Obachaaan idol group releases rap music video in English to welcome G-20 summit this week. (YouTube)

Japanese Granny Group Releases English Rap Video to Welcome G-20

The G-20 summit that will be held in the Japanese city Osaka started on June 28 is welcomed through a music video by a unique Osaka granny idol group known as Obachaaan (Obachan means old lady in Japanese). Just days before the summit, the group that made up of women with average age 66-years-old released a colorful rapping video in English.

The video of ‘Oba Funk Osaka’ was uploaded on YouTube showing the obachan dancing and rapping through the streets of Osaka in bling loud jewelry and animal print shirt while singing that the locals are ‘the funniest people in the world’. In the video, they also play on the stereotype that noted Osaka grannies are friendly, talkative, loud, and witty by offering candy that they always carry with them to people and helping tourists to find the right direction—with emphasis on the comedic scene where they have no idea about the direction but always willing to provide the direction, comparing to locals in its rival city Tokyo.

The appearance of these grannies is also perhaps fitting the reflection of Japan’s famous aging population and a calling for raising the demographic trends during the summit.

One of the group members Eiko Funai, 71, hoped that people all over the world will get energized after watching the video. The video itself has reached 33,000 views on YouTube after the release.

Obachaaan was formed in 2011 and now consists of seven regular members.

Source: https://japantoday.com/category/entertainment/osaka-granny-group-releases-english-rap-video-to-welcome-g-20-summit