Police said Thursday they have arrested three teenagers for stealing and reselling DVDs to raise money for tickets to see AKB48.
According to police, a 17-year-old youth and two accomplices are accused of stealing DVDs worth around 17,000 yen from a Chiba mall in June and selling them in Akihabara, TV Asahi reported. Police say the trio are thought to have committed over 60 robberies in total since December 2012.
During police questioning, the trio were quoted as saying that they had been trying to raise money to buy tickets to see idol girl groups AKB48 and SKE48 at concerts.
© Japan Today
24 Comments
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OrangeXenon54
First teens mugging people for AKB48 money, now this?! I think all parents should sit down with their teenage sons and make them understand how trashy AKB48 is. Being infatuated with an AKB48 girl is like being infatuated with a cardboard-cutout.
TumbleDry
Stealing DVDs is already bad but to go to AKB48 concert?
Mirai Hayashi
Juicy's got em crazy
CrazyJoe
Bakayaro! You must be at least 18 to sell the DVD's so they probably used a fake ID or one that was borrowed from an acquaintance. Just to see those lip-sync broads?
Get Real
Sad, sad, sad, sad.
Gengar
Lol AKB48 creates criminals.
kochikame
Some commentators think the teenagers are boys, but probably they are girls...The article never says they were boys.
DudeDeuce
Yep, I have met more girl fans of the group than boys.
Wakarimasen
More AKB related crime. soon the girls will have to go on TV to apologise for inspiring this crime wave.
kaitoyojimbo
lol i love all the immature people blaming AKB for this, so lets push the responsibility of the people committing the crimes onto something else? AKB? violent Video games? violent Movies? yet it's all their fault, give me a break all you people do is enable criminals.
nath
Kids stole to buy tickets in my youth and we are talking 3-4 decades here.
Francis Urquhart
aka (not akb - cue: laughs) a reagular Japanese woman - all fake, all show, all cardboard-cutout.
Disillusioned
AKB is becoming the excuse for all the minor criminals. The adults still use, "I was drunk!" It must be a kind of training to see what is the lamest excuse they can come up with per generation.
nath
This is about crime, not AKB 48. The wonderful, talented, kind, gentle members of AKB 48 (all 3 teams) and their affiliates would never condone this type of behaviour. and those of you who have used this story to be mean or critical of the AKB girls (or Japanese women generally) should be ashamed of yourselves.
lucabrasi
@AKBfan
Nah, they're all in on these schemes. I bet ¥10,000 yen of that money went straight to the girls to keep them in cocaine and whisky. ; )
Stranger_in_a_Strange_Land
How is three teenagers shoplifting a national news item? Give me a break.
Michael Alagar
So they stole like 17000 Yen ($170) worth of dvds. So like 8 dvds?
Slow news day is slow. (Filler news! Hooooooooooooo!!!)
nath
If I hear or see about AKB48 one more time, I'm gonna explode! What is so darn good about them me wonders? Don't understand it. Anyway, a little paperwork and then they will be released to their parents and start from above all over again.
Marilita Fabie-Fujisawa
Eeeuuuwwww whatta total waste!
Michael Hart
Notice how kids never commit crimes to go see Perfume! Wanna know why? Because they are better idols and you WILL deal
AlexCook
Committing crime just to see girls that will never marry you nor remember in the future. AKB48's goal is to make people (mainly guys) fantasize them as one day they will marry them in the future. When they first started, they did not get any recognition until otaku started noticing them. These girls do a lot of fan service than actual good music. It is sad these guys do not understand AKB48's motto
Amidalism
Maybe the government should ask AKB48 to make some posters telling their fans not to commit crimes! That worked so well with the suicides right?
nath
Amidalism.
There has been a big drive towards it at the recent Comi-Con.
Japan is prosecuting and collecting millions of copied anime and child-porn every year, But can't win with the big markets aka USA, Europe and South-East Asia
Yuki Uesugi
wow, those who blame AKB48 are bitter anti-akb and barrow-minded persons. it's like some nerd playing a video game where that nerd blame his character for dying when he's the one controlling it.
@It"S ME where's your evidence. Japan is the second largest music industry that's why all those K-POP artist are trying so hard to get into Japanese music industry other than america. which they fail miserably.
@AlexCook what makes you think AKB fans only composed of male demographic? AKB have fans in different age group. childrens, girls, guys, even moms and dads and elderly. AKB inspire their fans through their song search their song first and watched their shows and documentary before commenting harsh comments. search River, Beginner, kaze wa Fuiteiru, What can i do for someone and other stage song AKB have.
@Tom DeMicke their popular so, deal with it and don't search them or avoid articles about them so we don't have to deal with your rant which you got from Anti-AKB website or blog. like I said search their songs first search River, Beginner, kaze wa Fuiteiru, What can i do for someone and other stage song AKB have. and didn't you know AKB48 are donating part of what they profit for Tohaku victims and once every month they go to the disaster area and perform free for those disaster stricken victim. they're not only for fame and glamour. they're the real deal idols.