AKB48 Overseas Travel Diary

Share in the memories of AKB48's travels

A little late, but this timeless treasure was released back in December 2009. The AKB48 no Kaigai Ryokou Nikki (AKB48の海外旅行日記) or AKB48 Overseas Travel Diary is a visual journal of the trips AKB48 took to New York, Paris and Cannes the same year. This lovely, full colored book features a generous collection of candid photographs of their adventures overseas.

Was passed a copy of the book to look through a while ago but sort of forgot to write about. It wasn’t until the release of the newer AKB48 Overseas Travel Diary 2 last month that I remembered to take a look at it again. I’ll be going through that book tomorrow, so do check back then.

AKB48 no Kaigai Ryokou Nikki.

Published by Kobunsha, the soft covered AKB48 no Kaigai Ryokou Nikki book retails for 1980 yen. It is still in print and widely available online and at bookstores like Kinokuniya.

Back.

As we’ve come to expect from many AKB48 products, the book comes with two random standard L sized (3R) photographs. This particular book came with the following photos of Akimoto Sayaka and Kitahara Rie. The bonus photos are also selected from the trip and are not too different from the ones printed in the book.

The book comes with two random, bonus L sized photos.

New York is the first featured destination in the book. 16 members, Akimoto Sayaka, Itano Tomomi, Ono Erena, Oshima Yuko, Kitahara Rie, Kojima Haruna, Sato Amina, Takajo Aki, Takahashi Minami, Fujie Reina, Maeda Atsuko, Minegishi Minami, Miyazaki Miho, Miyazawa Sae, as well as the then kenkyuusei, Iwasa Misaki and Sato Sumire visited the city back in September 2009 for the New York Anime Festival.

AKB48 visited New York back in 2009.

Lots of large, candid photos.

Throughout the book, you’ll find many high quality full color photographs of the girls enjoying their time in the Big Apple. The candid nature of the photographs featured are definitely the highlight.

A more personable kind of photobook.

Just some of the many photos you'll find in the book.

Reflections on their trip, from each of the girls.

The Overseas Travel Diary also includes written afterthoughts from each of the visiting members, which adds to the personable feeling. It’s a nice touch that is appreciated. Capturing the group’s memories as well as a vertical slice of history adds value and sets this book apart from the dozens of mook releases each year.

AKB48 visited Mipcom in Cannes.

The book will be especially valuable for those coming from NYC, Paris and Cannes.

Nice break from the usual gravure shots.

Candid moments captured.

Considering that the basis of this Supermerlion site revolves around the capturing as well as sharing of original travels and experiences, it’s hard for me not to love this book. I’ve always believed that photographs are always best appreciated in context, because when was the last time you actually cared for your friends’ sudden flood of travel pictures on Facebook.

The AKB48 Overseas Travel Diary brings a meaningful way to appreciate photographs of these friendly idols, even if will have to cost you 1980 yen.

Really nice selection of photos.

Unfortunately, only a selection of members were there for these trips.

Still a great buy.

Behind the scenes.

There were individual memoirs from the Paris trip too.

All in all, there are a good 150 pages of content. A good value considering how most of that content happens to be some of the most awesome AKB48 photos you’ll find in print.

The AKB48 Overseas Travel Diary will especially precious if you happen to be one of the lucky few to have been part of the experiences overseas, in which case you’d probably already own this book by now.

For everyone else, this is just a small shout out that the plentiful copies you see at stores does not mean it’s not deserving of a sell out status. For once, even the management agrees that it’d be too cruel to limit sales of this wonderful book. Everyone deserves to discover the happiness contained in the book.