Is ex-AKB48 Atsuko Maeda dating kabuki actor?
The tabloids are salivating over the news that Atsuko Maeda, the former starlet of AKB48, may be dating kabuki actor Matsuya Onoe.
Though there have been rumors before and drunken pictures seemingly showing Atsuko in the arms of a young man after some late-night partying, this will be the first public romance for the former AKB48 queen.
After all, AKB48 bans sex and love for its rank and file members, so in theory Atsuko (22) could still be a virgin.
Atsuko’s agency has not denied the reports, instead giving an ambiguous statement: “We leave private matters to the person in question” — surely the most hypocritical remark by any talent agency in Japan, given their usual strict control of their clients’ personal lives.
Meanwhile Onoe’s agency has confirmed that, though they don’t know the exact details, they understand that the two are a couple. Onoe, at 28, is a few years older than Atsuko and comes from a world utterly removed from the bubble gum pop of AKB48. He is best known for playing the role of young women in kabuki, known as onnagata, though he has also been appearing in more mainstream films recently.
However, these kinds of rumors are often started by agencies in the first place to generate news about their clients, especially when they are about to have a big release.
