Atsuko Maeda to star in baseball management themed movie

AKB48 member Atsuko Maeda will get her first starring film role in an upcoming adaptation of Natsumi Iwasaki’s best-selling book Moshi Koukou Yakyuu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no “Management” wo Yondara, or “Moshidora” for short (English title: Drucker in the Dugout). The lengthy full title translates to What if the Female Manager of a High School Baseball Team read Drucker’s “Management”?

Maeda will play Minami Kawashima, the manager of a high school baseball team who mistakenly buys the book “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices”, written by the late management consultant, Peter Drucker. Although the book isn’t specifically about baseball, Kawashima takes Drucker’s management philosophies to heart, carefully utilizing them in an attempt to transform her players from a group of unmotivated underachievers into a real team with championship aspirations.

Fellow AKB48 member Minami Minegishi, the original inspiration for the Kawashima character, will play another manager of the team. The rest of the cast includes Koji Seto as the team’s ace pitcher, Sosuke Ikematsu as the catcher, Haruna Kawaguchi as Kawashima’s friend, and Yo Oizumi as the team’s coach.

Iwasaki’s book has been an unexpected smash hit in Japan since it was published last December, reaching sales of about 1.81 million copies. There has also been talk of an English translation. A big reason for its sucess is how strongly Drucker’s theories have resonated with Japanese business people, even more so than baseball fans. Kawashima’s book has had the added affect of spreading these ideas to a large number of women across the country, potentially inspiring an upsurge of female involvement in business management.

Moshi Koukou Yakyuu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no “Management” wo Yondara will be released in Japan in June 2011.

Sources: Tokyograph, The Economist

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