Eien Pressure

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Eien Pressure, which means “Eternal Pressure,” is AKB48’s 29th major single. It was released in Japan on December 5, 2012. The title track’s sixteen performers were chosen through AKB48’s rock-paper-scissors (janken) tournament held in September at Nippon Budokan. Haruka Shimazaki won the tournament and served as the center for the song, marking her first solo center.

The single came out in five versions: Type A, Type B, Type C, Type D, and Theater Edition. The B-sides vary by version. A common B-side is “Totteoki Christmas.” Type A includes “Tsuyogari Tokei,” Type B includes “Ha!,” Type C includes “Hatsukoi Butterfly,” Type D includes “Eien Yori Tsuzuku Yō ni,” and the Theater Edition includes “Watashitachi no Reason.” The music video for “Eien Pressure” was directed by Eiki Takahashi and premiered on MTV Japan.

Kojima Haruna did not participate in the A-side track for this single. All lyrics are by Yasushi Akimoto, except “Eien Yori Tsuzuku Yō ni,” which was written by Hisaya Okada (Mecha-Mecha Iketeru!’s staff).

The song is performed by AKB48’s sister groups SKE48, NMB48, and HKT48, along with a special unit called OKL48, formed from AKB48 members who lost in the janken tournament. OKL48’s center is comedian Takashi Okamura, nicknamed “Oka Lemon.”

Eien Pressure appeared on Billboard Japan’s 2013 year-end charts.