Idol group AKB48 held the 2nd day of their concerts “AKB48 Request Hour Set List 100 2011” on the 21st at Tokyo’s SHIBUYA-AX. It was there that they had a surprise announcement; a new 4 member unit called “Not yet”.
During the encore they caused a big commotion. Last June fans voted in the “2nd Senbatsu General Election”. Oshima Yuko (22) placed 1st in the election, Kirahara Rie (19) placed 16th, Sashihara Rino (18) placed 19th and they’re the members of the new unit. Sashihara giggled while introducing her new unit, “We’re a unit whose general election average is rank #12 . I can’t deny how nice it is to work with Oshima Yuko”.
5 AKB sub-units have had their major debut. No Sleeves’s first album ranked #1 on Oricon’s weekly ranking and French Kiss’s newest song came in 1st on the daily ranking. Oshima then called out Yokoyama Yui (18) who was just promoted from Kenkyuusei (Research Student) last October, “We have one more member to introduce”. These 4 girls performed their debut song “Shuumatsu Not yet”, which will go on sale March 16th. Around 1,000 people were gathered and loudly cheered for them.
Ok, saper yg tak paham PV baru nih... Jurina tuh ghost, watching over her friends. PV nih derang wat mcm drama, nih baru short version, long version dier 13 minit...
During the encore of their concert on Sunday, AKB48 announced that there will be a sequel to their popular drama series "Majisuka Gakuen," which aired from January to March of last year. "Majisuka Gakuen 2" will air in the same late night time slot on TV Tokyo (Friday 12:12am), starting in April.
The original series starred Atsuko Maeda as a transfer student who arrives at the all-girls school Majisuka Gakuen, which is full of yankees, and she becomes involved in the power struggle among the various factions. The new series will have additional groups vying for the top spot within the school, as well as more movement by the rival school Yabakune Joshi Koukou.
While the first series had 60 members of the AKB48 family appear, the group is aiming to include even more members this time.
Yasushi Akimoto will again be in charge of producing and planning. The series is scheduled for a total of 12 episodes.
“Beginner,” a single released by all-girl Japanese pop idol group AKB48 last October, has sold more than 1 million copies, music information provider Oricon Inc said Monday.
The song became the first million-seller single in Japan in three years and five months, since sales of “Sen-no kaze-ni natte” sung by tenor Masafumi Akikawa passed the 1 million mark in August 2007, according to the company.
AKB48's Sayaka Akimoto trains for Tokyo Marathon
Wed, January 26, 2011 (8:29pm EST)
TOKIO's Taichi Kokubun (36) recently announced that he will be running the Tokyo Marathon on February 27, but he won't be the only celebrity participating. Several other names were reported on Thursday, including AKB48 member Sayaka Akimoto (22).
This will be Akimoto's first time attempting a full marathon. She said that her goal is to run the entire course. She also remarked that she wants to show her "feeling of restarting" to her supportive fans and friends, referencing the fact that she resigned as captain of Team K last October due to a potential scandal.
Akimoto apparently started training at Yoyogi Park earlier this month. Although she participated in basketball and track and field as a student, she admitted that she is not good at long-distance running. Because of that, she decided to run the marathon as a challenge for her "new self." However, she has experience with a half-marathon, which she ran two years ago for the graduation of former AKB48 member Mai Oshima (23).
Besides Kokubun and Akimoto, other celebrities participating in this year's Tokyo Marathon include former Morning Musume member Hitomi Yoshizawa (25), talento Papaya Suzuki (44), and talento Erika Okushi (30). Nippon Broadcasting System stated that announcers Hideo Matsumoto (49), Tadashi Kakihana (39), and Miki Gonohe (24) will be running.
Post time 21-1-2011 10:10 AM
