HKT48

HKT48
HKT48 members at new theater opening day, in April 28, 2016.
Background information
Origin	Fukuoka, Japan
Genres	Pop
Years active	2011 (2011)–present
Labels	Universal Sigma
Associated acts	AKB48
Website	www.hkt48.jp
Members	Team H details Team KIV details

HKT48 (read "H.K.T. Forty-eight") is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto. The group currently performs at HKT48 Theater at Nishitetsu Hall in Fukuoka from April 28, 2016.

HKT48 is named after the Hakata-ku, Fukuoka city of Fukuoka Prefecture, where Yasushi Akimoto originally intended to base the group. HKT48's theater was located in Hawks Town Mall in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka until March 31, 2016. A new theater opened in Nishitetsu Hall in April 28, 2016.

Plans for a group entitled HKT48 were first revealed by AKB48 producer Yasushi Akimoto on November 19, 2008. HKT48 was officially announced on May 1, 2011 at an AKB48 handshake event. The group is the fourth AKB48 sister group to be launched, after the groups SKE48, SDN48 and NMB48. The group takes its name from its proposed base location of Hakata-ku, Fukuoka. Instead of the previously targeted Hakata, HKT48 will instead be based at a theater in the Hawks Town Mall in neighboring Chūō-ku, Fukuoka. This location is next to the Fukuoka Yahoo! Japan Dome. In addition, it was announced that the group would be accepting applications from girls aged between 11 and 22. The first round of the first-ever HKT48 audition took place from May 31, 2011, and successful applicants took part in the second round of auditions, consisting of a singing and dancing test, in the first half of July 2011. The final auditions were held at Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk Hotel on July 10, and 24 candidates successfully passed the final.

After undergoing dance and vocal lessons, HKT48's 21 first-generation members were first revealed at an AKB48 handshake event on October 23, 2011 at Seibu Dome. Of these 21 members, 17 are junior high school students or below, and two are elementary-school students. The youngest member of the group, Natsumi Tanaka, was born in 2000, and 11 years old at the time of the announcement. She said that "joining AKB48 is my ambition since I was 5 years old, so it feels like a dream to be in this group." The oldest member is Yūko Sugamoto, who was 17 years old at the time of the announcement.