Nogizaka46 bans bags at hand-shaking events, introduces cloakrooms for a large fee

Yasushi Akimoto, the producer behind AKB48 and its cohorts, never misses an opportunity to make money, even when the stimulus is safety and a nearly tragic event.

After the saw attack incident that saw two AKB48 idols Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama hospitalized, along with a male member of staff, and a maddened “fan” taken in custody by police, many predicted the end of the group’s famous hand-shaking events. AKB has always promoted itself as “idols you can meet” but were they now just too big to be safe from madcap young men?

What to do?

Metal scanners? Checks on all bags manually?

Apparently the solution is not to allow any sort of bags at all. Oh, and then force fans to pay extra if they dare bring something.

There will be no lockers. Instead a cloakroom facility will be available where you must check in your bags. As the hand-shaking events are often in the regions and people travel far to the stadiums, it is pretty much assured that many people will have bags of some variety. This guarantees money for the organizers.

The cloakroom will cost ¥1,000 (almost $10), much more than a regular cloakroom costs.

This is the new system that has been introduced for a Nogizaka 46 hand-shaking event in Yokohama planned for June 21st.

We can assume it’s a trial and if it works, it will become the default for all Akimoto’s idol empire. And turn him a nice profit at the same time.

Well, I guess if you’ve already spent a small fortune on buying your idols’ CDs, an extra ¥1,000 isn’t going to make a real difference to your debts.