Why Is Japanese Girl Group Ske48 Special?

Note: this article is not only a biography of this Japanese girl group but it will also help to explain what makes this pop music group special and one of the reasons for this is that a few years ago they held a large nationwide tour in their home country of Japan.

Besides a 47 prefecture tour that SKE48 had, I am sure many people want to know what SKE48 is and what they stand for. SKE48 is a Japanese girl group that is one of the major groups associated with AKB48. Their philosophy of “girls you can meet” is the same as these other girl groups. Their origins go all the way back to the summer of 2008 when producer Yasushi Akimoto wanted to expand the AKB48 franchise and business model throughout Japan so he decided to start in Nagoya.

When the stage was first opened up, there was a vaulting box that was used back in July 2009 during SKE48’s first anniversary concert. SKE48 got a signal from theater manager Etsuro Imamura and put themselves up for the challenge as they participated in a 6 section vaulting box event. This concert that took place featured performances from every group and team and mixed performances as well.

The day before this concert, SKE48 held their first Zenyasai (The Eve of) event with cooperation from Sunshine Sakae where the SKE48 Theater is. This event had a variety of activities such as golf lessons and talks with the managers. The members of SKE48 came up with a menu that is being used at the restaurants. These girls can also cook. There was also a talk show at the event where it was announced that SKE48 would release their 16^th single as a group on December 10, 2014. That single is called 12-gatsu no Kangaroo.

SKE48 started with 22 girls that were chosen with 15 of these girls making their debut with former training members Yuka Nakanishi and Aki Deguchi and this first group of girls formed Team S. Jurina Matsui who was only 11 years old at that time was chosen as a center for the AKB48 single called Oogoe Diamond. However, even before this new group could perform a single, member Kirara Suzuki announced that she was graduating. It would be in April 2009 that 23 new members were chosen to be part of Team K2. In August 2009, SKE48 released their first major single called “Tsuyoki Mono Yo.” In November of that year, a 3^rd generation was announced as 13 girls were added to what can be said in English as the team of trainees, that is members that are training to become full-time members of the group. However, in December 2009, SKE48 would undergo a few changes. Eiko Maeda from Team K2 transferred to SDN48, a special girl group for girls that are older than 18 years of age. Moe Yamashita left the group to pursue work as a graphic artist.

It would be in February 2010 that SKE48’s training girls would start to perform regularly in the group’s theater. The 4^th generation of this group made their debut in September 2010. 16 new training girls were added to the group thus bringing the total number of training girls to 26. On May 28, 2011, the group announced that they were changing labels and signing with avex trax. Their first single under this new label called Pareo wa Emerald would be released on July 27, 2011. SKE48 would also have their first team shuffle or team reorganization at the venue called Nippon Gaishi Hall in an April 2013 spring concert. So there you have a few reasons why girl group SKE48 is so special.

What follows here is some information about a special tour that SKE48 went on as a group as they were celebrating a milestone in their career. SKE48, one of the musical groups that was formed after AKB48 was scheduled to their first major tour which covered 47 different prefectures. The group also released their first documentary film called “Documentary of SKE48” on February 27, 2015. This news was announced during a special concert that was held at SKE48 Theater on October 5, 2014. The group was celebrating their 5th anniversary since their theater debut.

As of December 3, 2019, SKE48 has plans to release another single. The single which is called Soyutoko aru yo ne? and it is scheduled for a release date of January 15, 2020. This single is significant because it will have the solo song of member Akane Takayanagi who will graduate from this group in the spring of 2020. That song is called Seishun no Houseki. Takayanagi herself made a statement about her upcoming graduation. She basically said that when she had thoughts about auditioning for SKE48, she watched a video of when the first generation trainees passed the audition. She said that she got a song from Yasushi Akimoto that has the word houseki which means gem. This is the last single that she will be taking part in and she said that she is emotional.