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AKB48 Spawns STU48 Sister Group in Setouchi Region
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
The female idol group AKB48 announced during its "Unit Single Sōdatsu Janken Taikai" event in Kobe on Monday that it will spawn STU48, a new sister unit based in the Setouchi region. The new group will represent seven prefectures: Yamaguchi, Hiroshima, Ehime, Okayama, Hyogo, Kagawa, and Tokushima. The new group will launch next summer.
STU48 is the sixth domestic sister group in the AKB48 franchise. AKB48 itself debuted in Tokyo's Akihabara district in December 2005, followed by SKE48 in Nagoya's Sakae in October 2008, NMB48 in Osaka's Namba in January 2011, HKT48 in Fukuoka's Hakata in March 2012, and NGT48 in for Niigata prefecture in October 2015. Outside Japan, there are JKT48 in Indonesia's Jakarta and SNH48 in China's Shanghai, with additional sister groups announced for Taiwan, Thailand, and the Philippines. There is also the "rival" group Nogizaka46.
Source: Oricon Style via Hachima Kikō
