AKB48 may be the pop group of the moment. Yesterday all 37 members of the idol group appeared in Akihabara, the spiritual home of Japan’s geek culture and the place where offshoots like maid cafes and the concept of “moe” were born. They performed 12 songs including their second single “Skirt, Hirari”, wearing mini-skirts which they duly flashed to reveal their “bloomers” underneath. All pure schoolboy fantasy stuff that had the 1,000 fans screaming for more. The group – the AKB is an abbreviation of Akihabara – were formed in 2005 as two troupes of 24 members, though the numbers have dropped to 20 and 17. One troupe performs every day at a special theater in the district nicknamed “Electric Town”. With tickets priced at ¥1,000, the marketing concept is to have a group that fans can afford to “meet” every day. The oldest member is 22 and most are in their mid-teens. It remains to be seen whether AKB48 can have the broad appeal or staying power to become the new Morning Musume.
• Singer/songwriter Otsuka Ai (23) is making her move to the big screen. She is currently in New York filming scenes for the movie version of “Tokyo Friends”. It follows on from the DVD drama series in which she starred with model/actor Eita and actresses Kobayashi Mao, Matsumoto Rio and Maki Yoko, all beautiful people and all 23 years old. The DVD drama plot revolved around Otsuka’s character and her move to Tokyo to form a band. Eita’s character was taken on as the vocalist but he diappeared. The movie finds him living in the Big Apple where Otsuka tracks him down. The movie is due for release in August.
• Fans of Carlos Santana will probably already know of the legendary album “Lotus”, recorded live during two concerts in Osaka in 1974. The album captured Santana during the heart of their jazz-rock period and is considered one of the best live albums ever recorded. The huge 11-part album sleeve, designed by Yokoo Tadanori (69), is expected to enter the Guinness Book of World Records this month as the biggest ever. It was also hugely exensive to produce, with Japan at the time suffering from high paper prices resulting from the “oil shock”. The album is to be re-released this week on CD, with a scaled-down version of the original sleeve.