Free The AKB 48 ! ! !
J-pop has been in the news recently and for all the wrong reasons ! ! ! Minami Minegishi one of the founding members of the group was photographed leaving the house of her boyfriend and has made a public apology and as a symbol of her regret she has shaved her head.
This has become big international news and of course the western newspapers are enjoying yet another “wierd Japan” story. It is really rather tiresome how lazy some journalists are ! ! !
However, I think there are somethings that the incident does highlight and are worth talking about. The first is the role of apologising in Japanese culture.
In our culture we apologize all the time. we say Sumimasen or Gomen nasai for every type of minor inconvenience. In a crowded country like Japan and in cities like Tokyo this is really important to like oil the wheels of just moving around. But it does cause a problem when you really do need to make a sincere apology.
Minami Minegishi
Normally you would go to the person and make a deep bow or maybe even go on your knees and bow as you say sorry. However, sometimes a visual symbol of the apology is needed. Yakuza ( gangsters ) famously cut off part of their finger if they offend their boss badly. Fortunately AKB 48 is not a Yakuza clan, but the girl felt the need to really make a visual symbol to show her regret and she adopted a traditional ( but extremely unusual ) way for women to do this, and shaved her hair.
Of course the second point is why should she have to apologise at all ? ? ? Well there is a no dating clause in her contract. The logic behind this is to preserve the pure image of the girls in the band. However, it is actually doubtful that the such a clause in a contract is legal in Japan and an attempt to enforce it would be very difficult indeed. But this is where some parts of J-pop establishment start to behave a little like the gangsters. If you want your career, then you can not challenge such a clause. Your career would be ruined if you tried to go against the powerful management companies. So really she had no option but to make this step or leave the band.
These types of clauses are not something that has always been common in J-pop. Actually one of the first time this type of contract was issued for a pop group was by Yasushi Akimoto (who founded AKB48) with his first group Onyanko Club in 1985. Before this J-pop singers had a more sexy image and dating was not a problem. But this obsession with controlling every aspect of a young girls life has reached ridiculous level now. It is time to STOP ! ! !
It is really time that contracts which limit the personal freedom of the girls to engage in perfectly legal and normal activities are wiped out of the music business. They are stupid, and harmful, and anyway, I really doubt they actually sell more records.
So please join me in my campaign to . . . .
FREE THE AKB 48 ! ! !
AKB 48′s Team A Performing The River Live
Other news ! ! !
Flower Flower
As you all know YUI has announced a hiatus from music. However there were rumors about a fantastic new singer songwriter performing in small Live Houses around the Kansai area. This singer that was causing quite some commotion was performing a short set of six new songs under the name of Flower Flower. Rumors started that FLower Flower was really YUI and her management team have now said that this is true. Her management team said this was just a fun activity for her and she is still on hiatus I am happy she is having fun with music again ! ! !
Goosehouse - New Video ! ! !
Goosehouse are our favourite musical workers collective and they have released a video of an acoustic version of their single Sky. The girls and boys of Goosehouse have been busy with a lot of live performances this year both as the full group and in smaller combos.
Here is the video to cheer everyone up ! ! !
Gooosehouse - Sky
A date for your diary ! ! !
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu to play London ! ! !
Eccentric and talented and very smart young lady Kyary Pamyu Pamyu is playing a concert in London ! ! !
She will play in the Islington O2 Academy on February the 13th. It will be a great opportunity for you to see a great J-pop act live. I think it should be a great fun evening ! ! !
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – Ponponpon
This is truly appalling; it reminds me of some debates last year, on a political blog that I frequent, about sexual harrassment in the workplace, with some hardline libertarians arguing that it could be absolutely fine for a boss to expect sexual favours from a subordinate if this was explicit or implicit when the latter signed the contract. I’m sure they’d argue the same here, on the grounds that these girls signed the contracts willingly, and if they don’t like it they can always give up the fame and money and get another job.
Is ALL J-pop organised on this basis? I think there ought to be a boycott of anything to do with any management company that follows such practices, but maybe that would leave nothing for anyone to listen to.
Hi Abahachi ! ! !
Not all J-pop is organised like this. It is really just the idol groups like AKB 48 and Morning Musume that are like this.
Singers like Ayumi Hamasaki and Koda Kumi never had them and If you are someone like YUI for example who is singer songwriter then this sort of clause is not really added to your contract and Scandal or Stereopony are pop rock bands and they do not have these clauses.
It is really just the idol groups where this happens.
Of course Minami Minegishi did sign the contract, or her parents did, but she was only 14 at that time.
I wrote a post about this a long time ago actually. You can read it if you have time
http://thespillblog.co.uk/2011/07/31/the-dark-heart-of-j-pop/
It really should stop ! ! !
You didn’t mention the almost comical hypocrisy that Yasushi Akimoto (the bloke behind the appalling contract) ended up marrying one of Onyanko Club after giving them the same no-dating clause!!
The western media coverage has been weird, but it’s good to see that most people seem to be on Sakura’s side in Japan too!
I’m hoping they all go on strike or do a mass walkout at one of their concerts….surely they can’t all be sacked??!
Hi Panthersan ! ! !
It would be good to see a strike by the girls in AKB48 . . .but somehow I think that will not happen.
Unfortunately there are lots of girls who would sign these contracts and follow the rules.
I forgot Yasushi Akimoto married one of his band members . . .Anyway, of course the real crime is being caught actually.. . . .
Entertainment is a strange world ! ! !
I think, perhaps, you have to look at what’s being sold here. The groups are not groups in the sense that we normally understand it, they are more like a brand and, as such, the “owner” of the brand is wanting to keep it “pure”.
The entrertainment world has long been a home to sharks and dodgy dealers of all kinds. It’s tough on the performers.
I don’t think a strike would help, he’s probably got some spares somewhere anyway.
Hi Mr P ! ! !
You are right of course, it is a brand and a very strong and successful one.
But I do not think that allowing the girls a little freedom to be girls would be the end of the world.
Will go to see Kyary Pamyu Pamyu ? ? ? I know it is a long way for you . . .
Nah, not going anywhere near London if I can help it. Besides I have teenage daughter and consequently no money !
I do think that maybe the management company have good reasons for the no dating clauses. It is, after all, a money making scheme at heart.
The AK girls have a really busy schedule , the amount of “product” they churn out is phenomenal, any boyfriends ( or girlfriends, if that way inclined) could be a distraction.
There’s also the issue of the fans. Even the Beatles marriages were kept quiet at the time so that their fans weren’t put off by the guys “unavailability” ( in theory).
I think there’s some justification on both sides really. I would hope they can work through it but anyway “no publicity is bad publicity” as they say.
Isn’t this the sort of thing that Disney do with their child or young ‘performers’? I’m thinking of Justin Bieber and those sort of acts. and that’s in ‘free’ America. Not that they would expect the same sort of apology, which is demeaning.
Hi Ali ! ! !
Thank you for reading and commenting ! ! !
I think WHY she felt she had to d it is actually more important than WHAT she did.
I think that any job – even if it is the entertainment business – should not stop your right to enjoy the freedoms that any other citizen has.
I actually think it is possibly even a human rights issue.
After all she was not doing anything illegal or even imoral. She should never have had to be in this situation really I think so.
I hope the publicity and controversy can help to stop this type of practice ! ! !
There are examples in English law where “contract law” is subordinate to other laws, including that governing equality and human rights. So, a woman can sign a contract which says she will lose her job if she gets pregnant. But that’s an unlawful contract in English law, those terms and conditions which violate those other laws are null and void.
Hi DaddyPig ! ! !
It is the same in Japanese law also, the principle is called tekihōsei and it means that you can not make a contract that breaks the national laws, but actually I read an article by a lawyer you said it is actually the principle of shakaiteki datōsei which is broken by these contracts
This limits the rights of a company to control or regard workers private lives, like only give promotion to married men or firing people for having an affair , if it does not impact their work.
All the articles in the news papers I read say these contracts are not legal or enforceable . . . . but the management companies will ruin your career anyway so even if it is not legal they hold the power and that is why it is so wrong in my opinion.