The 140-member Japanese AKB48 girl group is estimated to be the largest pop music group in the world. These young girls have not only occupied the Japanese music scene, but now also have their ambitions to conquer the rest of the world.
At one AKB48 concert, the hall dimmed after 90 minutes of flashing lights, and only the green glow sticks in the hands of fans were still swaying back and forth. Suddenly, someone shouted in Japanese: "One more..." When the third time was shouted, everyone shouted in unison: "One more!" The crowd continued to shout, louder and louder, more and more neat.
After a few minutes like this, 21 girls in school uniforms re-entered the stage, and the otaku fans breathed a sigh of relief and were finally saved. (Of course, this makes EVOMEN think of the days when he listened to Guo Degang's return to the scene at The Deyun Society...) The theater lights flickered again, the music sounded, the strawberry gum-like sweet song wafted, the girls stretched their arms and kicked out their legs, the fans shouted, the girls danced, and glow sticks waved to the melody. They run and jump on the stage, go forward and backward, in pairs, forward and backward, singing cheerfully, with sharp tones, turning heads, splitting forks, spinning.
Of course, in the view of The Nappi claims, these girls are reminiscent of sexy rubber bears who have drunk too many Red Bull drinks. In these large movements, the school uniform skirt is always lifted just right, which makes the otaku feel fluttering, but it will not be disgraced by peeking. After 20 minutes, hundreds of happy men left the AKB48 Theater. Every day AKB48 performs there. One concert a day, every day there will be lights flashing, singing, and repeating "One more!" every day. ”。
Avid otaku fans of AKB48
80% of AKB48's fans are men, between the ages of 20 and 60, equipped with rimless glasses, precision hairline and dark suits as standard. By 8 p.m., fans had been observing the 14- to 24-year-old girls dancing in miniskirts for two hours. They were reprimanded by the arrogant security guards on the spot — there was a request not to leave their seats at the AKB48 concert, they shook green glow sticks, they laughed, they sang along. In between songs, the girls tell them small stories that spark cheers and shouts, such as, "I bought new clothes because my old clothes don't fit anymore." My breasts are growing too fast! ”
AKB48 is the most successful pop group in Japanese history. In 2011 and 2012, they finished in the top 5 of the Japanese Singles Of the Year chart. Since their inception in 2005, they have sold 20 million records, more than any previous Japanese group. Why is this girl group able to dominate Japanese pop culture? Is AKB48 just a unique cultural phenomenon that has its own soil in Asia, or will it go out of Japan and conquer the rest of the world, just like Godzilla, Akira and Super Mario?
The band was formed by Yasushi Akimoto, now 58, who selected 24 girls from a pool of 7,924 candidates. Today, AKB48 is the most member group in the world: 140 female singers are divided into 5 groups – A, K, B, 4 and 8. Those who want to stay must follow strict rules: train every day, have concerts, and participate in reality SHOWs. Of course, they are also forbidden to have boyfriends. In February last year, a video caused a sensation in Japan, where B group member Feng Kishinan, with tears in her eyes, begged fans for forgiveness for a relationship she had, and the 20-year-old shaved her head to apologize.
Every time AKB48 fans buy a CD, they can cast a vote for who in the group can stay. High-voting members graduate from the team after a period of time as "well-trained artists", after which most of them begin their solo careers as singers or actors. EVOMEN found that Atsuko Maeda was one of the band's most popular members until her graduation in August 2012, and she has now starred in many Japanese movies and TV series.
Tokyo's entertainment district, Akihabara, is the source of the group's name, with the AKB48 official store and the AKB48 theater. At a glance, the streets of Akihabara are clean and quiet, no one runs red lights, and its madness is hidden behind flashing billboards and shop windows.
A shop specializes in cyborgs, and the one next to it sells toy weapons, and you can see the AK47 submachine gun and mini tank. Upstairs was a deafening noise, and there were hundreds of booming, rapidly flashing coin-operated game consoles. Not far away, the "Pop Lifestyle Department Store" is probably the world's largest adult goods store, and the packaging is a young girl with flawless white skin and big eyes. Another corner sits a maid coffee shop, and the girls, dressed in sexy maid costumes, ask the guests, "Master, what do you need?" ”
In all of these stores, most of the customers are men: teenagers with pimples on their faces, middle-aged men in their 40s in ill-fitting suits and backpacks, early retirees in T-shirts and baseball caps. The men shuttled through the doors of the store like ghosts, scrutinizing the goods and avoiding eye contact. In Japan, people call these people "otaku," which translates a bit like "nerds" or "geeks." "Otaku are greedy for goods and exchange information with other otaku." David Max, an American writer living in Tokyo, wrote in his essay "The Great Transformation of Japanese Pop Culture", "They do not value social interaction, sex and work, and fanatical consumption is their only meaning in life." ”
61% of Japanese men do not have a girlfriend
About 2.8 million people in Japan are otaku, accounting for 2.2% of the total population, and the Akihabara area, which has countless fan shops, bars, and game halls, is the perfect living space for them. Otaku was still a swear name in Japan 30 years ago, but gradually some people have consciously classified themselves as this style of life, such as people like Hamano Tomoyuki.
Tomomo Hamano, 33, sits in a café with an Apple laptop in front of him and a Japanese edition of Wired magazine in his hand. Hamano wrote a book called Atsuko Maeda who is greater than Jesus. In 2011, after seeing the music video for the song "River", Hamano began his "awakening" experience. "Before that I only knew that AKB48 was a popular combination." He said. The song "Rivers" inspired him and awakened a certain religious-like feeling in his heart. "These girls made me feel like a passionate, successful person."
In the "River" video, we can see dancing girls wearing military uniforms wading across a black river. Of course, the average person can't understand why Hamano's life has changed because of this video. In the past 3 years, Hamano has spent millions of yen, or about 7,000 euros, on fan merchandise and music. He owns 800 AKB48 CDs.
Hamano looked like a happy man. He worked as a commentator on Japanese television and earned a lot of money, having been married for many years. His wife accepted his preferences unreservedly. "When she met me, I was crazy obsessed with video games. Nowadays I am madly obsessed with AKB48. ”
Not all otaku can control their lives so well, and many are lonely because they are weird or because they've been alone for too long. The results of a recently released study caused a stir: 61% of Japanese men aged 18-34 did not have a girlfriend.
Lin Shigeru stood in front of the official AKB48 store in Akihabara, and elf-like girls with delicate flower-like skin smiled at him from cups, handkerchiefs, and photos. The 47-year-old is a wage earner, a term people call the countless company employees who squeeze the subway every day in suits. Mr. Lin estimates that he spends two hours a day on AKB48, spending most of his time watching DVD footage of concerts. "I bought all the DVDs on the market and haven't had time to finish watching them all."
Hayashi's favorite AKB48 girl is named Kodama Haruka and was born in 1996. At first, he said, he just thought she looked sweet, but then he found out that Haruka was "studying hard and self-motivated." Lin proudly said that Haruka was a real dancer and singer, and she reminded him of his daughter who had lost touch. "I want her to be like Haruka."
AKB48 fans can help their favorite members move forward by voting and spending, which is called "being able to take care of them." This not only creates emotional bonds, but also maximizes CD sales. Not long ago, an otaku spent 63,500 euros to buy 5,000 copies of the AKB48 CD single "Everyday Kachuusha" in order to support the girl he liked.
AKB's savvy sales strategy
Although it sounds incredible, the success of the AKB48 is also due to the Japanese national economy. Most Japanese people are not too short of materials, after all, Japan is the world's third largest national economy, but the serious aging society has led to the rigidity of the Japanese economy. In recent years, young Japanese people have few opportunities to achieve success in the workplace, and they do not have much financial pressure to see the need to gain a foothold in society, so they have fled to the fantasy world.
In many Japanese families, wives control the economy, and men regularly receive pocket money from their wives. That amount has fallen from 76,500 yen in 1989 to 39,572 yen today. With little money, most people save on non-essential expenses, such as music, movies, and pastimes. "And otaku would rather save money on meals than buy two identical CDs of artists they like — one for listening and one for preservation." Music producer and pop culture expert Norikazu Yamaguchi said.
In this regard, David Max analyzed to EVOMEN: "Although AKB48 is only for a niche consumer group, it has become the most famous music group with its great success in this small market. "It's a bit like an election with the least voting participation: with no one in the middle to vote, the right and left suddenly gain an overdose of the vote. Pop culture has gone to extremes.
If you walk in Akihabara, you'll feel like you've traveled back in time to a science fiction movie (between The Fifth Element and 2046) and marvel at a higher level of civilization. The island nation's culture may be really ahead of its time, as much of the developments that are still in their infancy in Germany and other European countries are already prominent in Japan, such as aging, the crisis of the middle class, and the mediaization of everyday life. The idea that the AKB48 model will also conquer the West is very reasonable to think that AKB48 and successful German media brands, such as the "All-German Supermodel Rookie Contest" or "Germany Looking for Superstars", are no different. AKB48 has opened official branches outside of Japan in search of new market entrances. However, whenever I think of the sweet sound like strawberry gum and the stage story of "the girl's breasts are growing so that the school uniform does not fit", I still hope that all this will stop as a strange Japanese phenomenon and not happen to us.
Either way, tickets for the AKB48 Theater in Tokyo will still be sold out, night after night. The girls would dance, the men would sit in their seats, laughing, yelling, and dancing regularly with the green glow sticks in their hands. At least in the eyes of the Yuppy advocates, they are very happy.
(Part of the text of this article is from the German version of "NEON" and Nan Zhiyao, EVOMEN excerpt, the copyright belongs to the original author, more wonderful articles, please visit the EVOMEN Chinese site, "Yuppie Proposition" to help you become a new good man with an attitude, no discipline, in addition, please feel free to reprint, but please indicate that this article is from EVOMEN. If nothing else, what if someone else scolds the author of this article as a fool×? At least he scolded me, you say yes or no)