meet the oh-so-curious girl group, Akihabara48, or AKB48 for short. these girls aren't just playing a stereotype, they are capitalizing off it. I was watching American Idol with the host fam (who are in love with the show - it runs about a month behind the realtime version and has the funniest captions) when I first saw a commercial for the group: a sad-looking girl saying "Dad, I'm sorry," while a group of her and her friends sing in the rain in tattered school uniforms. first thought? this is too perfect! darn catchy hook, by the way.
as I learned more about AKB48 and the song it became unbelievable in more of a let-me-make-sure-the-producers-of-"To Catch a Predator"-aren't-somehow-involved kind of way... i.e. the lyrics of the song are pre-tty explicit. i.e. some of the girls are 18 and 19, but some of them are 12 and 13. to be sure, this sort of thing is meant to push the envelope in Japan, but maybe it's just better to leave this one firmly shut. or only openable on special occassions, like at karaoke.
here's Michio, the host dad, for anyone who wondered about his non-presence in my posts. he's quiet and has corny jokes (which I love about him), but I haven't said too much about him because I only see him on the weekends. he lives about 2 hours away in Chiba (southeastern Tokyo) near, but not with my host brother Taiyo. it was kind of weird to me at first, and every time I tell someone about the fact that my host dad doesn't live with us all the time, they assume they're divorced. his and Akiko-san's relationship actually reminds me of my parents'; they joke around in the same way, but they don't do the affection thing. just a different shade of love and marriage, I guess.
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