A man in his late thirties living in Tokyo earlier this year sued AKS, the company that manages AKB48, as well as King Records (AKB's record label), and Google Japan for "nonfulfillment of financial obligations" after he had been denied the chance to shake hands with his favorite idol, Karen Iwata.
The verdict on the case was heard in a court in Tokyo on November 20th.
The court threw out the Hidenobu Onishi's suit, since it ruled the complainant had the choice to purchase or not purchase the band's CDs with the handshaking event tickets.
The fan had previously sent AKB member ...
Just when you thought the AKB franchise couldn't get any bigger, along comes another sister group.
The AKB empire has stretched its tentacles all over the Japanese archipelago and even to Jakarta in Indonesia.
And now the "idols you can meet" concept finally arrives up in the colder climes of Hokkaido, Japan's large northern island. Next spring there will be SPR48, the new sister group in Sapporo, Hokkaido's capital city.
This is according to the AKB boss, Yasushi Akimoto, the 56-year-old honcho who the government wants to represent everything "Cool Japan" can offer to the ...
Korean-born model Youn-a (28) is marrying again this autumn, just over a year after divorcing a Korean businessman.
Her new partner and future husband is a Kotaro Shiba (40), head of office48, an agency connected to the company behind AKB48, AKS.
So far, not so Tokyo Kinky, you might think, though Youn-a is a bit of a hottie. Perhaps she will be appearing in the idol group in the future? That would be a real reason to listen to their "music" at last.
However, Kotaro Shiba is rumored to be connected to the Japanese mafia, the yakuza, as we previously reported.
Entertainment people ...
Ex-AKB48 member and now prolific model Kaoru Mitsumune has made a shocking annoucement.
Despite being one of the cutest of Japanese girls with boyish haircuts active at the moment, she claims she has never had a boyfriend.
While that wouldn't shock us for an AKB48 member, given that the girls in the group are banned from having sex or relationships (except of course with the AKB management).
However, she left the mega idol group in 2012. Since she must meet a lot of people in her work and with her fame and looks, must surely have guys lining up to get more personal, can she ...
AKB48's Yuko Oshima like you've never seen her before, naked!
At least, that's what the publisher is (almost) promising.
While she has never been averse to risque shoots, Yuko's new photo book is particularly eyebrow-raising. By comparison, most AKB girls, even after graduating, remain fairly safe, though there are exceptions. Atsuko Maeda, for example, is attempting to forge a career in mainstream acting (good luck with that).
Over the summer the twenty-five-year-old Yuko has been stripping down for photographer Mika Ninagawa. The results are a photo book to be released in ...
Will this finally take the crown for AKB48 Fan of the Century?
As reported by our friends at JapanTrends.com, one admirer of Yuki Kashiwagi has succeeded in making a working android of her, the Yukirin Robot.
AKB48 fans aren't known for their subtlety or restraint. From purchasing up crazy amounts of CDs and merchandise to attacking the objects of their desire at handshaking events, AKB48 is a group that inspires all manner of extreme response from its fans.
But this is something we haven't personally seen before, though it is at least technically impressive.
It ...
The first meet-and-greet so-called "handshaking" event for fans to meet their AKB48 idols has been held since the May saw attack that injured Rina Kawaei and Anna Iriyama, and a male member of staff.
Billed as "the idols that you can meet", AKB48 haven't been within touching distance for fans for 41 days but returned to extend their hands to the "virginal" palms of Japanese men at Tokyo Big Sight at the weekend.
Immediately after the saw attack there was much speculation that it would spell the end of the mega band's infamous mass meet-and-greets. Nogizaka 46, a spin-off group, did continue ...
Bread fetishists beware! There's a new girl in town.
Solving the problem of what to do with your career once you leave AKB48, Kaoru Mitsumune (21) has turned to French bread for the answer.
Oh, and stripping off in the process.
We can't imagine why this would make her popular!
Never have slices of white bread looked so sexy as the alluring Kaoru Mitsumune shows with this fun rift on schoolgirl fantasies. Students in Japan are known to carry slices of plain bread around with them in their satchels, which they eat while looking lonely and ...
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 ...
Apologies for yet another AKB48 post but this was too interesting to pass up.
Kyodo News is reporting that Mayu Watanabe's victory at the AKB48 General Election last weekend in the rain came thanks to the Chinese vote, a revelation which should stump the typically right-leaning netizens of Japan.
A Chinese newspaper claimed on June 10th that of the 159,854 votes that got Mayu Watanabe the coveted top idol spot, around 35,000 of those came from fans in China, playing a decisive role in the tight contest with Rino Sashihara.
Mayu Watanabe's supporters in the Third Kingdom ...
