SKE48 member Suda Akari announced that she is graduating in September

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

In a surprise to fans at SKE Theater in Nagoya City, SKE48 veteran Suda Akari announced that she is graduating from the idol group in September at Nagoya Civic General Gymnasium.

Suda said, “I have something to tell you here. I, Suda Akari, will graduate from SKE48. I decided to graduate. I’ve been an idol since I was 18 years-old, and I’ve been active up to my time at 30 years-old. As an idol, I’ve been at the forefront for a long time, and there are some voices around my late 20s from ‘I think it’s better to give back to the younger members’ or ‘I want you to quit early’. And… I had a hard time with those voices, but now I’m really happy that the fans are saying, ‘I want you to stay at SKE48 all the time’. It was a reward. The reason for graduating is that “Idol Akari Suda” may be happy to have a life that she couldn’t fully enjoy as “Human Akari Suda”, but I really wanted to enjoy life. I was really scared to graduate, but I decided to graduate because there are scenery and possibilities that I haven’t seen yet”.