Annual AKB48 Draft Finalists Include 11-Year Old Girl
AKB48 is an idol group from Akihabara, Tokyo, which consists of over 100 members, currently. The group began with 48 members, which is how it got its name, AKB48, also known as Akiba 48. The amount of members have increased since then, and the group encourages that it continues to expand. AKB48 holds an annual draft looking for new members. This year, AKB48's draft contains 48 new finalists who can make the cut and become an AKB48 idol. Among them is an 11-year old girl named Maria Imamura; the youngest potential member of AKB48 ever seen before. Additionally, Maria is very small at 130cm or 4'3" tall. The average height for a girl at that age in Japan is 147cm or 4'9", which brings her even more attention. Will Maria be drafted to AKB48? Should she be drafted? Maria thinks so, and has her parents' support as well. According to her profile video for the draft, it was her father who introduced her to Japanese idols and sparked her interest. Maria has wanted to be an idol for 6 years; ever since she was 5 years old. AKB48 is only the main group of many related idol groups in Japan. It's possible that Maria will be drafted and placed in another group with younger members. Currently the youngest AKB48 member is Karen Yoshida who is 12 years old, but she does not perform in the actual AKB48 group; she is part of their subgroup, Team 8.
