AKB48 Ayaka Kikuchi was fired over leaked Purkikura photo on Thursday.

AKB48 member fired over leaked 'Purikura' photo

Friday 15th August, 05:00 PM JST

Ayaka Kikuchi, 15, who is a member of the pop group AKB48, was fired from the group on Thursday according to her management agency.

A private online community site run by Kikuchi and her friends had been hacked and “Purikura” photographs picturing her with her boyfriend distributed over the internet. Her management agency said Kikuchi had been fired because of her “immature behavior”.

Latest 15 of 19 Total Comments Show All

thepro at 11:11 PM JST - 15th August

She's one of 48 young girls used by a record company to sell a sexy young girl image to dirty blokes, and I imagine she barely sees any cash from the record sales
cwhite at 11:34 PM JST - 15th August

Pukey2> good guess, it wasn't a kid thing (parents were also bit pissed off so cancelled her mobile back in June - I did a google) Safe to say she won't be missed with so many others to fill her spot.
usaexpat at 11:54 PM JST - 15th August

These agencies really suck the life out of being a celebrity. They seem to own their talent and run their lives. So she has a boyfriend, so what most 15 year olds do. I think talento in Japan need to form a union to stop the abuse of their "agencies"
akaguma at 01:08 AM JST - 16th August

she should consider herself lucky. maybe she can do something meaningful with her life now
martyman at 11:30 AM JST - 16th August

• After googling this article, I found the picture she was fired over at http://www.intlwota.com/aitakatta/2008/08/07/no-wai-boyfriend-scandal-in-akb48-oh-noes1 . Maybe it is better she changes her life goal and become an OL or she can continue trying to be a singer and follow Britney Spears footsteps and really hit the news.

• Either way, it is a shame for the recording agency to have a clause in their contract that prohibits the young female singers from having a boy friend. Is it the same for the male singers not to have a girlfriend??
gokai_wo_maneku at 01:05 PM JST - 16th August

Acting immature? She's only 15. You're supposed to be immature, by definition. Well, I agree, she'll have a career on her own. Ganbatte!
Betting at 05:42 PM JST - 16th August

The sooner AKB48 comes to an end, the better it'll be for all concerned. I hope she enjoys her childhood (teenagerhood? hehe) while it lasts. From all I've seen on tv about these management agencies, they are just the absolute bane of the entertainment world here.
bamboohat at 09:20 PM JST - 16th August

The wiki article says they perform once a day in akihabara? shouldn't they be in school?
akaguma at 02:47 AM JST - 17th August

the young ones are first against the wall- like their counterparts. they mean very little in the overall scheme of things. the whole before all else...
Pukey2 at 02:30 PM JST - 17th August

martman:

I looked at the photo and don't know what the big deal is. If they're going to fire her, it should be because she's chosen such a bad-looking guy (who, incidentally, seems to enjoy giving BJ's to PET bottles).
isthistheend at 07:41 PM JST - 17th August

Must be the bottle in the mouth.

"These agencies really suck the life out of being a celebrity. They seem to own their talent and run their lives. So she has a boyfriend, so what most 15 year olds do. I think talento in Japan need to form a union to stop the abuse of their "agencies"

Sounds like just an imitation of what most of the companies, the whole society is like in general, no?
cwhite at 12:07 AM JST - 18th August

Actually it was more to do with the sex scandal, the photo just proved it. The idiot BF had his own blog which talked about his time at the hotel. Fans founds his site, another idiot hacked the girls webpage and uploaded the purikura pic. Fans got pissed off and attacked the webpage, friends of hers fight back. Things get out of hand and the agency thought it best to just get rid of her as stated in her contract. Just another typical day for the Geinoukai. http://akb48-kikuchi-ayaka.seesaa.net/article/104776404.htmlhttp://bero33bero.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/
kimigano at 05:32 AM JST - 18th August

Aya Kikuchi is hotter
telecasterplayer at 12:53 AM JST - 20th August

Oh.. lord that's disgusting. Of course, the talent corporation should have dealt with this quietly and handed the issue to her parents. By leaking this, they probably had the ulterior motive of planting the idea, "look what our sexy girls do!" They exploited a 15 year old minor by firing her publicly.
nisegaijin at 01:16 AM JST - 20th August

lol, why is this in the news? who cares? all i am going to say is: why japanese labor laws are not applicable for cases like this? She has done nothing wrong. Her company interfered in her private life and then fired her. Sounds like a nice law suit that would make her more famous.