Tag - akb48

 
 

AKB48

Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
May 25, 2014
AKB48 members attacked by saw-wielding man
A man wielding a saw assaults AKB48 during a fan event in Iwate Prefecture, wounding two of the female pop idols and a staffer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 20, 2014
Not Yet aren't ready to take the AKB48 crown
Not Yet "Already" (Nippon Columbia)
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / NET NEWS WATCH
Apr 28, 2014
AKB48 may be the pop the economy needs: ex-chief cabinet secretary Edano
In Yukio Edano's essay “Popular Songs Change with the Times; Yasushi Akimoto, the AKB strategy and the Japanese Economy,” the Democratic Party of Japan Lower House member of Japan argued that AKB48's business strategy “could be effective for the economy in general.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 25, 2014
Babymetal aren't the latest chapter in the 'wacky Japan' story
The British are mad, aren't they? That Kate Bush with her crazy gyrating around a cello in the video for "Babushka," that daft loon Robbie Williams with his funky skeleton costume, those kerrr-azy Tellytubbies with their wacky dance routines — what is it about the British that makes them so totally off-the-wall bonkers?
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital / ON: GAMES
Mar 24, 2014
Your turn to shoot AKB47, alongside your BFFAKB
Zombie girls in uniform
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 18, 2014
AKB48 "Tsugi no Ashiato"
No Japanese music group has been more interesting these past two years than AKB48, but "interesting" doesn't always mean "good." Several of the 89-members-and-growing outfit's most notable moments have been ugly (the Minami Minegishi head-shaving scandal tops that list), but the idol group has also made some strides pop-wise — the occasional great hook and a handful of creative music videos that have demonstrated some self-awareness. The already-a-million-plus-sold new album "Tsugi no Ashiato" ("The Next Footsteps") encapsulates the hits and misses of AKB48 — and modern J-pop — perfectly.
Japan Times
JAPAN / AT A GLANCE
Feb 2, 2014
Transformational Akihabara has its finger on the pulse of pop culture
Tokyo's Akihabara district is always transforming itself.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Dec 24, 2013
Familiar obstacles stymie change in domestic music industry
While the Japanese music industry ended last year on a promise of change, 2013 has highlighted a few of the ingrained practices that are going to be a little bit more difficult to dislodge.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 23, 2013
Secrets, lies, gaffes, glory: 2013 in quotes
A mix of scandals, achievements, political missteps and commemorations highlighted 2013. Here's a rundown of the quotations that shaped the Year of the Snake.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Sep 30, 2013
Tokyo: How do you feel about the capital hosting the 2020 Olympics?
Enthusiasm tinged with ambivalence greets the news that the city has been chosen to host the 2020 Summer Olympics — at least among this unscientific sample of Tokyoites.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Aug 26, 2013
Teens held in mugging needed cash for AKB48 garb
Four teenage boys were arrested earlier this month for allegedly robbing and injuring a man on a Tokyo street because they needed cash to buy custom-made outfits to sport in a handshaking event involving the pop idol group AKB48, police said Monday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jul 7, 2013
The aidoru industry seeks big bucks in numbers
They say that Japan is suffering from a major shōshika (少子化, plummeting birth rate) syndrome, but a cursory glance at the entertainment industry reveals a singular fact: The young people of this country are well and thriving, and huddled together in mass aidoru gurūpu (アイドルグループ, idol groups).
Japan Times
BUSINESS
Jul 4, 2013
Girl-group fans help push Japan music sales past U.S.
Ritsuhiko Tajima has about 100 CDs by his favorite band, girl group AKB48, many of them copies of the same disc.
CULTURE / Japan Pulse
Jun 13, 2013
Tweet Beat: #deresama13, #akb総選挙, #日本代表, #ほこたて
Battle of the bands, battle of the idols and a bad television battle, plus a World Cup soccer battle.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 10, 2013
Rino Sashihara tops annual AKB48 popularity poll
Rino Sashihara on Saturday captured the coveted No. 1 spot within the all-female pop group AKB48 and its sister groups in this year's popularity vote.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 15, 2013
'Wreck-it Ralph'
Quick review: This is the zaniest, sharpest animated film I've seen since "The Incredibles." I thought there might be a reason for that, and sure enough, director Rich Moore — like Brad Bird of "The Incredibles" — is a joke-writing alumnus of "The Simpsons" (and "Futurama" as well).
JAPAN
Feb 28, 2013
AKB48 and director Nobuhiko Obayashi honor postquake efforts in Tohoku
Virtuoso movie director Nobuhiko Obayashi has created a film that pays homage to Tohoku's postdisaster recovery in an unusual collaboration with all-girl pop idol group AKB48.
EDITORIALS
Feb 17, 2013
AKB48 and sexual politics
The tearful video from a 20-year-old female pop group member who 'broke the rules' was a disturbing reminder of Japan's troubling gender issues.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music / STRANGE BOUTIQUE
Feb 1, 2013
AKB48 member's 'penance' shows flaws in idol culture
The image of a young girl in front of a camera, her head recently shaved, sobbing into the lens is one that's guaranteed to shock. But when that girl is a key member of idol group AKB48, the reaction is bound to be stronger.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LABOR PAINS
Jan 22, 2013
AKB48: Unionize and take back your lost love lives
They started performing on stages in Tokyo's Akihabara electronics district, and today their ubiquity is unrivaled. The current flavors of the month pepper the TV schedules and covers of weekly magazines all year round. In Tokyo, you can't swing a carrot without hitting a giant poster of one or a bunch of the all-grinning, all-dancing "Vegetable Sisters." AKB48 are, hands down, the busiest and most successful girl group in Japan.

Longform

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