That Vice article is trash, I didn't even bother commenting. As a feminist who's also a fan of idols it disgusts me to see idol culture equated with teen prostitution. While I'm not going to kid myself by saying AKB and other idol groups are pure and innocent, I really do believe that being an idol is largely empowering for the girls, who from a young age learn to navigate the entertainment business and make a career for themselves. That being said, I don't think arguing in that comment section is going to make AKB any more palatable to those who already have a bias against it.
I love how that Jake guy can make accusations and these serious insinuations but he can't back up what he said and then reply with something like this lmao..... Spoiler I doubt he'll get electoral with his idiotic antics and after Bush we're pretty much over the Republicans so I'm not that worried... Ofc moving to Canada is always an option.....
Sorry for the delay in response. Next time it might be better to put this question in the "Seeing shows" or "Attending Handshakes" threads. Anyway... Tough to say. Historically speaking any Individual handshakes scheduled during that time would probably be in support of the first single of the year. It could also be the time frame for events if AKB decides to put out another album next year. However, there have been so many unexpected occurrnces affecting the handshake schedule in the past few years that it makes it tough to pinpoint when the announcements might happen. My best advice would be to keep your ears open. As for National events, even tougher to answer. The announcements for these events are quite irregular. The good news is that National event tickets are much easier to come by on short notice.
Huge text from someone that a) reads, as a student from social science, a lot about the Japanese culture (But have never been there) and b) is pretty bad with English. The VICE article can be related to the recent controversy about DEEPGIRL. For their first single they will have the following events with fans, depending on the number of CDs you buy: This whole thing also generated this whole "idol = prostitution" discussion. I'm not focusing specifically on idols, talking more about underage workers. Anyway, Japan is known for maid cafés, "dating bars" (Not sure how they are exactly named) etc. First of all, this isn't exclusive from Japan (paid spooning exists on different countries, for example, and places like Hooters exists on the West. And meet & greet events with artists exists all around the world.). And there are strict rules about it. Customers can't touch or ask personal information about a employee on a maid café, for example. Of course there are a bunch of particularities on the Japanese culture about relationships (Why this services exist on a bigger extent there, escapism etc. etc.), but I don't think that is the point of this whole discussion. In a way, as much as events with idols (something that DEEPGIRL took to another extent), these kind of services are, indeed, a way of "selling yourself". Employees are selling their image/character, their charisma, their talent etc. Like a model selling his looks or a teacher selling her knowledge, for example. No problem with that, considering the right circumstances. Particularly with this kind of service, like it was already mentioned, Japan usually has some strict rules about it, at least in the point of view of preserving the workers. So, in this scenario, no problem with a school girl working on a maid café as a part-time job, for example. There are possible problematics about this, though (Like the low salaries), but I think this isn't something particular for idols and underage workers overall. Sexualization is a different issue (And a much more complex one, in my opinion), particularly with underage girls. The use of underage models (Especially under 13) in gravure, for example, it's something very controversial (including in Japan itself), but sadly it is often ignored. So in this way it is important to discuss what is appropriate for a young person to do, and what are the circumstances surrounding her work. The same thing applies for gender roles and the several cases of abuse surrounding women (Much of them legally ignored). So I think the real problems are deeper on this whole discussion, questioning, for example, why most of the idol producers are men and why many cases of sexual exploitation are ignored. And how exactly Japan is particularly different from other places. A Vice article about all of this would be very interesting and helpful. However, the article they posted simply relays on the stereotyped Western point of view, and doesn't add many things to the whole discussion. Besides the lack of (true) information on the article, saying that "many" former AKB girls went to AV and that there are "many" suggestive lyrics (Some of them are, indeed, but they are a minority), for example. And, sidenote: why not talk to the girls themselves? Why they are always considered "innocent girls who only can do this" and have no opinion or attitude at all? Isn't this sexist? Edit: v @polar_star Completely agree. I wonder if someone (especially from West) actually made serious studies about all these questions...
@brunoiaz There is definitely a deep discussion to be had on issues related to idols, but VICE is definitely not making that happen. It would be a lot more interesting if someone actually took the time to interview ex-members, the girls who actually went into JAV etc, instead of making assumptions about their choices and experiences in life. Well, I doubt 48G management or other idol managements care what Western media thinks anyway.
Hehehe AKB Group Top 3 appearance during 2nd General Election of SNH48 if the video does not show watch the video here
CAT`S EYE FNSうたの夏まつり 2015-07-29 if the video does not show watch the video here Everyday, Katyusha FNSうたの夏まつり 2015-07-29 if the video does not show watch the video here
Does anyone know what songs 48Group performed? And in order of performance? Or where can I get the setlist of FNS-event?
Looks like we have a new former AKB48 member joining the darkside (as some say.) in the AV world. http://news.livedoor.com/article/detail/10419867/
oku manami? nah, just kidding I read the article, and yeah from the hints, it sounds like erepyon. rumored AV debut last year, disappeared from entertainment industry, deleted her social network account, F-cup, etc. but I wonder who is this "H" person? on the article it is said that she is also ex-member of AKB
lol,,if erepyon went to av. that will a quite bad news..she cant survive the entertainment nidustry..opt to go to the dark side and easy to get popular..
And an ex-AKB member doing AV might have been big news back in 2010/11 since it was a novelty and they were starting to peak...but now?
