By Sarah Berlow
On Mar 27, a Japanese cherry blossoms in Washington D.C. will be in full bloom, and a National Cherry Blossom Festival will pitch into full gear. This year, festival goers can follow their speculation of a blooms with a gander during a latest Japanese pop-cultural phenomenon: a girl-group AKB48 – or 16 of a 92 members, to be accurate – who will also be in a U.S. collateral to commemorate a event.
Associated Press
AKB48 in Jakarta in February.
AKB48 is a extraordinary group. Founded in 2005 by Japanese showbiz fable Yasushi Akimoto, it started off during a possess museum in Akihabara (hence a name AKB), a area famous as a Tokyo hangout for “otaku,” or geeks. AKB48 still performs during that museum daily. The group’s fans tend to be immature Japanese girls and adult men, some of whom squeeze hundreds of copies of one single.
Mr. Akimoto has pronounced he doesn’t wish a organisation to be overly polished, so that fans can watch as members rise as performers. The regulation has led AKB48 to be one of a top-selling groups in Japan, and a flourishing materialisation in Asia, where Mr. Akimoto is now formulating spinoff groups, such as JKT48 in Jakarta, Indonesia.
AKB48 members have permitted products from Google to Shiseido. They’ve also been manifest supporters of service efforts after a Mar 11 disasters, behaving for schools in Tohoku, hosting assist events, and donating supports and reserve to a region.
The work in Tohoku has led to a rendezvous during D.C.’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, where a organisation is expressing Japan’s thankfulness for a U.S.’s support during a Mar 11 disasters final year, according to a Japanese daily Mainichi Daily News. AKB48’s revisit is being sponsored by a Japan Pop Culture 2012 Executive Committee, that is upheld by a Agency of Cultural Affairs of Japan.
AKB48 will have copiousness of company. The festival is 5 weeks long, filled with low-pitched performances, matsuri festivals, a parade, and a film viewing. Other performers embody Japanese thespian Misia and America-based Japanese drum organisation Taikoproject. This year will also symbol a 100th anniversary of Tokyo’s present of a trees to a U.S., as a token of loyalty between a dual nations.
AKB will perform dual concerts on Mar 27 during The Lincoln Theatre, for that there will be giveaway tickets available. AKB48 will also be visiting a D.C. facile propagandize as partial of a festival’s try to strengthen holds between a dual nations by informative exposure.
Maybe by a time a cherry blossoms cocktail open subsequent year, DOC48—District of Columbia 48—will be creation a debut.
Read this post in Japanese/日本語訳はこちら≫
Article source: http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2012/03/22/akb48-in-d-c-beneath-the-cherry-blossoms/
Tomomi Itano
Akimoto Sayaka Gallery One