J-Pop Idols Case Study

Could female J-pop idols be the cause of Japanese economic downfall? The Prime minister, Shinzo Abe listed many statistics and facts that currently show that there is a gender equality gap between the men and women in Japan. To solve this issue, Abe suggested “womenomics”, as a part of his economic policy. Womenomics is a policy where each company must have a female of high status employed in the company. He believes that womenomics would increase the Gross Domestic Product by 15%, and it would also solve the declining birth rate at the same time. The music journalist, Ian Martin stated one of the main causes of the decrease in women productivity is the increase in the female idols in the entertainment industries, such as AKB48. It is a group

Abe quotes from Kathy Matsui, the Vice chairman of Goldman Sachs Japan, she states “Contrary to popular opinion, higher female employment could actually help raise, now lower, fertility rates” (qtd. in Matsui). She mentions that there is a correlation between female employment and birth rates, and companies should be more flexible with women employees. This supports Abe’s argument on the decline of birth rate is caused by the decline in unemployment for female workers. In addition, Diana Magnay from the CNN news agency wrote an article that supports Abe’s claim. Magnay mentions “Naoko Toyoda had worked for 10 years with an IT company but was demoted to a starting position when she came back after the birth of her first child” (Magnay). This is a good example to show how women are being discouraged to have a child. If women become demoted the moment they bear a child, what is the point of having a baby? This causes women to pick two extreme choices, either to not have children and to continue with their job or to have a child and quit the job that they spent years working in. Women are forced to decide on giving up on their child to keep their job, so that they earn enough money to survive. Therefore, Abe’s plan of womenomics would be able to force companies to keep the women

There is a restaurant in Akihabara called the “AKB48 Café”, and it has potential for graduated AKB48 members to continue their career as an AKB48 member. Fumiyuki Nakagawa, a writer for the Asahi Newspaper wrote an article on the AKB48 Café. She states that Mariko Shinoda, an AKB48 member at the time, suggested that “real AKB48 members might someday come to cook in the café” (Nakagawa). This possibility has been mentioned in the past, but it did not advance any further. The café is not run by actual members of the AKB48, so I suggest it would be a good career, to open AKB48 restaurants and merchandise stores around Japan. This way many people can meet the actual AKB48 girl in person instead of meeting non-AKB48 members, which would certainly boost the popularity of the café.

In conclusion, Abe’s womenomics plan to increase the birth rate by implementing policies for female employment will benefit the economy in Japan. However, Martin states that AKB48 would cause a problem to the womenomics because of the influx of female idols, but exaggerates that AKB48 would cause more women with only one specific skill set to remain unemployed. In reality, there are many opportunities for retired AKB48 girls to continue their career in the entertainment industries, or in other areas such as restaurants or merchandise