On January 23rd, idol group AKB48 held an event titled, �AKB Unit Festival�, at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Bunkyo, Tokyo.

This festival is like an extra concert to their four-day event, �Request Hour Set List Best 100�, which ended just recently on the 22nd. This festival featured AKB48 sub-units Watarirouka Hashiritai 7, No Sleeves, and French Kiss as well as five soloists� such as Maeda Atsuko (20) and Itano Tomomi (20).

2012 marked the very first �AKB Unit Festival�, and only 28 performers appeared on the�first�stage. Not yet�s Oshima Yuko (23) commented, �I was surprised at how little people [there] were on the stage.�

Fellow Not yet member Sashihara Rino (19)� performed her solo debut song, �Sore Demo Suki Dayo�, which will be released this Spring. Afterwards, DiVA�s Akimoto Sayaka (23) revealed to their fans that, �[Sashihara] was extremely nervous backstage.� Sashihara admitted, �Bull�s eye~ I seriously wanted to run away!�

In addition to these sub-unit performances and solo stages, six members of AKB48 came out as 'Selection 6' and performed "Sweet & Bitter", the coupling song to their upcoming single, �GIVE ME FIVE!�.

Approximately 4,000 people attended the event.

Check out the photos below!

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Source & Images: Sanspo