During a radio interview on TBS radio today, Akimoto Yasushi shared his perspective on Minegishi Minami’s incident and legitimacy of Love Ban Law.
When asked about how he can justify Love Ban Law, Akimoto Yasushi said:
“I actually don’t want to say this, since I’m sure people will snap at me, but Love Ban Law was introduced just as a gag (or fun stuff that makes it more captivating and marketable or make more gaga) in the early period of AKB48.”
“Because Love Ban Law is not present, we deal with members differently when they are caught to be in a relationship.”
“So basically I never intended to ban relationship.
What I meant is ‘They may have no leisure to enjoy love relationship if they are truly serious just like boys in high school baseball.'”
“I feel like I’ve reached the end of my rope”
“Whatever I do, people think I have something wicked in mind.
(As for love relationship) We might end up let member do what they want, and take full responsibility for their action. It might be like fans are to choose their favorite members, mortifying the fact that the girls may have boyfriends.” (yahoo)
Regarding Minegishi Minami, he said;
“Shaving head is her own way to express her fighting spirit.
Now that AKB48 has become so big, it’s inevitable that many people who don’t know about AKB48 watch the video footage, and found it totally odd.
I heard in advance that her apology video will be uploaded on Youtube, but I didn’t know what it looks like until I watched it. I contacted her via phone and email“
When asked, “But don’t you think young girl shaving head as an act of contrition for sleeping over at man’s house completely lost touch with common sense?”
Akimoto said;
“If I was there, I would definitely stop her from shaving her hair.”
As for Mental Management of members, he said;
“Regarding mental care, I’ve asked managers of members to contact me when they find something worrisome about the girls, and when they do, I provide direction to them.
AKB48 is far less businesslike than you imagine, and more like a school.”
“Many people consider AKB48 business as kind of scum or cult.
But there are easier ways to make money than holding large scale handshake events almost every week.
The reason why we stick to handshake event and theater performance is that we believe they are precious events where we can hear fans voices directly, and often we, both members and staffs, can learn a lot from them.”
okay.
Ohya Shizuka: “Love Relationship is strictly banned.”
“You know what? There is contract paper.”
“And it says, (if you violate the rule described in the contract) you will be given a decent penalty.”
What a farce! LOL
Is it only me that his evasive answers -which means he had no better idea than to repeat what he told in the past- with which he is trying to prevent criticism from getting more serious sound way businesslike?
*this article was edited from the previous version at 11:00 AM (JST) on Feb 24, 2013.