is a fictional

Japanese idol An is a type of entertainer marketed for image, attractiveness, and personality in Japanese pop culture. Idols are primarily singers with training in acting, dancing, and modeling. Idols are commercialized through merchandise and endorsements ...

. She is a CGI composite of various features of seven existing (all now former) members of the theater/idol group

AKB48 AKB48 (pronounced ''A.K.B. Forty-Eight'') is a Japanese idol girl group named after the Akihabara (''Akiba'' for short) area in Tokyo, where the group's theater is located. AKB48's producer, Yasushi Akimoto, wanted to form a girl group with it ...

."AKB 48 newest member Aimi Eguchi is a 'virtual idol

Channel NewsAsia CNA (stylised as cna), which is an acronym derived from its previous name, Channel NewsAsia, is a Singaporean multinational news channel owned by the country's national public broadcaster Mediacorp. It broadcasts free-to-air domestically in S ...

. June 20, 2011. Eguchi was announced as the group's newest member in June 2011. According to an official profile she was 16 years old, born on February 11, 1995, and from Saitama, north of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

. She was featured in the Japanese magazine ''

Weekly Playboy , also known as or ''WPB'', is a Japanese weekly magazine published by Shueisha since 1966. Although the magazine publishes a variety of news and special interest articles, columns, celebrity interviews, and manga, it is considered an adult mag ...

'', and appeared in a television commercial for the confectionery company,

Ezaki Glico , commonly known as just Glico, is a Japanese multinational food processing company headquartered in Nishiyodogawa-ku, Osaka. It does business across 30 countries, in North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Overview Ezaki Glico's primary ...

. Suspicions arose amongst AKB48 fans and on June 19, 2011, Glico finally admitted that Eguchi was a fake created by the company, disappointing many fans. , she is no longer listed on the official website as a trainee. - list is subject to change from graduations and transfers

CGI contributors

Atsuko Maeda is a Japanese actress and singer. She is a former member of the idol girl group AKB48, and was one of the most prominent members in the group at the time, regarded as the group's "absolute ace", "immovable center", and the "Face of AKB." After ...

(eyes) *

Tomomi Itano is a Japanese recording artist, songwriter, dancer, model, and actress. She is a former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48. She was born in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. In 2011 she debuted solo with a single titled "Dear J", which was ...

(nose) *

Mariko Shinoda is a Japanese singer, actress, fashion model, and former member of the Japanese idol group AKB48, in which she was the captain of Team A. Career In October 2005, she auditioned for AKB48's first generation roster but failed the audition. Short ...

(mouth) *

Yuko Oshima is a Japanese actress and former member of Japanese idol girl group AKB48, of which she was the captain of Team K. She was also a member of the AKB48 subunit Not Yet. In addition to the singles that involved the rock-paper-scissors tournaments ...

(hair/body) *

Minami Takahashi is a Japanese idol, singer, tarento and a former member of the Japanese girl idol group AKB48. She is in Team A of AKB48. She became the first of AKB48 and its sister groups. In an interview with Nippon Television in June 2010, AKB48 produ ...

(outline) *

Mayu Watanabe is a Japanese former idol, singer, actress, and former member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 under Team B. In the annual AKB48 General Elections event, she had consistently been voted by fans to rank among the group's top members. She has ...

(eyebrows)

References

External links

Aimi Eguchi
in ''Weekly Playboy'' 2011 in Japan 2011 hoaxes AKB48 Animated characters Fictional characters introduced in 2011 Fictional musicians Fictional Japanese people Hoaxes in Japan Nonexistent people used in hoaxes {{Animation-char-stub