AKB48 Yakushiji Hounou Kouen 2010

Documenting AKB48's mini-concert at Yakushi temple

At some point of time, AKB48 grew out of dominating the Japanese music industry and moved on to print too. These days, multiple new AKB48 magazines pop up each and every month, if not weekly. Truth is, we’ve got a whole stack of untouched AKB48 related mooks asking to be reviewed. But with no one else on hand, I thought it might be due time to start looking through them. Today we’ll look through the memorial book for AKB48′s Yakushiji Hounou Kouen 2010 “Yume no Hanabiratachi” (薬師寺奉納公演2010 夢の花びらたち) concert at Nara last year.

Yakushiji is a famous Buddhist temple in Nara. You may find it strange (or blasphemous) that AKB48 would perform a concert in such a location. But Yakushiji is actually also a popular concert grounds that holds such events year round. It’s a win-win situation either way, the temple raises funds for a good cause by renting out its abundant space, and everybody benefits from the positive energy.

AKB48 Yakushiji Hounou Kouen 2010 Mook.

The AKB48 Yakushiji Hounou Kouen 2010 magazine-book documents the group’s experience performing at this sacred site with related interviews of each of the performing members.

The attendees.

Psyching up for the concert.

This particular book was probably one of their most tasteful yet. Fans can enjoy exclusive behind the scenes shots of the events leading up to the concert and photos from the performance itself. All of this is presented in an extraordinary number of two page spreads. In some ways, it resembles an advert for the temple. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

Public service announcement from AKB48.

Rehearsals.

More behind the scenes.

And shots from the concert.

For some the main highlight might be the individual interviews with each of the girls though.

Lots of spreads.

Even in the interviews.

Everyone gets a good number of pages this time.

The first 16 girls get a two page photo spread, followed by another two pages of interview.

All the photos are shot at the temple grounds.

Lots of large, nice photos to appreciate.

The remaining 5 girls get only two pages each though.

Ono Erena gets her own section at the back of the book. It was her last concert.

Free double sided poster with each copy.

The AKB48 Yakushiji Hounou Kouen 2010 book ranks up there with the AKB48 Janken Senbatsu book as one of the nicest AKB48 mooks. It consists of mostly well taken full, or two page photographs of some of the more popular members and it’s a worthwhile purchase, if any of your supported idols do make an appearance inside.