A 55-year-old man interested only in money and exploiting scantily-clad teenagers in his quest to empty the wallets of naive otaku and corporations with tastes bad enough to agree to advertising campaigns featuring his minions — Yasushi Akimoto, the producer behind AKB48 and all its spinoffs.
This is a man whose only goal is to make his company’s bank account richer, no matter what depths he plumbs.
This is a man who still claims to be making “music” despite his constant pandering to the lowest denominator in the AKB48 music videos and ad campaigns (nothing wrong with porn, of course, just call it what it is!).
This is a man who controls his female employees illegally by forbidding them to have sexual relationships (except with executives of his company, natch).
This is a man more than likely connected to the Yakuza.
And this same Yasushi Akimoto is about to be announced as a member of the executive board of the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Get ready for even more public money being added to the coffers of the AKB48 slush fund.
Even more serious are the rumors that Akimoto will be involved with planning the Opening Ceremony for the 2020 games.
Is our worst case scenario about to come true? Billions around the globe watching mass games with AKB48 Team A girls representing the nation and making the whole world think that this is all Japan has to offer in terms of music (and sex).
Nothing wrong with skimpily clad idols, of course. We just don’t want them at the Olympics, which should be about sports, not sexploitation. And we certainly don’t want our tax money being used to prop up Akimoto et al’s luxuriant lifestyles!
