Should AKB48 be in the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Olympics?

This has come up recently come up since there has been talk of Japan48 opening the Olympic Games. Now, this is probably just me being naive but why is AKB considered the shame of Japan? I mean, they can be a little risqué, and they can be in the news for the some of the wrong reasons, but most of the time they bring great publicity to Japan and they have fans all over the world. So why do people consider them to be so shameful? I do apologise if I am being incredibly naive. I'd be interested to hear your opinions.

 

I think it's as simple as imagining an artist from your own country who you really can't stand and then hearing they're going to represent your country at a massive event, you'd probably think it's an embarrassment as well. A portion of Japanese people like AKB and others of course don't, I really think that's all there is to this discussion.

I know someone said in another thread that you can't say that the performing artist is representing the entire country, but I think that is actually the goal of those opening ceremonies. Each time the host country wants to show what they've got and top the previous one. I find it really sad actually, because each time the amount of money spent gets more ridiculous, people get thrown out of their homes because they're in the way and what not, just for a few hours of showing off. I'd really like to see a country have the guts to organise a big event and do completely the opposite by keeping things entertaining, yet very simple, like back in the day when you didn't have all the craziness with special effects and stuff, but yeah, I'm completely off topic now.

 

AKB has a lot of attack points, which is why people like to hate them, especially when they crave attention or try to be edgy. if it's foreign media, they love to convey the "crazy Japanese" stereotype, so they jump on any chance to trashtalk them. if it's Japanese entertainers, they know that dissing AKB is an easy way to stay relevant for another week.
the way I see it, there is absolutely no reason to call AKB48 as a whole an "embarrassment" and I do think that it is an amazing part of Japanese pop-culture, that is worth showcasing in appropriate ways(I wouldn't know how you'd work them into an Olympics Opening Ceremony, but if you can make it work, why not). weren't they also part of that Cool Japan thing, where Japan made an effort to show Japanese culture to the world? that should show that AKB is not seen as a shame of Japan.

 

I think they're thinking more about the Olympics being an international event. I can imagine they'd think it'll bring a bad public image

I mean, not many countries in the world have the concept of idols Japan has, or even understand such concept. Now imagine that for an opening ceremony in an international event you go with a group of singers (for the rest of the world) that has to lipsynch (whatever the reason, I don't wanna go there but it's a fact they lipsync), that have lots of underage girls in skimpy clothing (do you think western countries won't have anything to say about this?), and performs a very specific kind of music that not many people like.

Yeah, even if I like AKB48, I can see why some people would think it might not be a good idea... I wouldnt go as far as call them "the Shame of Japan", that's beyond everything really...but I agree that I don't think it's a good idea, even for the group itself and the backlash they could face.

Maybe, if they actually explained what idols are before their performance it'd ok...

 

I've really never heard of AKB48 being referred to as "the shame of Japan" before, and I would be interested to know the context in which it was used, but AKB48 has been criticized in Japan for:

- objectification of women/exploitation of young girls
- sexualization of young girls
- promotion of unrealistic beauty standard
- commercialization of music business
- unfair business practices

In addition they also take a lot of flack simply because their fans are viewed as "wota" and "otaku", which is usually regarded disdainfully at best in most mainstream Japanese media. The issues listed above are issues that have been debated in Japan for sometime, so AKB48 is really just a catalyst for these problems and represents what a lot of Japanese dislike about society which could be where "shame of Japan" comes in.

However, from what I've seen AKB48 has come to be viewed in a pretty positive light due to the charity work they've been doing and their attempts to appeal to the general population in mainstream media (as opposed to just wota).

I think no matter who was chosen for the Olympics, there would be complaints. AKB48 is pop music, so it would be a bit like the controversy it would cause if we had Ariana Grande or One Direction opening the Olympics.

 

Yah, IMO it is just mostly an Olympic thing... do you want idol culture to represent Japan to the rest of the world? IMO as successful as AKB48 is... how many fans do they actually have? I mean looking at the vote count at Sousenkyo... how many individual voters is that... 250,000+? Out of what... 130 million Japanese people?

Also... IMO the Miichan incident did so much irreparable damage to AKB48's image abroad that everything even remotely questionable that AKB48 does gets viewed in the context of that negative light.

 

I think any mainstream group suffers the same fate.

I don't think AKB is the same of Japan, just like 1D isn't the shame of the UK nor is Miley the shame of the US.

But they're so out there that their detractos have to go out there too to critisize them. If that makes sense lol

The Olympic Games are still 5 years away. Who knows where AKB will stand by that time?

Plus, I think I remember more than just one artist performing in the London ceremony, so they could very well put B'z, Ayumi (to name some) and AKB if they wanted.

 

Did none of you watch the London Olympics Opening and Closing ceremonies? They were a celebration of British Pop Culture since the 60's. Why shouldn't Japan celebrate it's pop culture from group sounds though J-rock, visual kei, j-pop right up to idols including AKB48 and if foreigners don't "get" it then f*** em tbqh.

As for people talking about the shame of Japan, that's just hyperbolic idiots looking to make headlines, anyone that gives creedence to such empty bluster needs to gain some braincells somewhere.

 

This is solely my opinion~
I don't think that akb48 is the shame of japan. Its just arguable on whether akb48 should be representing Japan in such a massive event.
There is both good and bad aspects from this but to how I see it...its more like they would be more willing to used highly talented and famous solo artist or talented and famous bands less the size of Akb48 to represent japan as their next to best option or their so-called play safe option in its matter of not having this disdainful image of what Akb48 are subjectively viewed as by some people.

Well, since the event is 5 years away...I 'm not sure what Akb48 is like then. For better or for worst, I think theres a 50% by 50% chance of them representing/ not representing Japan in the Olympic. Overall, time will tell.

 

I think it's mostly the whole sexy female body exposure that Japanese people don't like about AKB, other than that, AKB are nice girls who does charity and things like that.

I'm probably bias when it comes to AKB even though I'm foreign fan, but I don't think there is anything wrong with AKB except for the fact that they do expose a lot of bodies. Even the younger girls does too...

 

I saw a recent news about that
http://www.japantoday.com/category/...ning-the-tokyo-olympics-would-embarrass-japan

and it's not the first time I read opinoion who sound like: akb48 are a shame for Japan specially for
- objectification of women/exploitation of young girls
- sexualization of young girls

IMO akb48 is simply a great pop-show/act who bring happiness and show beauty & tenderness (with some great marketing tricks) and that opinions are not right. IMO in akb48 is the opposite of a vulgar show (implicit in that opinion).
(IMO the words "the most sophisticated show" are not written caasually at the theatre)

 

I've been reading and even commented on one of the articles about it.

The bad points about AKB:

• IMO too many young members who aren't mature (I think there should be a higher minimum age, like 16, despite having a lot of talented girls when they're young, that gives a LOT of negative publicity outside of Japan)
• The gravure shoots give the wrong impression
• The idea that their fans are all old perverts (IMO completely inaccurate)
  
• 48G as a business entity keeps growing and growing, and people don't necessarily like the idea of the business practices
• The idea, whether accurate or not, that the creators of 48G are making the the girls do too much work (despite the fact that i've never heard a single idol complain about it, though I realize that may be cultural)
• The fact that Aki-P is on the Olympic committee in some regard, so he has some say in what is presented
• Overall saturation of the market of idols...AKB is just a massive entity which is simulatneously fascinating, but I can also see how it can be just annoying at a point. For example, I go on twitter frequently, and the trending topics ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS seem to have some stupid boy band hashtag.

Some of these things I've mentioned like the younger members and gravure shoots and the idea that its all old perverts are mostly western observances from people, and I think culturally in Japan it is different. From what I've studied, current idol groups and their popularity are very similar to the popularity of geishas and theater shows back in the 1800's or earlier. Japanese people used to collect posters of their favorites back then too!

 

There are a lot of artists I enjoy listening to, but it doesn't mean I'm a die-hard fan of every single one of them, following everything they do and spending my money on them and this goes for most people. Idols are an important part of modern Japanese culture, the concept, the music, pretty much everything is very unique and typically Japanese. The fact that their events are broadcast on national television and reported about in news shows says a lot.

Spoiler

Disclaimer: The stuff I wrote here is not meant as an attack on anyone personally. I know these are things people criticise AKB for, but I get really annoyed everytime I see it, not just because I'm a fan of the group, but because of the blatant hypocrisy. I wish other fans would see that and stop feeling uncomfortable about it and trying to defend the group with things like "but they do charity" when we should simply be ignoring these accusations which are based on nothing more than prejudice and bigotry. And no, I'm not saying there's nothing wrong with groups like AKB or that there aren't things I disagree with or even despise, all I'm asking for is to look at the bigger picture.

Yeah, we saw a girl cry her eyes out and go as far as shaving her head, just to show how much she regrets breaking the rules, because she didn't want to be kicked out of this group, that's how much she enjoyed being in it, but no let's go with the version where she's held hostage, humiliated and forced to apologise for her immoral behaviour by men because she's a woman hurr durr.

Is this even serious? That's basically a summary of all entertainment business across the world. Though I agree that the young girls thing is more relevant in Japanese culture and some of it may go a bit too far, but pretending that girls don't know a single thing about sexuality before the age of 18 and that all men are completely oblivious to physically developed attractive young girls until the magical day they turn 18 (or whatever happens to be the law in your country) is ridiculous.

The unrealistic beauty standards thing is not even true. How many celebrities post pictures of themselves not wearing any make-up at all and how often do they appear on camera looking all messy the way AKB members do during rehearsals and stuff. Not to mention all the girls who are popular exactly because they are the opposite of perfect, physically and personality wise and the number of times they've been encouraged to show that side of themselves on tv.

No, of course not. It's fine to let children watch people in underwear dry humping each other on tv, singing about their private parts, about passing out drunk, doing drugs like it's a cool thing, but seeing girls in Japanese fashion? No way. Seeing high school girls in cheerleader outfits, often shorter than the skirts Japanese girls usually wear, is fine though, because it's not foreign. There couldn't possibly be anything wrong with the things we're familiar with, right?

 

I don't think Japan today have ever posted anything positive about AKB. In any case they're just republishing the article from Rocketnews.

 

Exactly. If AKB48G is still around, and popular, then to take part I would see them as doing so as part of a wider performance taking in other current artists, including other idol groups showing off different forms of Japanese musical culture. It's not as if the opening/closing ceremony is going to be an AKB concert.

I think it can be summed up as haters gonna hate ...

 

Frankly I don't care what other nations think, or anybody for that matter.

AKB is what it is in relation to its 'product' and the people of any other nation want to take issue with it will find thousands of much more morally objectionable things in their own country that they conveniently put out of their mind. All are inevitable hypocrites. .. I wont list them here..but you can pick just about any Western country and find many horrible issues that they fail to deal with.

People if they have issue with AKB will be with .. treating woman as sex objects or sexualising minors.
Forgetting the child beauty pageants in the US where they dress little girls up with sexy adult makeup and clothes, permit rape in universities etc etc....

But really if somebody objectifies minors as sexual objects then it is their mind that has the issue..

 

I'm no expert on this issue but as a fan of AKB48 it gets very tiresome of all the criticism they endure, I guess it goes with the territory of being on top with so many haters around, its the easy and lazy way.

 

I would like to see some other celebrities speak up in their defense...that would be nice

Yes, and its also a result of people knowing only small pieces of information and forming an opinion based on that.

 

This is probably why I know very few people in real life who like idol groups. Even weirder is the ones that do, don't even talk about or like the 48 groups either. So basically since I became a fan several months ago, I've pretty much been alone on this.

 

I know how ya feel - being a Wota/idol lover is very very lonely. It's a shame really because idol culture is actually really amazing.