During an event at Seibu Dome in Saitama on Saturday, idol group AKB48 announced another major donation to the Japanese Red Cross. More than 580 million yen is being given toward the earthquake relief efforts. Combined with their previous donations, AKB48 has raised a total of more than 1.25 billion yen in aid.
After the earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, AKB48 began collecting donations for the relief efforts through their “Dareka no Tame ni” charity project and at various events. Those donations, plus a portion of the revenue from their CD sales, amounted to 668,916,085 yen up until February 18 of this year. They announced that they will contribute an additional 585,259,888 yen, bringing the total amount to 1,254,175,973 yen.
On top of that, the group will also donate 30 vehicles to the prefectures of Iwate, Fukushima, and Miyagi (10 to each). There are also plans for AKB48, SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48 to hold charity concerts at their respective theaters on March 11 (the anniversary of the earthquake).
Sources:
Sankei Sports
Oricon
