Here’s something we always suspected!
A Japanese tabloid has published rumors that AKB48‘s founders may not only sickening old men with a liking for teenaged girls — but have close connections with the yakuza, the Japanese mafia.
Given that the Japanese government is using public funds for its risible “Cool Japan” schemes, which have Yasushi Akimoto as an advisor, essentially this means the government has been paying a mafia-related organization to promote the nation.
The weekly Shukan Shincho has published a picture and allegations that one of AKB48 founders Kotaro Shiba (one of AKB48′s top dogs, along with Akimoto and Yasushi Kubota) is closely linked to the yakuza.
The photo shows Shiba with the wife of a Yamaguchi crime boss, along with other known gangsters of the Goto and Yamaguchi syndicates at a banquet in a hotel in Shizuoka.
Shiba, director of AKB48′s agency office48 (and from whose name the “48″ is derived), has responded by issuing a statement admitting to going to the party. However, he says he “did not associate with the yakuza” when there. In other words, he just sat in the corner not speaking to anyone.
Shiba has started a few enterprises over the years and is the business mind behind office48. The Shukan Shincho previously published allegations of Shiba’s associations with organized crime, for which it was sued for its troubles. Now it probably thinks it is on safe grounds with photographic evidence, even if it was taken ten years ago.
