Maybe Ben Bernanke can take a page from Japan’s central bank and book a reunion tour of Destiny’s Child to help sell some of Uncle Sam’s debt?
Japan’s debt-laden government has enlisted the popular music group AKB48 (pictured) to help it sell government bonds, as investors shun the low-yield paper that has plagued the country for more than a decade.
The all-female pop group will perform on a concert tour this summer to promote “reconstruction bonds” to finance rebuilding projects needed after last year’s earthquake-tsunami disaster around Fukushima.
AKB48 is one of Japan’s highest-grossing musical acts, with more than $200 million in global digital sales in 2011.
The band, which comprises almost 100 female singers and dancers, performs sugary pop songs and synchronized dancing and is a big hit with teens in Japan.
The band’s name is derived from an area in Tokyo where the troupe has its theater.