On August 16th, 2022, 峯岸みなみ Minami Minegishi, a former member of the idol group AKB48 and TV personality, revealed that she had gotten married.

Her husband is Tetsuya, leader of the popular YouTuber group 東海オンエア "Tokai On Air."

Minegishi commented on Twitter as follows:

To all of you who have always supported me:

I, Minami Minegishi, have married Tetsuya of Tokai On Air.

Tetsuya-san has always been there for me in spite of my negativity, encouraging me and helping me to look forward.
After I met him, I began looking forward to getting up in the morning every day.
I came to think that I wanted to be with him forever.
He accepts both my past and my weaknesses with his generous heart, and just having his kindness by my side gives me the courage to find more strength within me than I originally had.

I am grateful for this relationship and will continue to nurture it, while striving to do my best in my work as Minami Minegishi.

I am happy to say that it's thanks to all of you who have supported me and helped me that I am the person I am today, and I am able to make this announcement today.
Thank you so much for everything.

To ensure that fans who have supported both of us so far will feel confident in continuing their support, we will join forces, nurturing our positive points as we grow together.
I hope you will continue to watch over us warmly.

Minami Minegishi

Minami Minegishi's official Twitter account

While Minegishi, who had the longest tenure among AKB48's original members from 2005 to 2021, is well known among J-pop and Japanese idol fans, she is perhaps most famous internationally for having appeared in a video apologizing to her fans, her head shaved as an act of contrition, after a weekly tabloid reported that she had spent a night at her then-boyfriend's apartment in violation of her management company's no-dating rules. The news not only rocked the Japanese entertainment world but was also widely reported in international media.

She officially graduated on May 28, 2021, after 16 years with AKB48.

Today, however, the unfortunate events of 2013, which may have been a part of the "past" and "negativity" she described in her announcement, are nowhere in the thoughts of most of her fans, who greeted the news of her marriage with messages like "Congratulations indeed!" and "Please be happy!" The two had been reported to be in love in September 2021.

According to Tetsuya in a statement on his Twitter account, he and Minegishi submitted their marriage registration on August 12th.

In his statement, Tetsuya expresses his joy in being able to marry Minegishi, whom he had long admired as a fan, saying: "This report sounds like a dream come true, but it's not a delusion."

Both of them surely have a bright future ahead as TV personalities and YouTubers and we offer our congratulations to them on this happy occasion.


By - grape Japan editorial staff.