Ai Fukuhara has stepped down from her position as a visiting associate professor at Aomori University, citing "scheduling conflicts for both parties."

The former Japanese table tennis star Ai Fukuhara's reputation plummeted after being exposed for an extramarital affair. She has since turned her focus to the Chinese market through platforms like Xiaohongshu, live streaming sales, and participating in events. In fact, after her divorce from Taiwanese table tennis prince Jiang Hongjie in 2021, she was invited to serve as a visiting associate professor at Aomori University in Japan. However, recent reports from Japanese media indicate that she has already resigned from her teaching position.

Ai Fukuhara has stepped down from her position as a visiting associate professor at Aomori University.

According to the Japanese media outlet "Daily Shincho," Ai Fukuhara was appointed as a visiting associate professor at Aomori University in November 2021, but it took nearly a year and a half for her to appear in the classroom to teach. During her tenure, she held classes in June 2023 and June 2024, focusing on sharing her experiences from the Olympics. However, there have been no further lectures since June of this year.

It has now been reported that her contract has expired without renewal. A public relations representative from Aomori University stated that her last class attracted about 200 enrolled students, all of whom attended. As for the reason for not renewing the contract, they only revealed that it was due to "scheduling conflicts for both parties." Following the news of Ai Fukuhara's resignation, many Japanese netizens expressed that her controversial image in recent years could negatively affect the school's recruitment efforts, with some even sarcastically commenting, "Isn't this just like being removed from the position of 'recruitment panda' (mascot)?"