Keyakizaka46 group photobook -- the new one and the one from 2015

A Keyakizaka46 photobook has been announced as their first, to come out in November. However, there was another little group photobook way back in 2015, produced just after the group was formed.

It was produced so early in the group's history that it contained pictures of Harada Mayu, the member whose affair with a former teacher got her kicked out of the group before they had really done anything. That is probably why you don't see much about that book any more. That and the fact it came out before Neru joined the group. And although it's called a "book," it may just have been a feature in a magazine.

Here's the possible cover of the new book, along with a page from the old one, which was entitled "Welcome to Keyakizaka46."

That's Hirate Yurina in the new pic, and Hirate Yurina second from right in the pic from three years ago. Much has happened in the years between....




That new pic deserves to be printed larger. It was taken on Center Gai street, in the heart of Shibuya. One Japanese comment was: "So that's what it would be like to catch a glimpse of Techi in Shibuya!" I remember a rainy night last summer when people were reporting on Twitter and 5channel that they thought they had seen Techi being photographed around Shibuya.

Now, for the full comparison, here are all the pages I have -- and they may be all the pages -- of the original 2015 "book":

The front page: "Welcome to Keyakizaka46, chasing their senpais, Nogizaka46." Under the chair in the middle is the statement: "Center has not yet been decided."

Introducing the Keyakitte, Kakenai? TV show

Sugai Yuuka, Watanabe Rika, Satou Shiori, Uemura Rina (clockwise from top left)

Harada Mayu, Oda Nana, Watanabe Risa

Shida Manaka, Imaizumi Yui, Koike Minami.

Moriya Akane, Suzumoto Miyu, Saitou Fuyuka

Habu Mizuho, Ishimori Nijika, Ozeki Rika, Nagasawa Nanako

The younger members: Yonetani Nanami, Kobayashi Yui, Hirate Yurina, Harada Aoi

The new book is due out 21 November. It will have 304 pages and will cost Y2000 -- about US$18. That's a bargain in the world of photobooks: Neru's had 160p, Sugai's, Berika's and Zumiko's have 144p. All of them cost Y1944, almost the same as this book with around double the number of photos.

I don't know whether Hiragana members will be included. No-one mentions them, so perhaps not.