You Can Be ‘The Ripe Idol’

Though the troupe occasionally recruits new members, those members are always teenagers who tend to leave the group in their early 20s.

A new strategy has the organization seeking a more mature member, though mostly as a gimmick.

The ad, which appeared in the nationwide daily Yomiuri Shimbun, announced that “AKB 48 is inviting applicants for a project called Adult AKB48. The only condition for qualification is that the female applicant be over 30 years old. There is no [upper] age limit.”

Moreover, applicants can be entertainment professionals or amateurs, married or single, self-starters or already represented. Basically, anything goes, which is rare in the Japanese idol realm.

Applications are being accepted until March 28 and only one “winner” will be selected.

Already dubbed “the ripe idol” by the Japanese tabloid press, this person will perform with the group, which includes more than 90 young women who rotate in and out of the various performing ensembles, for only a limited time, probably until the end of the summer.

Like the other members, the new mature one will participate in hand-shaking events and live concerts, and will be featured in a TV commercial for the confectioner Glico, according to the want ad. AKB48 makes a good part of its income from advertising.