Prospectus: The Case of AKB48: Neo-Virus [*for the finished article, please go to Jan. 2012 posting]

“Things are generally bad. Decay is universal. Disease lies at the very root of things. If Wagner’s name represents the ruin of music… he is not on that account its cause. All he did was to accelerate the fall, – though we are quite prepared to admit that he did it in a way which makes one recoil with horror from this almost instantaneous decline and fall to the depth.” – F.W. Nietzsche

AKB48 is a name of the Japanese singer group, consisting solely of “cute, young girls” who are not in any romantic relationship with anyone. The group was established in 2005, and its popularity expanded nation-wide ever since 2008. Its members include 48 girls (in principle), and they sing usually in school uniforms or in bikini. The producer, Yasushi Akimoto, has produced many major idol groups in the past, and this is his latest achievement. The girls in the group range anywhere from 12 years old to 25 years old, and their only requirement for hire is that they must be amateur young girls with no formal experience in singing or dancing. It sounds like a group doomed to fail, yet its speedy success is beyond comprehension. The group consists of inexperienced girls under 18 years old and their promotion videos contain implicit nudity and flirtatious contents. What distinguishes them from merely being a nationally sponsored child porn? What exactly are the social roles played by them? What attracted not only perverted so-called Otaku audience but also enthusiastic female fans? Surely, the orchestrator had a great economic model to work with, but whatever happens to social influences on, in particular, younger girls and boys? AKB48 has firmly substantiated the ‘ideal’ status of perfection for girls in society. Never before has there been any instance where the entrepreneur and the commodities are in unison agreement with the exploitation of the commodities. But does the consent of the exploited with the system make it okay for them to be exploited? Perhaps. But surely it does not justify the tremendous moral lessons – or lack thereof – their system is promoting in the society. Akimoto’s business model and AKB48 girls offer us the paramount example of justified sexual exploitation of (teenage) girls in Japanese society.

This paper will focus on the ethical implications for such a group as AKB48 and its increasingly growing spinoff sister groups in Asia. This paper does not talk about AKB48as a successful economic model, but rather AKB48 as a form of moral decline at its worst. In doing so, it will discuss about what AKB48 girls are ignorantly promoting, how AKB48 fans are controlled into thinking of themselves as fans of an idol group, Akimoto’s marketing strategies and the blurring of ethical decisions with business ones. It will conclude with the caution against this fast spreading virus into other cultures and the critique of Japan as an amoral nation. But before delving further into the ethics of it, the question needs to be asked: What kind of virus exactly is AKB48?

AKB48 is a project that was launched in 2005. Their primary activities were singing and dancing on the stage in the small theatre in Akihabara, Tokyo. The group consisted of indefinite number of girls to begin with – sometimes 16, sometimes 20, increasing as time passed by, creating new sister groups, hiring more girls. It was not until 2007 April, when the number of the girls in the group actually matched the number indicated in its group name – AKB48. This group was first established by the motto of ‘idols you can meet’ and hence they were at first stage singers, where they performed singing/dancing every weekend at a specific theater hall. Since their first debut, they took time to shake hands with the fans who came to see them, and exchanged words with them.  It soon broke records in selling their CDs in 2008-2009, officially joining the world’s top selling singer groups. Why did they become so popular and successful, especially in this age where people do not buy CDs but instead download them for free? The producer Yasushi Akimoto has produced a number of popular groups in the past, and this is his latest achievement. It is important to note here that it is his achievement – a project – more than anything else. AKB48 is completely political and hierarchical. The members of AKB48 are subject to change depending on how much support they get from their fans. The reason why they have sold so many CDs and hence contributing to its gaining popularity is primarily because when you buy a CD they give you a voting ticket. To decide who is more popular, hence more in demand, they hold an Annual General Election. The aim of this election is to decide which 21 members amongst them all should sing the cover titles of their CDs. Those who got elected are eligible to sing on record in their new releases. The top 12 among them (called Theatre Girls), moreover, can appear on TV and other media. The top 7 out of them are, furthermore, called God’s Seven, and they serve as the face of AKB48. The girls who could not make it into the top 21 still have their roles to play. The ones who ranked in the 22^nd to the 40^th are called ‘Under Girls’ and they are still able to sing the coupling songs with the main members. This vote you acquire in exchange for the CD at stores gets you access to support the individual singer in the group, and if a member gets many votes from the fans, then she will be promoted to the higher classes in the group. This ticket is included in the CD, one ticket per CD. Some fans therefore, in hopes to see their favourite singer on stage or on TV or in the recording, buy 10s and 100s of CDs, the same CDs, to acquire the right to vote so many times. This is not an easy task, however, as CD stores do not carry enough to allow one person to get 100s of CDs. Furthermore, Amazon.co.jp or other Internet stores do not allow anyone to buy more than 1 CD – so what happens is that fans create a countless accounts on Amazon, and buy one CD from each account. One guy actually succeeded in buying 5,500 CDs by doing this, approximately $70,000 worth. Just to vote. Furthermore, this CD not only includes a voting ballot, but sometimes also includes the ‘handshaking ticket’ with the singers of their prefernce. The group has a constant tour all over Japan, and they have formed ‘National Handshake Convention’ and ‘Regional Handshake Convention’ where the singers themselves appear in a large hall and spend their entire day shaking hands with their fans who have the tickets. If you have the ticket, you go to the hall, and exchange that ticket for a number. As has been said, the AKB48 members constantly change due to the nature of the voting system, and top 21 members who recorded the first CD do not necessarily get to sing at the recording for the second CD. Although people who are in the God’s Seven rarely change, changes are constant in the lower groups. So it is more than frequent that the members change each time they sing. Now, this obviously poses a problem for people like us who actually care about songs and music. What is this singing group all about? If fans’ votes determine who is to sing on stage, on TV, and on recordings, there is no reason why the particular members who performed for the first CD to be singing for the second CD, since their popularity is not based on their ability or talents, but merely ‘how cute they look/behave’. The girls in the group are strictly reduced to the simple commodities for the general public. Their songs and lyrics are no better. The messages those songs contain are sexual appeal and flirtations, as their official promotion videos clearly show. One of their latest promotion videos includes 20 or so girls singing on the beach with bikinis on. Completely irrelevant to the songs at all. Another promotion video has a song about how it is okay to be naughty and sexually promiscuous if you are a girl in school – the song’s title is ‘Our school uniforms are getting on our way’, somewhat suggesting that teenage prostitution is commended. Basically the songs says that ‘do whatever you want, if you want an sexual escapade, do it because this is the only time you can be free’ or that how young girls want to be ‘devoured’ sexually. As far as I am concerned, this group does not have to present themselves as singers, but the group could be about farmers or even jugglers. And it would still be a success. Besides, what proper production management in art decide who is to sing on stage by fans’ votes, completely ignoring the individual’s ability to sing? What is more surprising is the fact that last year, in 2010, they once ignored the voting system and decided who was to sing on record by ‘rock-paper-scissors.’ Clearly, this group is a joke, yet it is the world’s fastest growing teen pop singer group. In fact, the political aspect of AKB48 in an entertainment society is clear not only from the fact that AKB48 has the General Election annually in the summer, but also they have what they call a ‘Cabinet’ consisting of those 48 members. Now, they have established its sister group, JKT48, in Indonesia, and it seems the AKB48 fever has spread all over Asia. It does not stop there, and it now has successfully recruited fans in France, Russia and even in the United States. This first spreading popular culture has somehow captivated Japanese people’s heart, consequently lowering the moral standards and painting an ideal picture of what it should mean to be women for young girls. I take this whole movement led by AKB48 and its cognates to be an attack against moral conscience, and I wish to propose a paper that acts as a vaccine against the global virus called AKB48.

Most notably, SKE48, NMB48, HKT48, SDN48, JKT48 (Indonesia).

Nietzsche, The Case of Wagner, etc…

AKB48 was awarded for the best ‘Good Design Award’ in 2010. This was the first time since its foundation in 1957 the award was given to a person/group. See “5 Secrets for AKB48’s Success”, Ryoichi Murayama.

The name “AKB” comes from the acronym for Akihabara city where the group originated, and “48” designates the number of official members in the group, though its number did not reach 48 until later.

Ryoichi Murayama, “5 Secrets for AKB48’s Success”, 93.

This is not a democratic system, as the supporters of the group say, since the richer you are the more votes you have. This is a classic capitalist system.

http://thegroovemusiclife.com/2011/05/26/i-like-akb48-but-wait-a-minute/