- Joined
- Mar 10, 2012
- Messages
- 1,895
- Points
- 0
AFP 6:01PM BST 25 May 2012
Japan's cash-strapped government is reportedly turning to popular music group AKB48 to help it sell
government bonds, as interest in the low-yield paper wanes.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=girlband_2230169b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/girlband_2230169b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The all-female pop group will headline a summer campaign for "reconstruction bonds" aimed at financing
projects in regions hammered by last year's quake-tsunami disaster, the Wall Street Journal said, citing
an unnamed source.
AKB48, one of the world's highest-grossing acts with more than $200m in CD and DVD sales last year,
are a phenomenon in Japan and across Asia, with members appearing in commercials for everything from
chocolate to mobile phones.
The debt campaign will see AKB48 - comprising about 90 performers, ranging in age from early teens to
mid-20s - joined by sumo wrestling's champion Hakuho and female football star Homare Sawa, Japan's
Jiji press agency reported.
Japan's cash-strapped government is reportedly turning to popular music group AKB48 to help it sell
government bonds, as interest in the low-yield paper wanes.
<a href="http://s1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/?action=view&current=girlband_2230169b.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj559/365Wildfire/girlband_2230169b.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
The all-female pop group will headline a summer campaign for "reconstruction bonds" aimed at financing
projects in regions hammered by last year's quake-tsunami disaster, the Wall Street Journal said, citing
an unnamed source.
AKB48, one of the world's highest-grossing acts with more than $200m in CD and DVD sales last year,
are a phenomenon in Japan and across Asia, with members appearing in commercials for everything from
chocolate to mobile phones.
The debt campaign will see AKB48 - comprising about 90 performers, ranging in age from early teens to
mid-20s - joined by sumo wrestling's champion Hakuho and female football star Homare Sawa, Japan's
Jiji press agency reported.