SINGAPORE: Run-away Japanese girl band AKB48 enters Guinness World Book of Records as the largest ever

Record ID: 724911

  • Title: SINGAPORE: Run-away Japanese girl band AKB48 enters Guinness World Book of Records as the largest ever
  • Date: 15th November 2010
  • Summary: SINGAPORE (NOVEMBER 12, 2010) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FRONT OF MARINA BAY SANDS VARIOUS OF AKB48 PRODUCER, YASUSHI AKIMOTO, SITTING ON COUCH (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) AKB48 PRODUCER, YASUSHI AKIMOTO, SAYING: "I am happy and appreciative of the fact that we got in to the world book of records but we really haven't made it yet if we've gotten people's attention just because of
  • Embargoed: 30th November 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Singapore
  • Country: Singapore
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA1R0JTH88DKG4BTVY29I5GVR3N
  • Story Text: Japan's new rising stars of the group AKB48 (pronounced Ei-Key-Bee Forty-Eight) can now count themselves the world's biggest girl band.
    With sister groups in different cities across Japan and understudies they entered the Guinness World Book of Records with 200 members as the biggest girl band, according to Japanese media on Thursday (November 11).
    The band is already a run-away success in their home country, but Yasushi Akimoto, the man behind AKB48, is modest about his protégées.
    "I am happy and appreciative of the fact that we got in to the world book of records but we really haven't made it yet if we've gotten people's attention just because of the number of ours members," he told Reuters in an exclusive interview on Friday (November 12) in Singapore on the sidelines of the Anime Festival Asia 2010 - the region's most established Japanese popular culture and anime festival.
    The band has it's roots in the Akihabara district of Tokyo - hence the initials AKB, and began as a 'idol' theatre in 2005. The area is considered Japan's mecca for the geeks that live off virtual girlfriends and fantasy idols.
    And soon the initial group found traction there with their highschool uniforms and innocent looks.
    That then spread to other cities and they were immediately lapped up in a local media maelstrom that still continues to this day.
    Five years and at least a hundred additional members later, AKB48's latest single, "Ponytail to Chouchou" (in english: ponytail and scrunchie) sold nearly half-a-million copies in its first week since release.
    This is a record in Japan, the world's second biggest music industry, for a female artist or group.
    Now AKB48's sights are overseas with the growing otaku or nerd culture amongst younger asians and westerners.
    However Akimoto insists he is not out there to market them specifically for the international audience.
    "They will just have to get out there and be seen. Maybe by going out a number of times, some may want to learn a language, but even that process is part of what AKB48 is about. So I am actually quite looking forward to seeing what sort of chemistry there will be with their fans if they go as they are right now," he told Reuters, explaining how the girls' performance on stage is what gives them their music formation.
    "AKB48 is a product that is still in the making, because in that way the fans that come and see them daily become their producers; asking them, for example, to cut their hair short, or to practice a bit harder on that dance sequence because it wasn't perfect there. So instead of practicing in an empty room, they learn on the job and are polished by getting up in front of an audience," he said.
    While AKB48's success has led to massive media exposure, especially in Japan, Akimoto insists it is important that the girls remain close to their roots in the theatre where they perform daily for their screaming fans.
    "I think that there is value in an experience that you can only have by physically going there, especially in an age where everything is on the web and as long as you have the internet. There is value in having to spend time and money in something you have to displace yourself to see, and of course here we have to create something that is worth seeing, but that is why I felt people would want to come and see their daily live events," he said.
    Akimoto is in Japan himself considered a hit-factory producer, having written lyrics for other successful Japanese bands such as Alfie, Onyanko Club and even Hibari Misora, often considered Japan's Edit Piaf.
    QuestionsQuestion Nov 16 00:22 (8 hours ago) China Radion International : We haven't received video of this news yet, could you resend it for us? Many thanks Nov 16 00:22 (8 hours ago) Reuters: Hi, This edit landed on WNE at 1709 GMT. If you have not received it please email tvnews@thomsonreuters.com to obtain a temporary download site password.
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