AKB Taiwan Audition opens in Taipei, 60 applications pass

AKB Taiwan, 2nd round auditions took place on the June 13th, 2015. The original pool of applications was narrowed down to just 60 people.

Originally, 2,152 applications were sent in, of which it appears that 170 persons were invited to an in-person audition in Taipei. From that pool of applications, it was narrowed down to just 60 members, all between the ages of 11 to 22 years old. It also seems there were quite a few girls who were able to give their appeal and self-introductions in Japanese, without the use of translator.

A recent 2ch thread offers their own opinions, a few of which mentions the historical treatment of Chinese idols coming to Japan: that of Morning Musume’s LinLin and JunJun, who both graduated and returned to China in 2011.

And while there were no individual, close-up photos, many note the cuteness of the girls in question:

Really high level (レベル高そう)
It’s pitiful that there are some who might be treated like those Chinese in Morning Musume (モー娘の中国人みたいな扱いになりそうで気の毒だよ)
In any case, only let the cute ones in. If they’re cute, it’ll work out. No point in having an ugly girl who can’t speak Japanese (とにかく可愛い娘だけ入れろ。可愛けりゃ何とかなる。日本語通じないブスなんて何の価値も無いよ)
What a waste… just let them all pass! (勿体無いな、可愛い子全員入れちゃえよ)

Photos from the Audition, provided by Dwango news: