Minami Takahashi (高橋 みなみ, Takahashi Minami; born 8 April 1991) is a Japanese television personality and singer, best known as the first General Director (総監督, sōkantoku) of idol girl group AKB48 and its network of sister groups. Nicknamed Takamina (たかみな), she is also a member of the subgroup no3b alongside fellow AKB48 graduates Minami Minegishi and Haruna Kojima – all three are currently affiliated with Mama&Son Inc.
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Career
Takahashi was born in Hachiōji, Tokyo. In August 2005, she became one of the 30th HoriPro Talent Contest's 15 final candidates, but she did not win the competition's Grand-Prix prize. In October 2005, she participated in the first AKB48 audition and beat 7,924 other applicants to be chosen as one of the 24 founding members of the group. According to Tomonobu Togasaki, the manager of the AKB48 Theater, she had two unofficial advantages going for her, in that both her birthday (8 April; 1991-04-08) and her height (148 cm) contain the number "48". She debuted with Team A on 8 December 2005.
In 2008, no3b members, including Takahashi, appeared in the TV Tokyo drama Men Dol. She starred as Nami/Kai in this television series.
On 23 August 2009, Takahashi was officially announced as the captain of AKB48's Team A.
Three years later, on 24 August 2012, with Mariko Shinoda replacing her as the captain of Team A, Minami Takahashi was promoted to be the General Director of the entire AKB48 enterprise, including all sister groups.
Takahashi appears regularly in the AKB48 singles as one of the group's key singers. In addition, Minami frequently represents AKB48 on TV programs such as Music Station, and in other of the group's publicity events. She was also scheduled to take part in the AKB48's 3-day live concert event titled "Takamina ni tsuite ikimasu" (たかみなについて行きます; lit. "We will follow Takamina"), which was to have been held on 25–27 March 2011 at the Yokohama Arena but was cancelled due to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
On 25 August 2012, the second day of AKB48 Tokyo Dome Concert, it was announced by Max Hole that Takahashi would make her solo debut with the company, through its Nayutawave Records label. The single, titled "Jane Doe", was released on 3 April 2013. It is the opening theme song for the Fuji Television TV drama Saki, which stars Yukie Nakama. She also released the single "Hito no Tobira" for the 2013 film The Smurfs 2 in which she provides the Japanese voice of Smurfette.
On 8 December 2014, the 9th Anniversary of AKB48 Theater, it was confirmed by Takahashi herself that she would officially leave AKB48 exactly one year later, or 8 December 2015, the 10th Anniversary of the AKB48 Theater. Yui Yokoyama will then succeed her job as the General Director of AKB48.
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In an interview with Nippon Television in June 2010, AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto named Takahashi the "eldest daughter of the 48 sisters". She is also regarded as "soul of AKB", and her motto, "hard work will definitely be rewarded" (努力は必ず報われる, dōryoku wa kanarazu mukuwareru), has inspired many members of AKB48.
Personal life
On 1 May 2019, Takahashi announced her marriage to a non-celebrity man 15 years her senior.
AKB48 general elections
Ranked 5th in the 2009 general election
Ranked 6th in the 2010 general election
Ranked 7th in the 2011 general election
Ranked 6th in the 2012 general election
Ranked 8th in the 2013 general election
Ranked 9th in the 2014 general election
Ranked 4th in the 2015 general election
Discography
Solo singles
* Unofficial figure obtained by adding together Oricon sales numbers for different periods of time when the single charted on Oricon.
Albums with AKB48
Set List: Greatest Songs 2006–2007
Kamikyokutachi
Set List: Greatest Songs Kanzenban
Koko ni Ita Koto
1830m
Tsugi no Ashiato
Koko ga Rhodes da, Koko de Tobe!
0 to 1 no Aida
Filmography
Other media
Essays
リーダー論 (22 December 2015, Kobunsha)
Photobooks
B.L.T. U-17 summer (7 August 2008, Tokyo News Tsushinsha)
たかみな (22 September 2010, Kodansha)
写りな、写りな (24 February 2016, Kobunsha)
Calendar
たかみな日めくり 努力は必ず報われる (1 November 2016, PHP)