HKT48 Gives Their First Live Performance in Taiwan, and Makes an Announcement About Recruiting New Taiwanese Members!

| 48 / 46 Group | Posted by TokyoGirls'Update on Dec.09.2014

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HKT48 gave the AKB48 family’s first concert in Taiwan on December 7th, as an additional stop-off on their first national tour, HKT Zenkoku Tour ~Zenkoku Toitsu Owattoranken~, that kicked off in September of this year.

A long line formed outside the doors of the venue, Taipei ATT SHOW BOX, and with a screening and costume exhibition and a pathway made of life-size versions of the members inside the lobby, it was bustling with fans. The concert began with large cheers from around 800 attendees, as they opened with “Taiwan48”, as special Taiwan version arrangement of “HKT48”. Things Taiwan is famous for, like xiao long bao (soup dumplings) and the National Palace Museum, were incorporated into the song and it was met with much enthusiasm from the audience.

Rino Sashihara began the first MC by saying, “Thank you, Taiwan, for your warm words and donations during the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake. Today we would like to return your kindness with our heartfelt gratitude.” Her words were met with warm applause. Each member introduced herself in Chinese that they learned and four members, Aika Ota, Yui Kojina, Erena Sakamoto, and Anna Murashige, did a great rendition of “Tsugunai” by Taiwanese-born Teresa Teng, with Madoka Moriyasu playing on piano. During the concert finale, the members performed a cover of “Love ING” by the Taiwanese 5 member rock band Mayday, which the audience responded to with cheers of surprise, and fans sang along to the chorus with them.

On top of this, after calls of “Rabutan” that followed the encore in regards to member Aika Ota turning 20 the next day, a second unplanned encore of “Suki! Suki! Skip!” was hastily decided. The concert in Taiwan ended on a very energetic note.

Additionally, in the middle of one of the performance’s MCs a piece of paper was suddenly passed Sashihara. Reading amongst the buzz from the other members and the audience, it said that due to the overwhelming response from the Taipei 101 Night Festival Event held the previous day, they would now be holding auditions in Taiwan for new AKB48 group members. The announcement was met with gasps of shock from the audience.

So this time, the AKB48 group will be recruiting Taiwanese residents to become members and join AKB48 Group activities in Japan. More information will later be available on each AKB48 group official website.

Related Links
AKB48 official webpage: http://www.akb48.co.jp/
HKT48 official webpage: http://www.hkt48.jp/

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TokyoGirls'Update

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