I’ve just come across this tremendous article about AKB48, Japan’s premier pop group. Damn-this lady’s blog is so much better than mine!
I agree with almost everything here. There is something truly distasteful about a) the age of the members, b) the dressing up as school-girls and c) the sleazy men who go to see them in Akihabara. We witnessed this ourselves when we were in Tokyo. Queues of middle-aged men twisted out from the theatre with few children in sight. I like the idea that “Akihabara is a quarantine for this kind of gross lolita bullshit”.
Most importantly, the songs are generally lame. I admit that if I’m in the right mood, I can find myself thinking “this isn’t so different from Josie and the Pussycats” and I have fond memories of doing Heavy Rotation karaoke in Beppu. But the image gets in the way of the music for me.
This has given me an idea for a post about our visit to a maid café in Akihabara. I wasn’t a fan.
Also, please check out vivianlostinseoul's Smiths emoticon game. It's almost as good as "Guess Which Belle and Sebastian Song I'm Playing On The Kazoo".
