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AKB48 Idol Group to Spawn JKT48 Spinoff in Indonesia

The all-female idol group AKB48 announced on Sunday that it will launch its first overseas sister group, JKT48, in Indonesia at the end of the year. The announcement was made at the handshake event to mark the release of AKB48's new song "Flying Get" at the Makuhari Messe center in Chiba, Japan. Yasushi Akimoto will serve as chief producer of JKT48 just as he does for AKB48 itself.

AKB48 popularized the concept of "idols you can go meet in person," and there are already four spinoff groups in Akihabara (SDN48 alongside AKB48), Nagoya ( SKE48), Osaka (NMB48), and Fukuoka (HKT48).

AKB48 already held overseas performances in New York, Los Angeles, Cannes, Paris, Moscow, Macao, Korea, Taiwan, and elsewhere. Singapore hosted its first regularly scheduled AKB48 concerts this past May.

Residents of Indonesia can audition for the first generation of the new group. In mid-October, the finalists will receive lessons, and the group will debut at the end of this year.

Source: Oricon via Tokyograph

Update: Akimoto had planned a sister group in Taiwan for a summer debut, but that group has yet to appear.