Akimoto Yasushi has said this a few times, but it has come to people’s attention again with recent current events.  There is no explicit rule about love ban in AKB48 groups!

There is an article which covers more depth about a recent radio show where Akimoto talks about how to handle the “fallout” from scandals in the past versus the present, which we covered a little bit previously.

The radio show is called “Rhyme Star Utada Maru’s Weekend Shuffle.”  While the previous article covered a recent show from a few weeks ago, Akimoto also appeared on the show in 2013, where he talks a little more in depth with Utada Maru about the love ban rule:

• Akimoto: “For example, the thing that fans say the most is that the ‘penalty is different'” (たとえば、一番ファンの皆さんがおっしゃるのは、なんでペナルティが違うんだと).
• UtadaMaru: “Yeah, I also hear people wondering if the rules are different” (ルールが違うじゃないかっていうのは聞きますね)
• Akimoto: “Yeah, right, they say it’s not consistent. But that’s because there is no rule.” (そうそう、一貫してない、と。それは、ルールがないからなんだよね)
• UtadaMaru: “So there’s really nothing like that” (そんなものは、本当はないから)
• Akimoto: “Yeah. There’s no rule, so there’s no regulations about it.” (うん。ルールがないし、ペナルティの規則もないから)

Of course, this is a small conversation from a few years ago, so perhaps his opinions have changed since then.