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What should the minimum age for members be?

Discussion in 'General AKB48 Discussion' started by technosworld, Apr 28, 2015.

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What should the minimum age for members be?

  1. 17

    9 vote(s)
    5.7%
  2. 16

    20 vote(s)
    12.7%
  3. 15

    15 vote(s)
    9.5%
  4. 14

    34 vote(s)
    21.5%
  5. 13

    30 vote(s)
    19.0%
  6. 12

    23 vote(s)
    14.6%
  7. 11

    17 vote(s)
    10.8%
  8. 10

    10 vote(s)
    6.3%
  1. souchan48

    souchan48 Future Girls

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    OOT but i would suggest no age limitation instead
    Like u can be 40 and idols. there are lots of male idols like this, but unfortunately
    few in Japan for female
     
  2. gotbild

    gotbild Member Stage48 Donor

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    Some are talking about elementary school, some of middle school but which ages then?
     
  3. hugoa

    hugoa Kenkyuusei

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    Oct 16, 2011
  4. Reveen

    Reveen Under Girls

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    So ignoring actual evidence you want to put in arbitrary restrictions, that doesn't make much sense tbh.
     
  5. mb1619

    mb1619 Kenkyuusei

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    I don't like to see members start very young for a multitude of reasons. In an ideal world I would make the minimum age 16, but with being in KKS first and avoiding sexualised songs like "seifuku ga jama wo suru" I would probably say as young as 13 is acceptable. And I don't want to see underage girls in bikinis, it's creepy.
     
  6. xcrossfacekillahx

    xcrossfacekillahx Member

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    I think it should stay at 11. It's not like there's anything wrong with it. If the girl thinks she can handle it then why not?
     
  7. hugoa

    hugoa Kenkyuusei

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    ^
    Honestly, don't take this the wrong way but no 11 year old girl or boy are even close to be able to make that kind of decision.
     
  8. Shiroi_Akuma

    Shiroi_Akuma Kenkyuusei

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    I think it should be 12 or 13, and maybe stay as a KKS until they are 15 or 16. If management do this, the members won't graduate to concentrate on their studies because they will know how to handle the school and the work as idols at the same time, and the group won't lose any talented member.
     
  9. うぃむ33

    うぃむ33 Kenkyuusei

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    I think you are underestimating the decisions of younger people. An 11 or 10 year old can also have a dream of being an idol. But unlike someone who has a dream of being a pilot or a doctor (whose career spans age 28-60), the usual career of an idol lasts from age 14/15 - 22/23. So they need to start young and need to make the decision while younger.

    Also, Japanese clubs are not like playing with friends and hanging out like lot of people do in western places. Even a club/group of Japanese people in middle-school is very rigorous. Even the sports clubs. There are a lot who don't do sports too, they learn musical instruments from a young age of 5 or 6, once again with rigorous training. Also, instead of just clubs, lots of kids go to evening tutoring classes that last from ~4pm - 8/9 pm every weekday, and lots of them start this from ~9-10 years old. So doing the idol thing is not so far off from what they would be doing in regular life anyway.
     
  10. cubozoa

    cubozoa Kenkyuusei

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    No limit

    Boss auditioned when she was 10 and turned out just fine.
     
  11. hugoa

    hugoa Kenkyuusei

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    While I agree with pretty much everything you said I would like to point out the huge difference between wanting to be something (even an idol) and be able to make a decision about it. To my knowledge a kid with 10 or 11 years is unable to make a decision in the same sense that we understand it. That's why any decision made by such young children have no validity, whatsoever, in court (generally speaking).

    I will, gladly, accept the word of any person that has been in a club in Japan while they had around 10 to 14 years old (the ages in discussion). My only reference regarding this subject is anime, and I'm the first to say that it might not be a correct representation of reality.
     
  12. うぃむ33

    うぃむ33 Kenkyuusei

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    @hugoa

    I guess we can look at the evidence of past idols who have joined at young ages. 28,000 people auditioned for H!P kids (most were under 10 years old), including Miichan, who wasn't selected. All of C-ute and Berryz Kobou were from those auditions, where the youngest member was 6 years old (Hagiwara Mai), but she's still in H!P/C-ute now and seems to love everything about idol life. Then we can also look at AKB. Jurina was 11, Tanaka Natsumi was 10 or 11, Mayuyu was just 12.5. This is normal over there, because people put a lot more responsibility on kids at a younger age. This is totally my opinion, but this reason is why Japan and other Asian countries people can work 70 hour weeks every week and not complain about it (well, not that much lol). Because they are used to working so much from a young age onwards. If you did that in the west, nobody would want to work for your company. So its totally different culturally, and totally ok over there. Personally, I think it is ok too, I don't think "kids need to be kids", I think "kids need to learn how to work hard from a young age". But thats just me.

    But normally in 48g auditions have an age limit of 11-18 years old, at least that's what the last HKT audition had. So I'd say the rule is 10/11 years old is the lower limit.
     
  13. Discothèque

    Discothèque Member

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  14. Mimi

    Mimi Kenkyuusei

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    Official information always seems to give a nuanced view, different from what people are telling from their personal experience. I'm guessing those stats are based on the official working hours, but apparently employees in Japan are often expected to work overtime daily without extra pay. It's a way of showing commitment to the company and you don't want to be that guy who's counting every minute and leaving first.

    Many Japanese wifes barely see their salaryman husbands since they leave early in the morning and come home at 10 pm, some later some earlier, depending on the company. I heard a Japanese girl on Youtube talk about the time she spent in Australia and how strange it felt to leave work at 4 pm, without anyone expecting her to stay longer. It's the same when you look at "a typical" school-day in Japan which supposedly lasts from around 8.30 am till 4 pm including club activities, but no one mentions the unofficial stuff like cram school being the norm and things like that.
    They had that show in The Netherlands too, albeit a Dutch version (don't know who copied who though:p).

    I think the point you make about young girls not being your thing is the same as saying you don't like boyish girls, or you don't like the variety type. Some people like seeing little lolis and others don't. It's a matter of preference like anything else when it comes to idols. Edit: It should be obvious, but just to make sure; I'm not talking about sexual preference in any way. Purely in terms of entertainment.

    I do agree that 10 years might not be the best age for making important life decisions, but as someone mentioned, being an idol is not something you can do at 30. A young age is the only time one can make such decision. Yeah, they might miss out on some positive things about having a normal life, but kids with normal lives will also miss out on a lot of perks of being an idol. Plus they can always retire from the business if they realise they don't want to take that path, as many girls have.

    I actually wonder if we're ever capable of making the right decision without knowledge of the future and having gone trough certain experiences. How many people have realised they've chosen the wrong study or took a wrong career path, even as adults? That's just how life is.
     
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2015
  15. momo

    momo Kenkyuusei

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    I voted for 13. Seems pretty relevant if the girls are at least teenagers, younger than that seems a bit immature honestly.
     
  16. Discothèque

    Discothèque Member

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    @Mimi

    I think everyone who has any kind of ambition works longer than they're supposed to without any extra pay, whether they're in Japan or the West.

    South Korea has mandatory forty-hour, five-day working week since 2011 and since 52x40 is less than the Average hours worked per person statistic, I doubt it's just official hours/
     
  17. Mimi

    Mimi Kenkyuusei

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    Well it's a fact that Japan is notorious for this and it's something many Japanese people can testify to. There's been a lot of discussion about work related stress and implementing new laws to protect employees from overwork. I'm pretty sure when you apply for a job in most other countries and the advertisement says you'll be working till 4 pm, you don't expect to stay till 6 with no extra pay.

    I have no real working experience, but I've had part-time jobs in shops and no one ever thought about asking me to stay longer than 10-15 minutes, unless I'd get paid for the extra time. Also, most of us can get days off fairly easy if we ask for it in advance, while in Japan that's pretty unthinkable.
     
  18. AloNeko

    AloNeko Member

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    Himetan litsis Su(metal) was only about 10 when it joinend at Karen girls, (Su was youndgest, Oldest Ayami was 12, Now Solo career, Middle was one of two Spica girls) . Moa&Yui (Metal) was just reached age 11, and yes, are Elementry school when joined 2010 at Sakura Gakuin (Babymetal girls, but Babymetal wasnt only them project, Twinklestars and Mini Patie was also, not mentioded at Sakura gakuins own songs...)
     
  19. piyochama

    piyochama Member

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    Sakura Gakuin kicks people out when they graduate middle school. They're not comparable, nor do I even remotely like their model. They should not be considered good examples for other people to follow.
     
  20. うぃむ33

    うぃむ33 Kenkyuusei

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    If you think you will only stay until 6pm, you have another thing coming :lol: I can't even count the number of days I went into work at 8 and came out at 8/9pm. Of course I only got paid until 5 :glare:. My girlfriend constantly went to work at 8AM and finished at 10-11pm... 4-5 days a week. It wasn't so bad though, because I love to work so I was ok with it. My social life suffered, but so did everyone else's. We still were able to have fun and hang out together on the weekends though. But this is why dying because of overwork is only a problem in Japan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karōshi Although as you said they are trying hard to implement laws around this, but its difficult because you can't really say no if you want your career to rise and your company wants you to 'volunteer' a few hours after work everyday. If you say no, but the guy/girl next to you says yes, who will get promoted next year??

    But in all seriousness, imo working hard shouldn't be looked down upon, even among younger people. And this type of working 12+ hours a day would never be allowed for people who are just working part time or are underage. Its only for people with full time jobs, usually 22 years old and above. There are extremely strict laws for work for a minor, which is why this wouldn't effect any idols under age 18.
     

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