AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48 will hold a series of concerts titled AKB48 Fair (AKB48フェア).
The concerts will take place from April 25 to 28 at Nippon Budokan.
The announcement was made on the 3rd day of AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2013 (AKB48 リクエストアワー セットリストベスト100 2013) held at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
AKB48 Unit Festival (AKB48ユニット祭り) and AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2013 (AKB48リクエストアワー セットリストベスト100 2013) will be live streamed on their official YouTube channel for fans all over the world.
AKB48 Unit Festival will be held on January 23 at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2013 will be held from January 24 to 27 at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
So Long! drama starring AKB48 will be aired on February 11-13 on NTV (Nippon Television).
This is a 3 episode drama.
Team A episode is centered on Shinoda Mariko and Watanabe Mayu as ballerinas in a ballet school.
Team K episode focuses on a sister rivalry between Oshima Yuko and Matsui Jurina.
Team B episode is featuring Kojima Haruna and Shimazaki Haruka as teacher and student.
AKB48’s 30th single So Long! will be released on January 30.
The series will be released on DVD and Blu-ray on June 28.
Kashiwagi Yuki’s solo debut single Shortcake (ショートケーキ) will be released on February 6.
Shortcake is the theme song for the TV drama Mielino Kashiwagi (ミエリーノ柏木) starring Kashiwagi Yuki (AKB48).
The single includes a bonus DVD featuring a music video and special footage.
AKB48’s 30th single So Long! will be released on February 20.
The types A, B and K include a bonus DVD featuring music videos and 25 minutes of footage from the 2nd AKB48 Kouhaku Taikou Uta Gassen (第2回 AKB48紅白対抗歌合戦).
The 3rd song is different for each version of the single.
The limited editions include a ticket for a handshake event.
A 3-episode drama will be aired on NTV (Nippon Television) in February to promote the single.
The TV drama Megutan tte Mahou Tsukaeruno? (メグたんって魔法つかえるの？) starring Kojima Haruna (AKB48) will be released on DVD on March 22.
Kojima Haruna plays the role of a magical girl who can erase memories by showing her panties.
Sashihara Rino (HKT48) and Watanabe Mayu (AKB48) also make an appearance in the series.
The DVD box set includes a bonus disc and a booklet. The limited editions comes with an extra disc.
The DVD box set of HKT48‘s variety show HaKaTa Hyakkaten (HaKaTa百貨店) hosted by Sashihara Rino will be released on April 19.
HaKaTa Hyakkaten is broadcast since October 2012 on Nippon Television (日本テレビ). Every week, a member of AKB48 participates in the TV show as guest. She has to choose their “oshimen” among the members of HKT48 who are facing various challenges.
AKB48 and Nogizaka46 won awards at the Japan Gold Disc Award 2013 (第27回 日本ゴールドディスク大賞) ceremony held on January 7.
AKB48 won awards for Artist of the Year, and Single of the Year for Manatsu no Sounds Good. They were also nominees for Best 5 Albums for 1830m.
Nogizaka46 won the award for New Artist of the Year.
The horror movie Kuroyuri Danchi (クロユリ団地) (The Complex) starring Maeda Atsuko (ex AKB48) will be released in May.
Maeda Atsuko plays the role of Asuka, a girl who has moved to the Kuroyuri housing complex where mysterious deaths occurred since 13 years ago.
The movie is directed by Nakata Hideo (Ring, Chatroom…)
AKB48’s Manatsu no Sounds Good won the Japan Record Award (日本レコード大賞) for the Best Song.
AKB48 had already received this grand prize last year for Flying Get.
Akimoto Yasushi also won the award for the Best Songwriter (Uza, Gingham Check, Manatsu no Sounds Good…)
The 54th Japan Record Awards (第５４回日本レコード大賞) ceremony was held on December 30.