The Answer - Four and a Half Months from the Arrest to a Reported Return Request
Shinnosuke Abe, then manager of Yomiuri, was arrested in the act by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department on suspicion of assault on May 25, 2026. After his release on the 26th he submitted his resignation, and the club accepted it the same day. It was the first time in club history that a manager had left in the middle of a season. On June 15, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to indict Abe, a disposition known as suspended prosecution. Then, on October 11, it was reported that the club had asked Abe to return.
The club's first response was quick. On the night of the arrest, the club president announced that it would "consider disciplinary action, including his future in the post," and the next day it accepted the resignation and installed an acting manager. Yet the club has not publicly explained why it sought his return about four months after the non-indictment. The timeline is below.
| Date | Event | Club response |
|---|---|---|
| May 25 | Arrested for alleged assault | President's statement |
| May 26 | Released, resigns | Accepts resignation, names acting manager |
| May 26 to 28 | 130,000 signatures for his return | No announcement |
| June 9 | Case sent to prosecutors | No announcement |
| June 15 | Not indicted (suspended prosecution) | No announcement |
| September | Owner asked about Abe | Says he wants no noise |
| October 11 | Return request reported | No announcement |
| October 22 | Draft held with no manager | Manager undecided |
| October 23 | Hideki Matsui reported as successor | Reported only |
The Night of the Arrest - From the Emergency Call to the Club President's Statement
According to investigative sources, Abe was suspected of assaulting his eldest daughter at his home in Shibuya, Tokyo. At around 7:10 p.m. on May 25, a child guidance center called the police emergency number 110, reporting that she "had been assaulted by her father." The daughter had consulted the generative AI ChatGPT and, following its answer, contacted the child guidance center (Nippon TV, May 26, 2026).
Also according to investigative sources, Abe admitted the allegation and said: "When I told them to be quiet while the sisters were fighting, they talked back and I lost my temper." No injuries were confirmed, and the club also said his daughter was not hurt. Abe was released from Shibuya Police Station in the early hours of the 26th, and the investigation continued without detention (Sponichi, May 26, 2026).
On the night of the arrest, the club released a statement from club president Kunimatsu: "Violence is unacceptable, and we take this extremely seriously. Having caused a grave scandal on the eve of interleague play, we apologize to everyone involved in professional baseball and to all the fans. Regarding manager Shinnosuke Abe, we will consider disciplinary action, including his future in the post. From tomorrow (the 26th), offense chief coach Hideki Hashigami will serve as acting manager."
Abe was a catcher who played 19 seasons for Yomiuri from 2001 and also served as captain (our article on the evolution of the captain system). He became manager in 2024 and won the league title in his first season; in his third, the team stood third at 24-22 after 46 games.
The Resignation Press Conference - The Resignation Accepted Overnight and an Acting Manager
On May 26, Abe submitted his resignation to the club, and it was accepted. At a press conference he said: "Because of trouble in my family, I have caused great worry and inconvenience to many baseball fans, to people in professional baseball, and to the company. I have also tarnished the name of manager of the storied Yomiuri Giants, and I am filled with the wish to apologize very deeply." He added: "I am truly sorry." Asked about his feelings for the team, he was lost for words, managing only "Well...," then wept as he said: "Leaving like this... I really feel I am causing everyone trouble" (Nippon TV and Nikkan Sports, May 26, 2026).
A letter from his eldest daughter was also read out at the press conference. It explained that, guided by ChatGPT, she had called a child guidance center where she could consult anonymously, and it said: "I was never asked what I myself wanted to do, and it ended up with the police being notified" (Nippon TV, May 26, 2026).
That night, Abe's manager banner was taken down at Tokyo Dome. From the opening interleague game that day, offense chief coach Hideki Hashigami led the team as acting manager.
The Petition and the Non-Indictment - 130,000 Signatures and Suspended Prosecution
On the 26th, the day he resigned, a group called the Association Hoping for Shinnosuke Abe's Return launched a petition on Change.org. It passed its final target of 43,500 signatures about 24 hours after launch and closed after topping 130,000 by the 28th (Nikkan Sports, May 29, 2026). The signatures were submitted to the club together with a written request (AERA DIGITAL, October 15, 2026).
The group said it had faced criticism such as "It is too soon," "Shouldn't he be left alone?", "Isn't this a campaign that condones violence?" and "There is not enough consideration for the victim's side," and wrote: "We ourselves have absolutely no intention of condoning violence or improper conduct itself."
Abe's case was sent to prosecutors on June 9, and on June 15 the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office decided not to indict him, a disposition known as suspended prosecution (Jiji Press, June 15, 2026). The summary of the alleged facts was that, at his home in Shibuya, he grabbed his eldest daughter near the collar and pushed her down, among other acts. Suspended prosecution is a decision not to prosecute; it is not a finding of guilt or innocence.
Through a representative, Abe said: "This happened solely because of my own immaturity, and all the fault is mine. I have placed a heavy burden on my precious family; I feel nothing but regret, and every day I feel how much I have lost and reflect deeply on it" (Nikkan Sports, June 15, 2026).
The Reported Return Request - After a Season That Ended in Second Place
Under acting manager Hashigami, the team contended for the pennant until the final game of the season but finished second behind Hanshin. In the first stage of the Climax Series it lost two straight games to third-place DeNA. Abe's use of young players as manager is covered in our article on Yomiuri's free-agent issues.
In September, owner Toshikazu Yamaguchi was asked about Abe and replied: "With 12 games left and the pennant on the line, I don't want any noise at all to reach the field, the games or the team. That's all I can say in my position." On October 11, Nikkan Sports reported that the club had asked Abe to return to the organization, with a post in the team-building department a strong candidate. This was a news report, not a club announcement.
AERA DIGITAL (October 15, 2026) carried social media criticism of the report, such as "In ordinary society, a comeback this soon would be unthinkable" and "It feels like he is being protected by the club because he is a homegrown star," though the article as a whole was not uniformly opposed to his return. Nikkan Gendai (October 16, 2026) carried the voice of an anonymous former Yomiuri player who questioned appointing him to a senior team-building post.
Yomiuri had not gone into a draft without a manager since 2015 (Nikkan Sports, October 21, 2026). On October 23, the day after the club went into the draft with no manager decided, it was reported that Hideki Matsui would become the next manager.
Punishment Runs as Farm Manager - The Practice Game of March 22, 2020
On March 22, 2020, Yomiuri's farm team under Abe lost a practice game 9-6 to Waseda University, and Abe ordered the players to run as punishment. A sports-paper desk editor quoted by NEWS Post Seven (May 22, 2020) described it this way: "Everyone ran 10 foul-pole-to-foul-pole dashes across the outfield, and the pitchers who had pitched that day ran 5 more, for 15 in total. Manager Abe, who took over that offseason, had declared that 'the farm team will play military-style baseball.'"
According to the same account, fans were split between criticism that it was "out of step with the times" and "power harassment," and the view that it was "only natural after losing to amateurs, college students at that." Post Seven wrote that a social media post by Yu Darvish, then with the Cubs, also widened the debate. Citing Nippon-Ham as an example, his March 23 post said: "Because the club's leadership understood too, by 2005 Nippon-Ham already had no pointless running" (PRESIDENT Online, May 13, 2020).
Our View - A Fast First Response and an Unexplained Return Request
The return request stands in contrast to that quick first response. It was reported in October, about four months after the non-indictment and less than five months after the arrest, yet the club has not publicly explained why. The social media criticism centered on two points: that a return was too soon by the standards of ordinary society, and that he was being protected as a homegrown star. A non-indictment through suspended prosecution is not a judgment of guilt or innocence. Without an explanation from the club, neither criticism has been answered.
The club accepted his resignation in May; owner Yamaguchi said in September that he wanted no noise to reach the team; and after 130,000 signatures had been submitted, the return request was reported in October. The club has not said what this sequence means, including whether the signatures played any part in its decision.
When Hayato Sakamoto was the subject of reports in 2022, the club announced neither a penalty nor an explanation (our article on Hayato Sakamoto). In Abe's case, it accepted the resignation overnight. From the outside, there is no way to see what standard the club uses to decide the futures of its players and managers.
How to Read This and Its Limits
The facts in this article come from the text of reports by Sponichi, Nippon TV, Nikkan Sports and Jiji Press. What AERA DIGITAL, Nikkan Gendai, NEWS Post Seven and PRESIDENT Online wrote is treated as those outlets' accounts and the voices they carried. The description of the alleged assault is limited to the summary of the alleged facts and Abe's own statement to investigators.
This article does not assess Abe's conduct. It gives no information about his eldest daughter. The return request and the successor are at the stage of news reports, and no club announcement has been confirmed. The 2020 punishment runs are a separate matter concerning coaching methods and are not presented as a cause of, or background to, the 2026 case.