AKB48 6th Anniversary Celebration at AKB48 Theater

公演オープニングで「上からマリコ」をパフォーマンスするAKB48じゃんけん選抜メンバー。 (C)AKS  

AKB48 celebrated their 6th Anniversary on the 8th of December, the date that they debuted 6 years ago, at their very own theater in Akihabara, Tokyo. Once again Happy 6th Anniversary AKB48! お誕生日おめでとう~! (Happy Birthday!)
At the celebration, all members of AKB48 [Team A, B, K and Kenkyuusei (trainees)] performed on the stage, including the newly formed 13th Generation Kenkyuusei.

Here are the comments from three of the members on their blog (translated - from tokyohive):

[1st generation member, Team A] Maeda Atsuko wrote about her hopes for their 7th year, “We’ve really increased our number of members, so we’ve become a big family now (*^^*)” “I’ll do my best to work carefully so we can stand here and advance (into our 7th year). Please look after AKB48 in our 7th year as well ♪♪”

Oshima Yuko, 2nd generation member (later known as Team K) who debuted in April 2006, declared, “I was able to see our 10th anniversary that’s felt so far away. I never imagined I would feel this… Again, I want to brace myself and work hard to build up AKB!!!!!! We still have more to go~”.

3rd generation member (later known as Team B) Kashiwagi Yuki commented, “Starting with the fans, I will never forget my gratitude to all of you for supporting AKB!! I hope we can swiftly run into our 7th year.”

[My post on AKB48 6th Anniversary - My 3rd Anniversary]

More photos below,

Eguchi Aimi's Portrait Stolen from AKB48 Theater

(photo by massuharuka)

It was announce on the AKB48 offical blog that the photograph of 江口愛実 (Eguchi Aimi) was stolen yesterday when the monthly photo sets went on sale. It was most probably due to the messy crowd and chaotic situation of photo trading that the portrait was managed to be stolen without being noticed.

The portraits of the AKB48 and SDN48 members are hung along the long corridor leading from the entrance to the lobby. Glass panel barriers, which was not initially installed, are being used as a protection to prevent fingerprints and from being damaged.

There was an incident, around end of 2007 to the start of 2008, where the massive crowd there knocked off Cindy's Portrait (Team B leader that time) and it broke. The incident turned dramatic when one of her oshimen screamed out her name and knelt by the broken portrait. I guess it was ever since, glass panel barriers were put in place.

However, the portraits of the 12th Generation Kenkyuuseis were not protected by the glass panel barriers and that was where Aimi's portrait was placed.

This was the first time that a portrait is ever stolen from the theater and Mr Togasaki believes that it proves the strong trust bond that exists between the theater and the fans, and that the act of theft was due to sudden impulse, hoping that it would be returned to the theater. He believes that such an incident would not happen again.

Blog post on the Official Blog: http://ameblo.jp/akihabara48/entry-10970330734.html