damn what the hell japan...I didn't knew the band had rotation of its membres...quite weird.
Anyways poor girl :(

I really don't know why western media even bothered reporting this, the lack of knowledge about the topic they're reporting on is appalling.

Minegishi is known for being very open/exaggerative with her feelings. She was to do this apology video with her normal hair but cut it herself in the dressing room before filming (explains the terribly patchy cut), she did it of her own free will (other people in the room with her tried to stop her and obviously, failed). Extremely saddened that she felt she had to go to these lengths to make amends though. I and the majority of her fans don't honestly care about a person doing something as normal as this. She'll still have my vote in the upcoming Senbatsu Elections (if she's not forced to 'graduate' before then). I'm glad to see that the other fans and band members are rallying around her, at least that should keep her from being pushed out.

I should probably just shut up now, nobody here has any idea what I'm talking about (^_^)''

If American stars ever felt guilty for anything they ever did, Lindsay Lohan might still have a career.

Why are people getting worked up over some random Japanese girl shaving her head?

How do you get to vote for the members in the elections? Do you have to be a member of an official fansite or something? 

Every year in May they release a single and each one comes with a voting ticket you can use to vote for a member (no limit on how many times you can do so). You can also vote by being a member of any of they or their sister groups' fan clubs/being subscribed to their Live on Demand/Smartphone app or website.

This site sort of shows what election results actually mean, not simply 'rotating based on popularity' as the article says, the elections are more there to allow fans the chance to participate in how the band is formed; http://stage48.net/wiki/index.php/AKB48_27th_Single_Senbatsu_Sousenkyo_%22Fan_ga_Erabu_64_Giseki%22

Had no idea there was a ticket with certain singles. Pretty ingenious, as well as promoting fan involvement it encourages people to pick up legit physical copies. 

@bolded .. and that's where the money comes from ;)

That is a reason why they're known as a money printing machine ;PI bought four copies last year of the voting single and split the votes between my favourites n.n'' 

People can attack them for being 'factory made' and detrimental to the industry all they want, but through their elections and interaction with the public in general, they're doing much more to keep the dying hard copy CD market alive (in Japan at least) than anyone else out there. 

My advice; ignore those people. Good music is good music no matter where it comes from, those attacking 'factory made' groups are fools that have completely missed the point (and are ignorant of the process that goes on to buy music for many idol groups anyway). 

Poor woman. I hope things gets better for her.