everyone including the staff members, the sponsors, etc.  Nagase is talking about how he was shocked about what happened and he wants people to not blame or identify the victim.

2:20 p.m. – Kokubun Taichi is asking people to please forgive TOKIO.  He is the most sympathetic so far.  Kokuban said, “When Yamaguchi resigned, I did not know what had happened.  Even though we accepted Yamaguchi’s resignation, I can not abandon Yamaguchi.  I will continue to watch and see how he deals with this case, with the victim and her family”.

Johnny’s has updated the TOKIO website, featuring only the four members.  Any trace of Yamaguchi has been deleted.

The press are asking the members questions.  Matsuoka was very quick to admonish Yamaguchi’s actions “The sake is  not bad! The one that is bad is you!”.  Matsuoka was blunt about Yamaguchi’s alcoholism, telling him, “You are sick”.

Joshima elaborated more about what happened on the 30th.  Yamaguchi apologized to the four other members.  He pulled out one envelope from his bag which had “retirement request” on the envelope and gave it to Joshima.

Joshima wanted to consider the opinions of the public before doing anything.  While the retirement request was addressed to Johnny’s Jimusho, Joshima held on to the letter until the band could discuss what they wanted to do in the future.  Before they discussed the future, the band members wanted to speak to the victim and her family to apologize.

Joshima held on to the resignation letter until he was able to speak to Johnny’s Jimusho President Kitagawa Johnny and then they discussed doing an emergency press conference.

The media asked the members if they knew about Yamaguchi’s drinking problems.  Joshima said, “I did not notice the smell of alcohol but I was cautious to say anything.  He is a 46-year-old adult but I should have noticed”.  Matsuoka said, “I’ve been thinking about it over and over repeatedly and it has bothered me because I thought he was an alcoholic but according to the doctor’s diagnosis, they did not write alcoholism”.

Nagase Tomoya said, “It is not permissible for Yamaguchi to return”.  He also said that while each are busy with individual work, they will continue to work hard as a group.

Kokubun said that he would like to continue with TOKIO with four members but he said that he will rely on the fans to evaluate TOKIO.

It’s been over an hour since the press conference started.  Each of the members are still fielding questions.

A reporter from Fukushima asked the group, “Because of this sad incident, how are you going to tackle Fukushima’s reconstruction and revival?”. (Note: TOKIO was currently promoting the safety of Fukushima’s agricultural products)

Joshima apologized and said that they learned a lot about nature and from the farmers and that TOKIO will have to work much harder than before.

Nagase said apologized and said the feelings will not change for the reconstruction.

Kokubun said that he believes in Fukushima as an individual and not as a talent.  He has grown with the people in Fukushima and he will never forget his support for the people of Fukushima.  He heard the voices from farmers in Fukushima and said there is nothing wrong with the vegetables in Fukushima.  And that he would like to support Fukushima in the future, even if it’s not official.  He wants to restore the confidence that the vegetables in Fukushima are safe.

3:29 – Press Conference has now concluded.

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