12 Teams of The AKB48 Group New Performance and Documentary Film

Japanese act AKB48, the world's largest pop group with 50-70 members cast in a rolling American Idol-esque way, had 16 girls in DC over the last couple of days to perform at Lincoln Theatre, celebrate the 100th anniversary of the cherry blossoms, and engage in other Japanese-American relations. Here is a look back at all the things these girls did while they were here:

The team shuffle, which was announced back in February, went into effect on April 22nd with NMB48's new Team BII's 'Saka Agari' performance. To coincide this occasion, AKB48 group general manager Kayano Shinobu wrote on their official blog, "We've made you wait for a really long time. We would like to begin the pennant race, which was announced last year."

AKB48 revealed the details on their pennant race 'AKB48 Group Pennant Race ~AKB48 Group wa Kisoiatte Migakareru~'.

The participants of the pennant race will be all 12 teams of the AKB48 group. They include Team A, Team K, Team B, Team 4, Team S, Team KII, Team E, Team N, Team M, Team BII, Team H, and Team KIV. It will be held from April 22 to October 31. Teams can accumulate points from 1. scale factor of member applications during AKB48 Theater performances, 2. handshake event ticket sales, and 3. the number of votes obtained during the General Elections. The team with the most points will win the race.

A website for the pennant race will be launched in the coming days. The amount of points and the team ranking will be updated in real time. Beside the team race, members will also be evaluated for their hard work.

Earlier, it was reported that AKB48's 4th documentary film 'DOCUMENTARY of AKB48 The time has come Shoujotachi wa, Ima, Sono Senaka ni Nani Omou?' would hit theaters on July 4th. Now, a teaser has been released.

The documentary, which will be directed by Takahashi Eiki, will follow AKB48's activities from 2013 to June 2014. It will highlight the group's big team shuffle, Oshima Yuko's graduation, and the 'AKB48 37th Single Senbatsu General Election'.

In the teaser, you can see a digest of live performances, members interviews, and behind-the-scene footage.

AKB48 announced through their official blog that Oshima Yuko's graduation performance has been changed from June 2 to June 9. Originally, Oshima had planned to graduate at AKB48 Theater on June 2 after holding various events such as her graduation ceremony in March at National Olympic Stadium and her Kanshasai.

However, her graduation ceremony at National Olympic Stadium was canceled due to stormy weather. The make-up for this event was later scheduled to June 8 at Ajinomoto Stadium, which is the day after the General Elections. Because the ceremony was pushed after her graduation performance, the date was changed to June 9. As originally planned, Oshima will part ways with AKB48 at the Theater.