is a Japanese tarento, singer, producer and actress. She is best known as a former member of idol groups HKT48, AKB48 and STU48, and was the theater manager for HKT48 and STU48. She was also a member of AKB48's unit Not Yet and is the producer of the idol groups =Love, ≠Me and . Career 2007–2012: AKB48 In October 2007, she auditioned and was chosen as a trainee for the 5th generation of AKB48. She was promoted to a regular member of Team B in August 2008. Her first title track single was "Ōgoe Diamond", in October of that year. She placed 27th in the popularity-driven 2009 General Election, where she was grouped with the "Under Girls", the ones who would perform on the first B-side singles. She remained in that position on the follow-up single releases until the following year, the 2010 General Election, where she placed 19th and was grouped with the main girls who sing on the title track. In August 2009, AKB48 announced that she would transfer to Team A, although the transfer did not occur until July 2010. On December 4, 2010, Sashihara attempted to upload 100 articles in a day on her official blog, with the number of page views reaching 35 million on the same day. In January 2011, Sashihara starred in a half-hour television program titled , broadcast by TBS, which features her character. The program was subtitled . Sashihara starred as the lead character in the NTV4 drama "Muse no Kagami" starting on January 14, 2012. She sings the theme song titled "Soredemo Suki Da yo", which was released as her debut solo single on May 2, on the major record label Avex Trax. In April 2012, it was announced that Sashihara would produce Yubi Matsuri, an idol festival to be held at Nippon Budokan on June 25, featuring girl groups such as Momoiro Clover Z, Idoling!!!, Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, Super Girls, Tokyo Girls' Style, Passpo and Watarirouka Hashiritai 7. 2012–2017: Transition to HKT48 On June 16, 2012, Sashihara was demoted and transferred to HKT48, due to her involvement in a dating/sex scandal: the tabloid Shukan Bunshun published an interview with a man who allegedly dated and slept with Sashihara. She replied by saying that the man was "just a friend", and the story was completely false. On June 20, 2012, Sashihara had a panic attack onstage, and hyperventilated due to