Akimoto Yasushi decides to create AKB48 Team 8

On March 24th, AKB48 producer Akimoto Yasushi announced through Google+ that he will soon be creating ‘Team 8′.
Following ‘Team A’, ‘Team K’, ‘Team B’, and ‘Team 4′, ‘Team 8′ will be the 5th team from AKB48.
During the 2nd night of AKB48’s Saitama Super Arena concert, there was a surprise announcement that 5 Research Students have been promoted to Team 4. With this promotion, Team 4 now has a total of 16 members, but there are still many Research Students who have not been promoted yet.

After the concert, captain Takahashi Minami gave a word of encouragement to the girls saying, “Don’t be discouraged. Take a look at yourself again and think about what you’re missing, and do your best.”
While no details on ‘Team 8′ have been revealed at this time, Akimoto explained, “Since there are many people concerned about the Research Students who didn’t get promoted, I will talk about something that should’ve been announced earlier. I will make Team 8. I want them to aim for that.”