Can’t get enough of your favorite (ex-)AKB48 starlet? Now you can a take a flight “inside” her vessel.
Okay, enough with the puerile references, though AKB48 is hardly a stranger to dubious not-so-subtle sexual overtones.
Local LCC Peach Aviation launched its first Narita route yesterday with flights now taking passengers from Osaka to Tokyo for less than ¥4,000 one-way. To celebrate, they got former AKB princess Mariko Shinoda to help them promote the service and even specially decorated a whole aircraft in her likeness!
The Airbus A320-200 — aka the “Mariko jet” — looked about as glitzy and cutesy as you can get, while Mariko no doubt made a lot of fantasies come true by dressing up as a cabin attendant for the occasion.
According to the official press release, for what it’s worth, Mariko apparently designed the uniform and plane herself!
She then saw off the first passengers from the terminal gate with a radiant smile and a high-five for everyone, before boarding and flying on the plane (her plane?) herself.
We can only imagine what it must feel like to have an entire airplane painted in your own Big-Brother-Is-Watching-You-like size portrait.
Now a whopping 27 years old — positively ancient by idol standards — Shinoda’s popularity amongst AKB48 fans appears to show no signs of flagging, despite her age forcing her to make that venture out into the post-AKB desert. Apparently the sky’s the limit! Or is it rather that her career is up in the air? After, Peach is no ANA or JAL.
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Mariko is also the new Mentholatum campaign girl in Japan. Check out @mentholatum_m to see her image on special goods.
@Jungle
Thanks for the tip. Yes, perhaps her career is really taking off. Okay, enough with the aviation metaphors!
Most song and dance idols lose their wings after they depart from their group, but I have faith that Mariko will land safely into a new career. Indeed, her first-class name has enough fuel to last the long haul flyover to more adult concerns, such as her personally designed clothes and brand, ricori (@_ricori), which she built from the ground up.
Haha, see what you started?!?!?!?