- P I K A C C H I I -

“The world finally accepted us”

Believe in me. - Akimoto Yasushi

This episode of Kin SMA is a SP devoted to the rise of AKB from the unbelievable hardships it endured starting out as the ‘Panty Flashing Gang from Akihabara’. The episode focused mostly on the First Generation members of AKB, chronicling their journeys from ordinary girls into the faces of Japan’s top idol group, and immortal members of the girls who personify what can happen if you are willing to pursue a dream. Each and every member represents the ideal that anything is possible, and should be a reminder to us each day about the possibilities that are in life. With a lot of hard work and a little luck, we might be able to seize our dreams too. 

The main part of this SP was the journey of AKB to the top of the Japanese Entertainment world by winning the 2011 Record Award for Flying Get, usurping two time winner EXILE. On losing in 2010, Oshima Yuko called it ‘The saddest moment in her time in AKB’, while Takahashi Minami said ‘We just innocently wanted it. We didn’t believe we were better than EXILE. We just wanted it more than anything in the world.’

AKB began with a simple but revolutionary concept. ‘Idols you can meet’, as Akimoto Yasushi called it. He wanted a group of idols that would perform everyday, and was someone you could be close to rather than someone you just saw on television. He immediately called Togasaki Toshinobu, the present day manager of the AKB Theater on the 8th Floor of the Don Quixote Hotel in Akihabara. Togasaki initially thought that Akimoto wanted a show pub, asking how much the Don Perignon should cost. After learning that there was going to be no alcohol, Togasaki set out to find a location to build, eventually settling on the 8th floor of the Don Quixote hotel, despite the pillars that would eventually gain fame from fans. Akihabara was intoxicated over ‘Densha Otoko’ and Maid Cafes, so Akimoto thought that it would be interesting to start there. With that in order, Akimoto sent out the first flyers for the first generation AKB auditions. Kojima Haruna, a 17 year old Morning Musume obsessed high schooler from Saitama, stumbled upon the advertisement and submitted a picture of herself because they let her use photos from a cell phone, and Kojima believed that she could appear in cute in those. From Kanagawa, a childish former EXILE kids dancer Itano Tomomi saw the ad in a magazine, and was spurred upon by her childhood dream. After being failed by Akimoto himself in a Hori-Pro audition, Takahashi Minami received the advertisement, and tried out again despite having Akimoto fail her once already.

Born into an average, salary man lifestyle, a 14 year old 8th grader from Chiba who hated performing in front of others received the trump card of fate when she saw the ad while shopping with her mother. The ad was found in the middle of the street, and according to Togasaki and co., no one knows why the ad was placed in the middle of a street. Deeply inspired by Akimoto’s “I want to meet the individual you”, the girl who never was motivated to do anything by herself was suddenly motivated to audition for AKB. Lightning was caught in a bottle. Or maybe in Akimoto’s case, many lightning bolts, as the shy girl who found this ad was none other than Maeda Atsuko. 

On being an idol, Maeda said “Deep down, I knew I adored idols. I never said it out loud, but I did. But I never thought I could actually be one though”

On becoming a star, Akimoto Yasushi said “Like Nagashima or Ichiro, an opportunity to step up to the plate will inevitably arrive. Those who become stars must have the luck.”

7,924 young girls applied to the first generation audition, and of 7,924, only 24 made it. To those who applied and made it, Akimoto told them “You all may have certain doubts about this, but please believe in me. Have faith and follow me”. 

On those words, Maeda said “It seemed like I was being cheated almost”

Captain Takahashi said “I didn’t know what was going to happen”

Minegishi thought “I was 12 then, so I didn’t know what was going on, but looking back, those words were tremendous”

No one knew where this project was going beyond Akimoto. 

Those who were late to lessons were fired immediately, and on attending the first few lessons, Kojima Harun said “My legs were so sore it hurt to climb the stairs to the 8th floor”. Of the 24 girls that started out, 4 left, leaving 20 girls to perform. The debut of the girls were pushed back a month, and on December 8, 2005, the legendary day arrived. Akimoto told the girls that the day would become the stuff of legends, and true to his words, December 8 was legendary. That day the majority of the people who came to see was the press and a few select idol fans that came to see for the sheer fact that it was cheap and it was new. Maeda recalled crying afterwards with each other, and Takahashi mentions the hardships of going to school, then having lessons for two hours, and then practicing again once she got home. She practically didn’t sleep. Becky mentions that she saw the ads for AKB in a magazine, but was skeptical about it. 

On the second day, only 7 people arrived to watch. Because of the pillars, people couldn’t see. On the lack of crowds, Itano Tomomi said “I had a dance move where I had to wave to the crowd, but there was no one there. I thought to myself ‘Where do I wave to? To whom?’.” After performances, there were usually girls who were crying. 

On the hardships starting out, Maeda recalled ‘I would say ‘When can I quit?’. It became a habit, saying that. I thought to myself, maybe it would be better for my future if I returned to a student”

Togasaki said ‘The girls were very distressed about not having fans. It was tough on them’

One particularly harsh episode happened on their first Christmas together. Togasaki and the girls would pass out advertisements of AKB, as they were performing somewhere that wasn’t their home theater. Takahashi recalled handing out an ad and then seeing it being thrown into a garbage bin in front of her eyes. 

“Really? If you’re gonna through it way, please do it somewhere where I can’t see it.” She noted.

In the end, the people who came to see was practically zero. As the girls cried, Akimoto Producer walked up to them and said

“Why are you girls crying? You guys still have an audience. How can you expect to perform in front of hundreds and thousands if you can’t perform in front of one? Focus on changing the people in front of you first!” Those words gradually caused a change in the girls.

Little amounts of good things began to happen for the girls as they performed. On receiving their first fan letter, Captain Takahashi Minami recalled holding onto it tightly. The letter read ‘At first I underestimated you guys, but watching you perform. I became happier and more energetic. I hope to see you guys again soon. I know you are probably busy, but please take care of your health.”. The girls cried while reading the message.

Togasaki caught wind of fans appearing at a restaurant frequently after shows, so Akimoto made him go and ask for the fans opinions. Akimoto highly valued the opinions of the fans, and it all began here with the restaurant that Togasaki found. It was these fans whom Akimoto asked for what the first single CD should be.

That song was ‘Sakura no Hanabiratachi’.

Fans became more and more involved in AKB, as Togasaki would hand out t-shirts to the Fan MVP of the performance, but several fans complained about how being loud isn’t the only way to cheer for your favorite members.

On the trial and error process of AKB, Manager Togasaki noted “We had many things that we discarded in a day. AKB was a lot of trial and error. The T-shirts were a one time thing. That being said, the fans were very understanding about how we did not mean to offend them”

Togasaki mentions that they also had a voting box where fans could vote on their favorite members. But one day, they found a girl who wasn’t a part of AKB voted in the box. At first they believed it was a prank, but they finally realized that this girl wasn’t a prank at all and a real person. A staff member that actually worked there.

That girl was Shinoda Mariko.  

Born in Fukuoka, she came to Tokyo after graduating high school in order to audition for AKB, but after failing she refused to leave and instead got a job at the cafe. 

On remaining in Tokyo, Shinoda says ‘I contemplated the idea of going back to school in Fukuoka, but since I came this far for a dream, a one time failure wasn’t going to send me back. So I got a job there’

On working in the cafe, Shinoda recalled “Sometimes, when the doors would open I would catch a glimpse of what was happening on stage inside. I was so close, yet so far. It was very sad, but I always told myself ‘One day…’” As a staff member, Shinoda Mariko handed out ads for AKB and worked towards an uncertain future. Until spurred on by the fans, Akimoto walked up to Shinoda Mariko and asked ‘Can you learn 12 songs in 4 days? If you can, then I will let you stand upon the stage’

Shinoda recalled that she said he failed her once already, but Akimoto did not remember her at all. 

Of course, she stepped up to the plate and swung for the fences. Hitting a tape measure homerun as the ship of Shinoda Mariko had finally set sail. She became the lone member of the 1.5 generation. 

At a performance, a teary Shinoda stated “The…the fans who have protected someone like me…and the members that have accepted someone like me…I am so..so incredibly thankful for them.”

After two months, the stage was finally sold out. 

However, a change was coming upon the horizon, as the second generations for AKB began. Iconic members such as Oshima Yuko, Akimoto Sayaka, Kasai Tomomi and Miyazawa Sae cropped up from this, but the girls were shocked at this development. 

On the announcement of the second generation, Maeda said ‘Are we not good enough?’, a sentiment that Takahashi herself initially shared. 

But a young former child actress from Tochigi, and a former member of Takamizawa Toshihiko’s child band Dolls Vox came Oshima Yuko, center for the iconic AKB48 song Heavy Rotation. But fans complained about the large amounts, and it was then that Akimoto realized that he needed a face of AKB, and out of the 38 girls, Maeda Atsuko was chosen. She was handed her first solo song, called Nagisa no Cherry. 

On Maeda being chosen, Manager Togasaki noted “I couldn’t see it. Not at all. To me, Maeda was a plain 14 year old girl who had a bowl cut. But looking back, I believe that only Akimoto could see the ceiling of Maeda”

But Maeda rejected being chosen. 

On Nagisa no Cherry, Maeda noted “Why me? I can’t dance or sing or talk.”

Minegishi Minami, on being elected as a back up singer recalled “I hated it. I didn’t want to be a back up singer. I was around the same age and the same first generation member. Why me? But the older members told me to not hate Acchan, since it’s not her fault, and not to cry in front of her since it would be embarrassing. I grudgingly accepted it.”

It was then that Aitakatta was released. Their first major single. Still, it would be a long ways before AKB48 would break through. However, being an idol began to affect the personal lives of the girls as well. Itano Tomomi recalled being alone and called ‘gross’ by classmates because ‘Being an idol in Akihabara wasn’t possible. People couldn’t understand it’. In a music industry controlled by Koda Kumi at the time, it would be easy to understand why. 

Still AKB remained resilient, going around to various TV stations and handing out Aitakatta, despite Maeda recalling that sometimes they weren’t even let in. They had bus tours and did everything they could do build up a fanbase. 

Kojima Haruna on the bus tours recalled ‘After the debut of Skirt Hirari, we still didn’t get very many offers on music shows. We would tell ourselves that the nxt song would do it, but it would be quite a while before then’.

Finally, Itano broke down. She screamed in the middle of the changing rooms and begged Akimoto to let her quit. Akimoto asked her ‘Can you believe in me for a little bit more?’. Urged to continue, she reluctantly stayed, and soon afterwards, her patience was rewarded. AKB was going to appear on Kouhaku.

However, they didn’t appear as AKB, rather part of the Akihabara boom at the current time. On their first Kouhaku, Oshima Yuko recalled “The fans would say ‘Moe~~~’” and Itano recalled “They asked us to say cute phrases that the Maid Cafe girls would say”. Despite only receiving an allotted time of 1:30 to perform; roughly half of what the other singers got, Kouhaku was the perfect chance to make it big. 

2008 arrived, and still no big break for AKB. Akimoto had lost his contract with the current producing agency because of lack sales too. On the situation then, Nikkei Entertainments Shinada said “Motivating and continuing a large group of girls like this requires an enormous amount of money. Normally we wouldn’t able to bear the low sales of AKB, but since they were doing something different, we stuck through it. However, everyone , myself included did not believe in AKB. We cut off ties with them. But Akimoto made them work, something no one, myself included did not believe”

Many members saw the end of AKB that year. 

On 2008, Oshima Yuko recalled “I thought about it a lot. It all ending”

Shinoda Mariko said “My parents would never tell me to quit, but I knew that they were thinking about it. But if it was impossible in this situation, it might be better to return to Fukuoka. My parents almost wouldn’t be able to help pay my living expenses. At the time I felt the deep need to earn money and help my parents out by sending money, and if I couldn’t do that, then I might have to end AKB”

5 members graduated that year.

On the graduating members, Kojima Haruna noted “They were definitely being realistic and thinking of their future.” 

Shinoda noted “At the time, I though their decision was the right one”

2009 arrived. AKB’s Maeda Atsuko and Takahashi Minami had graduated high school, and Akimoto knew that they couldn’t rely on school themed songs consistently anymore. From fan claims about the senbatsu, Akimoto decided to start the Senbatsu Election, with Maeda Atsuko seizing Center for Iiwake Maybe. But even then, no commercial success. It was at that time Akimoto recalled a song that he had written in the 80’s for another idol. Inspired by that song, he wrote a song for AKB, different than any other song before. 

Just before your very eyes, a river is flowing.

A deep, broad river.

Darkly, deeply even so. 

The current is fast.

But do not be scared.

Do not wander off.

The opposite side is there.

Believe in yourself.

Get over it, RIVER. 

Yes, RIVER salvaged the ship of AKB and was their first commercial success, reaching number 1 on the Oricon Weekly Charts. Beyond that though, the girls were energized by this song. This would be the final trump card. 

AKB returned for another Kouhaku, this time as AKB, performing Namida Surprise and RIVER. 

The rest, they say is history. AKB was on a roll, pumping out popular songs such as Ponytail to Shushu, the iconic song that put AKB on the map of the world Heavy Rotation, and the dark and controversial TRON like music video Beginner. Despite the overwhelming popularity of these songs, AKB failed to win the Record Awards. 

But in 2011, with songs such as Sakura no Ki ni Narou, Everyday Kachuusha, Flying Get, Kaze wa Fuiteiru. Solo debuts such as Dear J and Flower, prolific fashion models such as Shinoda Mariko and Kojima Haruna, actresses such as Maeda Atsuko and Akimoto Sayaka, active gravure model Kashiwagi Yuki, and the rise of the variety queen Sashihara Rino inspired an AKB boom across the world. 

And finally, AKB received their coveted Record Awards, and in the words of Takahashi Minami, “The world finally accepted us.”

Hard work always pays off - Takahashi Minami

The turn of chance is coming to you next
It doesn’t matter how much you’ve lost, this time let’s go for the win
If you don’t give up your dreams will come true
You’ve always done your best
So that your efforts will be rewarded…

- Chance no Junban

(Source: 48-family)