From the Metal Gear Wiki

Johnny Sasaki
Johnny Sasaki, circa 2014.
Also known as	Akiba (short for Akihabara)
Nationality	American/Russian
Affiliations	Genome Army, Gurlukovich Mercenaries, FOXHOUND
Appears in	Metal Gear Solid Metal Gear Solid 2 Metal Gear Solid 4
First game	Metal Gear Solid
Created by	Hideo Kojima
English voice actor	Dean Scofield (MGS, MGS2, MGS TTS) Beng Spies (MGS4) Michael Gough (Johnny's grandfather MGS3)
Japanese voice actor	Naoki Imamura (MGS, MGS2, MGS3) Jun Fukuyama (MGS4)

Johnny "Akiba" Sasaki is a recurring joke character, cameoing in Metal Gear Solid, Sons Of Liberty and appearing more prominently in Guns Of The Patriots. Johnny's grandfather (also named Johnny) has a brief appearance in Snake Eater.

[edit] Overview

During Operation: Snake Eater, Johnny's grandfather, also named Johnny, was a GRU soldier who guarded Naked Snake's cell after he was captured by Volgin. Unlike his eventual grandson, Johnny suffered from constipation, not diarrhea. Johnny Sr. had a conversation with Snake about his firstborn son who is also named Johnny, and that eventually, his son's son would probably be named Johnny, too; He explains that all of the firstborn sons in the Sasaki family are traditionally named Johnny.

During the Shadow Moses Incident, Johnny was one of the GENOME Soldiers that took part in Liquid Snake's uprising. He was the guard assigned to watch Donald Anderson's cell when Solid Snake first infiltrated the facility. When he heard Anderson die of a heart attack, he opened Meryl Silverburgh's cell by mistake and was knocked out and stripped by her, using his outfit as a disguise afterwards. Later, he guarded Solid Snake's cell in the medical room after Snake was captured by Sniper Wolf.

Somehow, bumbling Johnny managed to escape authorities and joined the Gurlukovich Mercenaries. During the Big Shell Incident, he was spotted in a bathroom stall, complaining about his commanding officer, Olga, who reminded him of Meryl. He also commented that at that point, "things really started to hit the skids" and "up till then [he] was steady cruisin' with the elites." Later, he ran into Emma Emmerich while she was crossing the Strut L Oil Fence. Although he was assigned to watch out for intruders, he let Emma get away due to his experience with Meryl on Shadow Moses. Both of these conversations were heard by Raiden using the Directional Microphone.

Eventually in 2014, Johnny joined Meryl's new improved FOXHOUND squadron, with his teammates calling him by the nickname Akiba. He had a brief run-in with Old Snake, whom he didn't recognize. Johnny stated that he was "a ten-year vet", which adds up with his time since the Shadow Moses incident. At this point, Snake overpowered and disarmed him, remarking, "How the hell did you survive ten years?!" which suggests that while he was among elite soldiers, he wasn't a very competent combatant (which may also explain why he failed to remember to switch off the safety on his XM8, or being tricked by Snake into checking his XM8 to see if the safety was on). As shown in one of the MGS4 trailers, Johnny is one of, if not the only, soldier not affected by the third generation FOXDIE virus, which affects the SOP system in soldiers.

[edit] Trivia

• Johnny was named after Hideki Sasaki, the character model designer of the Metal Gear Solid series. Hideki, according to interviews with the development team, had a habit of purposely disorganizing his desk to make himself look busy.
• In Guns of the Patriots, Johnny's nickname "Akiba" refers to the Akihabara district of Tokyo filled with stores selling electronics, manga, anime merchandise, and other products designed to appeal to the otaku subculture. "Akiba" is Japanese slang similar in meaning to "otaku".
• In the original game plan for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Johnny's full name was given as Johnny Sasaki Slater. He was originally planned to be a Patriots spy. In fact, Richard Ames' death scene was originally written for Johnny however the directors choose to keep him as the surviving, idiotic, comic relief.
• Johnny's father appears as a recruit character in Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops Plus. His mask has the letter "J" written on it.
• Johnny's IBS continues on into Metal Gear Solid 4 - during an X-Play exclusive clip of the Rat Patrol battling Ocelot's FROGs, Johnny continuously complains about how bad he "has to go."