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Akimoto Yasushi
秋元(あきもと)(やすし)
YasushiAkimoto
Akimoto Yasushi
Information
Nickname Aki-P (by AKB48 members and fans)
Birthdate May 2, 1958 (age 65)
Birthplace Meguro, Tokyo, Japan
Zodiac Sign ♉︎ Taurus
Height 153cm
Professional Information
Genres J-Pop
Occupation Lyricist, record producer, television writer
Years Active 1973–present
Group AKB48 Group/Sakamichi Series
Associated Acts AKB48 Group, Sakamichi Series, IZ*ONE, other groups

Akimoto Yasushi is a Japanese television writer, lyricist, record producer, professor. He is also the vice president at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. Akimoto created some of Japan's most successful idol groups: CHECKICCO, Onyanko Club and the AKB48 franchise.

Career

Akimoto became a television writer in high school, and worked on many television programs. He was a producer for the popular, long-running music variety show Utaban, which featured numerous popular idol groups as guests. In 1981, Akimoto started to work as a lyricist, first writing lyrics for Japanese rock band The Alfee. He has written lyrics for various artists such as Kinki Kids, V6, EXILE, Tunnels, Nakashima Mika and his produced groups Onyanko Club, AKB48 Group, Sakamichi Series, and others. He also wrote Hibari Misora's last single during her lifetime, "Kawa no Nagare no Yō ni", and Jero's debut single "Umi Yuki".

Personal life

  • Born in Tokyo in 1958. He emerged as a broadcast writer since high school, and he works on a number of program compositions such as "The Best Ten". He received a Grand Prix of Japan Lyricist Awards (Nihon Sakushi Taishō, or ”日本作詩大賞”) in 2008, a Best Songwriter Award of the Japanese Record Awards (Nihon Rekōdo Taishō, or “日本レコード大賞”) in 2012, and an Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement Music in an Animated Feature Production in 2013.​ Now, he is successfully active in a wide variety of fields: creating TV shows, writing scripts and developing movies (including the original One Missed Call, or Chakushin Ari, series), designing commercials and video games, writing stories for manga, having his serialized works in magazines and newspapers and so on.​ He authored the novel named Zô No Senaka (“象の背中”, or the back of an elephant), Syumi Ryoku (“趣味力”, or the power of hobbies) and many more books. The movie Chakushin Ari was adapted into a Hollywood movie as One Missed Call and released in America in January, 2008. Zô No Senaka was turned into a TV drama by South Korean TV network JTBC in 2012.​ He is an executive producer of the nation’s widely recognized idol group ‘AKB48 Group’ and ’Sakamichi Series’ (坂道シリーズ), and in recent days, he is working as an executive producer of 22/7 (read ’Nanabun no Nijūni’, or twenty two per seven),​ ​a digital idol group consisting of voice actors, and in charge of planning and creating an original draft for a TV show entitled Last Idol, which will begin in June, 2017 and be aired by TV Asahi.

Trivia

  • Akimoto writes all the lyrics from AKB48 Group and IZ*ONE's Japanese tracks. He has also written lyrics for some of the former AKB48 members.
  • He is good friends with Hello! Project Producer and songwriter, Tsunku.
  • He writes most of the lyrics from all groups, sub-units and solos.
  • He is the vice President and professor of Kyoto University of Art and Design.
  • He is also a television writer and a manga creator.

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