On December 29th, AKB48 participated in the rehearsals for the “62nd Kohaku Uta Gassen” at Shibuya’s NHK Hall.

Last year, 130 members from AKB48, SKE48, and NMB48 performed together on stage and if you thought that was a lot, then check this. AKB48, SKE48, and NMB48 will be joined by HKT48, JKT48, and SDN48 for this year’s performance, totaling the number of members performing to 210!

Member Maeda Atsuko said, “I think we’re going to exceed 300 members next year,” while Oshima Yuko added, “We need to have NHK make a stage that can accommodate all of us.”

The girls will be performing a special medley titled “Kohaku 2011 AKB48 Special MIX ~Ganbarou Nippon!“, which includes the girls’ hit songs “Kaze wa Fuiteiru“, “Flying Get“, and “Everyday Kachuusha“. Once the medley ends, the girls will attempt to form a human letter.

Kojima Haruna revealed, ”Although they don’t know Japanese, the girls of JKT48 were the best.” Takahashi Minami commented, “Even with JKT48, we’re only at 20 or 30 points. We want to perfect it during tomorrow’s rehearsals.”

AKB48 also revealed that their second overseas sister group TPE48 will be debuting in Taiwan next summer.

“The 62nd Kohaku Uta Gassen” will be aired on New Year’s Eve from 7:15 pm to 11:45 pm JST.