After not visiting the thread for a month and look what I've missed: someone in Scotland and a linguist. @Nagisa Where about in Scotland are you in? @convenience93 I've visited York for the ULAB conference last year, and Dr Andrew Merrison gave an impressive lecture, despite not remembering awfully well what it was about...He jumps around and speaks loudly though. But duh, no academic stuff, just fandom here!
AKB48 were featured in the London Metro again today. I have posted the whole article to my tumblr, can link you if you want. It mentions Janken, Sousenkyou, Miichan, Heavy Rotation as well as many facts. I don't like the title they've used as it gives the group a bad image, and yes I will writing to them with my opinion! @Kelevene - we try to meet once a month or every six weeks in London, it depends on what's going on and how busy people are. =)
@oltrebla Ahhh I'm doing a year abroad in Japan now as I mentioned, but he's one of my supervisors! And yeahh he's pretty eccentric but it's pretty much his liveliness and creativity that makes his lectures interesting lol. He can be quite a strict marker for like assignments though lol. But wow, so you're a linguist yourself? hahah. ooops academic stuff 8D
Oh shit, AKB were in the Metro? Were they in any other paper or UK media? I was on holiday when all that went down so missed it. Would love to see the whole article.
I don't know if this is exactly the same article, but it's from the metro online, so it's probably similar if not identical. http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/03/sexua...ho-are-japanese-idol-girl-band-akb48-4747098/
Originally from Aberdeen but migrating to Edinburgh (from St Andrews) for some more university this August.
@convenience93 I've spent the past 4+ years in Edinburgh doing Linguistics. Finished undergrad and doing a masters right now. @Nagisa let's meet up if you happen to be in Edin!!
@Jul3 and @Gingerninja - the link is basically the same article. The one they posted the week before was simply a report on the incident, and I think they mentioned Miichan then too... Oh wow, looks like a Scotland AKB meet is on the cards! Awesome!
That Metro article was a really good read. I enjoyed it. They really explained AKB well, kinda explained the whole franchise quite succinctly. I heard AKB got some more press from other UK sources so I should check that out too. Wish I could have picked up copies of these papers.
I cut out both articles to keep =P Loads of the newspaper websites covered the incident, but I didn't see or get any of them. Not sure if any of them have followed it up like the Metro did. Checked it today and no one had replied about it, or started discussion on it. I'll post any if they appear too. =)
The metro article has this comment "You really need to do your homework properly before you write something about AKB48, your article is so shallow & meaningless that I am laughing right now with all due respect, you are just want to promote a stereotype idea that Japan is weird, yeah AKB48 do bikini Music Videos but that only once in every year, but is that it, did you even listen to their other singles, albums or even something you might not even know: their stage songs, you will find a variety of 700+ songs that covers most of the music genres, & yet you just describe their music as "bubble gum pop" LOL, really. It's funny because you're just trying point out any black dots in the white shirt, no one is perfect & I am not here to tell you AKB48 is perfect, but I was just hope you write something with respect to AKB48 first & their music second. And by the way AKB48 greatest hit is not "Heavy Rotation" as you claim, it is their greatest hit in 2013 "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" the song that many people from around the world dance with it (or maybe you are living under the rock)"
It's started! GO MAYUYU!! I hear the heavens have opened on them, everyone is getting wet. What bad timing...but it's so worth getting wet for.
I completely missed that metro article. I'm not sure I like if if that response was posted though since it makes the fans look like a bunch of whiny teenagers. Don't get me wrong, I think it's good that someone decided to stand up to the bad press, but it could have been worded a bit better.
The response from Angry Metro AKB Fan was less than great. It could have been put across much better or more politely. Mind you it is only one response, and nothing was ever followed up in the paper itself about it or the article they wrote. I got it for a couple of weeks after to see if they did. In other news, Dome Tour! =D excitement, but no way will I be able to go. ¬¬