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AKB48

AKB48 (A-K-B-forty-eight) is an all-female Japanese theater/idol group produced by Yasushi Akimoto, who is also the husband of Mamiko Takai, a former member of the 1980s all-female idol group Onyanko Club. Unlike other idol groups in Japan, AKB48 is theatre-based and have their own theatre in Akihabara (a district in Tokyo) where they perform once every weekday, and more than once on both Saturday and Sunday. The theatre is set up on the 8th floor of Don Quijote. Some of the title songs released as a single have been made a tie-in song for a television show or a television advertisement. The name derives from a shortened, Romanized representation of 'Akihabara'.

AKB48 is divided into three teams: Team A, Team K and Team B. Currently, there are 16 members in Team A, 16 members in Team K, and 16 members in Team B, getting to the total of 48 members in AKB48. Minami Takahashi is the captain of Team A, Sayaka Akimoto is the captain of Team K, and Yuki Kashiwagi is the captain of Team B.

In July 2005, Yasushi Akimoto held an audition for a new theater based idol girl group. Of the 7,924 girls that applied, 45 passed the first round of auditions. Finally, only 24 girls were chosen to be in the group.

In December 2005, the group debuted in the theater with only 20 girls, later known as Team A. A new audition was announced, this audition was held in cooperation with Japanese telecom company NTT DoCoMo. It was the first audition ever where the applicants had to send in their audition video with their mobile phones. 19 of the 11,892 applicants were chosen to join AKB48, but in the end only 18 girls joined the group to become Team K in April 2006.

AKB48 released their 15th single "Sakura no Shiori" on February 17, 2010. The single topped the Oricon chart and sold over 300,000 copies in its first week, which is the best record in seven years of Japanese female artists.On April 27, 2010, it was announced that AKB48 would be attending and performing in the United States at Anime Expo, the nation's largest anime convention, as official guests of honor. AKB48 will be performing on July 1st, 2010, at the Nokia Theatre.

Japan leader apologizes over US base on Okinawa

Japan's embattled prime minister apologized Sunday to the people of Okinawa that he is ditching his campaign promise to move a U.S. military base off the island - a concession that is likely to further erode his grip on power.

During his party's campaign for last year's elections that swept him to power, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama had promised to relocate U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station off of Okinawa, perhaps even out of Japan.

But he has recently conceded that the government will be going back to an earlier plan, or a slightly modified version of that plan, chiseled by the former governing party: Building another base on Okinawa, but in a coastal area less crowded than the residential sector where Futenma is now located.

"The relocation of Futenma will have to stay in Okinawa," Hatoyama said in a meeting with Okinawa prefectural chief Hirokazu Nakaima. "I apologize from the bottom of my heart for the confusion that I have caused the people of Okinawa in not being able to keep my promise."

Many local leaders, including Nakaima, are opposed to keeping the military base on the semitropical island.

"I must tell you that your decision is extremely regrettable and very difficult to accept," Nakaima said.

The people of Okinawa have long complained about the noise, jet-crash dangers and worries about crime that come from housing more than half of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan, stationed under the bilateral defense alliance.

Hatoyama has seen his popularity ratings plunge in recent months - as voters increasingly are disenchanted with his failure to act on a number of campaign pledges, including the Futenma issue as well as promises for toll-free highways and cash payments for babies.

His biggest political ally, Ichiro Ozawa, the head of Hatoyama's Democratic Party, has been the target of allegations involving campaign fund abuse, although Ozawa has denied any wrongdoing and Japanese prosecutors have repeatedly said that they will not charge him.

'Lost' Dueling Analysis: 'The End'

In which Jen and Liz agree, not to say goodbye, but to move on after four years (and six seasons) of analyzing TV's biggest cult hit ever. Read along, then join them at noon ET for the "Lost" Hour live chat. In the meantime, visit "Lost" Central to brush up on your island back story or relive it all over again.

Jen: And then we came to the end... and what an end it was. Liz, I know that emotionally, you were in the same place I was tonight, which can be summed up with a psychological term I like to call: bawling. Teary during the recap, weepy when Jin and Sun both remembered their island lives while looking at that ultrasound, a complete WRECK when Claire gave birth and Charlie -- bless him -- realized who Claire was. Hell, I got teary during the Target commercials, though that was mostly from laughter. (The First Alert/smoke monster team-up was an unparalleled stroke of advertising brilliance that even the geniuses at Sterling Cooper would have to envy, assuming they have the ability to flash-forward from the '60s.)

But before we make ourselves cry again, which is inevitable, we need to address the question I think everyone is going to have in the wake of tonight's finale. Were they dead all along? Or did they just die after the island was destroyed, sometime after Hurley and Ben -- or as I like to call them, the Dream Team -- took over Jacob duties?

Liz: Here's what I think. I was, like you, utterly rocked by this finale. We were gifted with 2.5 hours of utterly cathartic, satisfying emotional release as we watched characters we've come to love over the past six seasons find closure. As I think I said in the instant reaction we posted last night, I cried every single time one of our characters had a reunion/breakthrough and I -- like you and the rest of the fans -- needed that release. So, yes, in terms of ending the story for the show's characters, this finale may go down in history as the best ever (I'm talking to you, David Chase and hope you were taking notes).

But, in terms of closing the loop on the mythology, the plot lines, the mysteries -- well, we didn't get all the answers. We knew we wouldn't, but we didn't really get any. And now we have a new question. Which shouldn't suprise any die-hard "Lost" fan, I know. But it's a big'un. Were they dead all along?