Music Station lineup for March 4th revealed!

Music Station has announced its lineup of artists for its upcoming episode on March 4th.Porno Graffitti will be singing their new song, “Exit”, which is being used as the theme song for the “Getsu 9″ drama, “Taisetsuna koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshietekureta“. Also, Avril Lavigne will be making another appearance, singing her song “What the Hell” from her new album. Check out the full lineup below:Avril Lavigne: What The HellNYC: Yume TamagoKoda Kumi: BambiNishino Kana: DistancePorno Graffitti: EXITRIP SLYME: Sense of Wondersource :tokyohive...

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Morning Musume’s rivals are Dream Morning Musume?

On February 27th, Morning Musume’s Takahashi Ai and Michishige Sayumi attended a sales commemoration and handshake event for their new photobook, “Rival Survival”. This photobook is from their 2011 Fall tour, where 6th generation member, Kamei Eri, and 8th generation exchange students, Jun Jun and Lin Lin, graduated from the group. The book also includes performances from other places, backstage pictures, and an interview with the members. Since the title of their photobook is “Rival Survival”, the press asked them who the rivals of the revamped Morning Musume were. Both girls declared together, “Dream Morning Musume”; the group with former Morning Musume members. The average age of Morning Musume’s current lineup is 17, and Michishige laughed,...

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Ayabie, Taniyama Kishou, and Namikawa Daisuke star in upcoming movie, “En-enishi-”

The members of Visual Kei band Ayabie will be teaming up with popular voice actors Taniyama Kishou (Tsukimori Ren from “La Corda d’Oro”) and Namikawa Daisuke (Fai D. Flowright‎ from “Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle”) in the movie “En-enishi-”, set to premier in May.The film is about “shibito”: people who have been missing for over seven years and declared by law to be dead. “Shibito” kill people behind the scenes in order to protect their country. The characters in the film are divided into two sides: “Pole Star” and “Torenia“. Ayabie’s Takehito and Kenzo are on the “Pole Star” side with Taniyama, while Ayabie’s Namihito & Intetsu are on the “Torenia” side with Namikawa.Not a lot of details about the two groups are known at the moment, except...

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“Runway☆Beat” takes a walk down a real runway for “Kobe Collection 2011 S/S”

Kansai’s large-scale fashion show, “Kobe Collection 2011 Spring/Summer“, was held at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe today.Over 100 famous models, special guests and special performers, and the new collections from 39 different brands out of Kobe turned it into a spectacular show for the 12,000 people in the audience. Additionally, the cast of the upcoming movie, “Runway☆Beat“, including Seto Koji, Sakuraba Nanami, Kiritani Mirei, IMALU, and Tanaka Kei, had their very own special stage, and had fun promoting the movie in such a spectacular way. The band Funky Monkey Babys also made a surprise appearance during the special stage and performed their upcoming single, “Runway☆Beat“, which will be the theme song of the movie.Based on a popular...

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Full PV revealed for Koda Kumi’s new song, “Passing By”

Koda Kumi has just revealed the PV to her song “Passing By“!“Passing By” is a sad love song about the feeling of not being able to be with a loved one. In her music video, Koda enlisted the acting of a foreign male artist to be the love interest (who is presumably dead). Koda also delights with the presentation of her English skills in the track. “Passing by”, like “Bambi“, is a track from her upcoming album, “Deja Vu“.source: tokyohive...

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Momoiro Clover holds joint live with Shinsei Kamattechan

On February 25th, idol group Momoiro Clover held a joint live at SHIBUYA-AX with rock band Shinsei Kamattechan.Momoiro Clover performed 12 songs in front of 1,500 excited fans, including their newest track, “Mirai Bowl”, which will be released on March 9th. Hayami Akari (15) will be leaving the group on April 10th to do solo activities, but she commented, “I’ve learned to challenge different things through being in MomoClo.”Best of luck to her going forward!source: tokyohive...

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Chinese girl group Seishun Bishoujo has press conference before their concert

Chinese girl group Seishun Bishoujo would be arriving in Japan on February 25th for their concert, “Seishun Bishoujo Shinshun Concert 2011 ~THE WORLD TOUR IN TOKYO~“, and before their concert, the five girls held a press conference.After the girls greeted the press in Japanese, their leader, Saniya, spoke about the group’s dream, “We’re China’s first idol unit. We’re kind of like Japan’s ‘Morning Musume‘. First of all, we hope that this Japanese performance is a success. If the reaction is good, we’re thinking about releasing an album in Japan too.” The girls followed up with their impressions of Japan. Suniya said, “It’s a beautiful country. We love Japan.” Yuan Yuan commented, “The Japanese people are really polite and welcoming, so I...

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Sweet Vacation to release first best album, “Swee Vaca no Early Best + 8″

Electropop group Sweet Vacation will be releasing their first ever best album!The release will be titled “Swee Vaca no Early Best + 8″ and will hit stores on April 6th. Since the vocalist of the group, May, is originally from Thailand, they will be covering some of their previous songs in Thai in addition to including their first new song in nine months, “Catch Me Now.” The album features two “sides”: a “2007~2010 original side,” containing previous released songs, and a “2019 re-mix cover side,” which contains seven remixes.Check out the track list below! “2007～2010 original side” Track List 01. Magic Smile02. Asobi ni Ikou yo ~2nd edition~03. I Feel So Good (Thai ver.)04. Sexy Girl (Thai ver.)05. Summer Day (Thai ver.)06. Get up Boys and...

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Wasao, the movie star dog, set to make music debut

Wasao, the famous “busa-kawaii” (ugly-cute) Akita from Aomori, will be hitting the silver screen when his film ‘Wasao’ premiers on March 5th (directed by Nishiki Yoshinari). But it is now confirmed that Wasao will also be making waves in the musical world.Singer and actress Yakushimaru Hiroko (46) sings the movie’s theme, “Bokura no takaramono“, marking 22 years since her last theme song effort. However, Wasao will “sing” his own version of the song: with the help of advanced computer techniques, a recording of his bark will be put to the tune’s melody. For the entire shoot, which started last September and lasted about a month, the staff stuck closely to Wasao at all times. During a break in the 55-hour filming, they coaxed owner Kikutani...

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AKB48’s Nakagawa Haruka & Kikuchi Ayaka participate in DVD event

AKB48 members Nakagawa Haruka (22) and Kikuchi Ayaka (17) participated in a DVD sales commemoration event on February 24th at the Shibuya Tower Records store for their movie, “X Game”. Even though it was a horror movie, the girls expressed how much they enjoyed working on it. Kikuchi looked back on the experience by saying, “The place where we filmed was so much fun.”This movie was also the movie debut for Nakagawa, and when asked about it, she smiled and said, “Out of all the work I’ve done until now, this has been the most fun.”source: tokyohive...

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Is Yamashita Tomohisa having a fling with a French woman?

NEWS member Yamashita Tomohisa (25) seems to be involved in quite a bit of dating rumors recently; we previously reported that he had gone on a date with a foreign woman, and now ‘FRIDAY’ has caught him on another date with a beautiful blonde French woman.The two were spotted at a bar one night in Nishiazabu getting quite intimate, as the couple was seen whispering into each other’s ears as well as linking their arms together.It’s unknown whether or not this is the same woman we reported on previously.Check out the pictures below and let us know what you think! source: tokyohive...

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°C-ute speaks their mind about their newly released single, “Kiss Me Aishiteru”

Idol group C-ute released their new single, “Kiss Me Aishiteru“, on February 23rd. The track features more mature lyrics and a club sound that breaks ground for the group. According to leader Yajima Maimi (19), the group strove to express their “sex appeal” in their vocals.The danceable, high-intensity track is C-ute’s 15th single, and it puts them in new territory. The song deals with the anxiety a woman feels when she senses that love is almost over. The strongest vocalist in the group, Suzuki Airi (16), says recording the song was a process of trial-and-error, since, “For any musical phrase, there is a different way to convey it. The ‘I love you’ lyric at the end was the toughest part, since you have to put so much emotion into those short...

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TV Tokyo president assures “URAKARA” to continue filming as scheduled

Girl group KARA has been making headlines with their public dispute against their Korean agency, DSP Media. Anxious over group tensions, fans are growing increasingly concerned about how the girls may not be able to complete their activities together; this includes filming for their on-going drama, “URAKARA“. Luckily, their fears about “URAKARA” have been assuaged, as TV Tokyo’s president Shimada Masayuki (66) assured viewers that the drama will continue to film. On February 24th, the president brought up the issue during his regular interview with TV Tokyo and expressed, “They will be shooting the drama as scheduled. We can breathe a sigh of relief”.KARA will be shooting in Japan until this weekend, and then they will return to Korea temporarily....

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Nakagawa Shoko announces track list for new single, “Sakura Iro”

Anisong singer Nakagawa Shoko announced last week that she would be releasing a new single titled “Sakura Iro”. Delighting her fans, the star has just updated her official website with more information on the upcoming release! The single will come in the standard ‘CD+DVD’ and ‘CD-only’ editions when it drops on March 23rd. The DVD included with the CD+DVD version will feature the music video for “Sakura Iro” and its making-of movie.Check out the official track list below!–“Sakura Iro”01. Sakura Iro02. Marshmallow03. Lavender04. Sakura Iro -Instrumental-05. Marshmallow -Instrumental-source: tokyohive...

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NYC reveals “Yume Tamago” PV preview!

A couple weeks back, tokyohive covered a radio rip preview of NYC’s “Yume Tamago“, and now a PV preview for the same track has been shown on Japanese TV!The clip is about 35-40 seconds long, but it’s enough to get a good feel of the content in the PV, so check it out below! source: tokyohive...

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Yamashita Tomohisa says the “Party Don’t Stop” in Korea on M! Countdown

Since last week’s announcement that Japanese idol heartthrob Yamashita Tomohisa was going to perform on this week’s M! Countdown, fans have been waiting with much anticipation.The leader of NEWS was in town to plug his album release, “SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD“, on March 2nd, and also his two day Korean concert on April 16th and 17th at the KBS 88 Gymnasium. The moment fans have been waiting for has finally arrived, as Yamashita Tomohisa performed an electrifying stage for his hit song, “Party Don’t Stop“!source: tokyohive...

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“Not yet” releases PV teaser for “Shumatsu Not Yet”

AKB48’s sub-unit “Not yet” has released a PV preview for their new single, “Shumatsu Not Yet“, which will be released on March 16th.Oshima Yuko, Kitahara Rie, Sashihara Rino, and Yokoyama Yui are seen in the preview dancing in bright colored clothes while masked “cheerleaders” dance in the background for them. Check it out below!source: tokyohive...

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Morning Musume’s Takahashi Ai sings a duet with Kusumi Koharu on “Oha Star”

Morning Musume leader Takahashi Ai appeared on the February 22nd episode of children’s television show “Oha Star,” where she and ex-Momusu member Kusumi Koharu sang an old Morning Musume song together.Kusumi looks visibly excited and yells, “Ai-chan! Ai-chan! Welcome!”, when Takahashi enters the stage at 1:19. During this episode, the cast of “Oha Star” displayed their arigatou no ki (a tree decorated with cherry blossom-shaped thank you notes) and sang the 2007 Morning Musume tune, “Sayonara no Kawari ni,” which was released when Kusumi and Takahashi were in Morning Musume together.The lyrics of the song express the feeling of wanting to say “thank you” rather than “goodbye” when the time comes to part, perfectly fitting with their thank-you...

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Brown Eyed Girls to hold Japanese concert in April

Popular K-pop group, Brown Eyed Girls, will hold their first Japanese solo concert at the Tokyo International Forum on April 29th. The girls released the Japanese version of their hit song, “Sign”, back in January, and this month, they attended back-to-back launch events on the 18th and 19th.At the concert, the Brown Eyed Girls are scheduled to perform around 20 songs. An extravagant stage including a live band is planned.source: tokyohive...

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Who is Johnny Entertainment’s best actor?

First and foremost, Johnny’s Entertainment is known for producing male idols, and while many have tried to make a name for themselves as an actor, only a few are actually competing in the same league as full-fledged actors.This year, Ikuta Toma, one of the very few talents within the agency who are solely focusing on acting, was the first Johnny’s talent to win an acting award in the 54 year-long history of the “Blue Ribbon Awards“. Is Ikuta just one single shimmering light of hope among countless of cringeworthy idols-turned-actors? No. There are a few more Johnny’s talents that can actually act, and the mobile portal of goo/NTT DoCoMo have asked their users which of them have been delivering the best acting performances so far.You can tell...

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Horikita Maki’s upcoming drama to feature middle-age pregnancy

Horikita Maki (22) is set to star in her first lifestyle drama, “Umareru,” this spring. The show, which will begin airing in April on TBS (Fridays at 10:00 PM), contemplates the idea of life through the story of a 51-year-old pregnant mother.Horikita is the oldest daughter in her family and is working at a publishing company when she learns that her mother, played by Tanaka Misako (51), is pregnant. At first, she worries about her mother’s physical condition and is against the idea, but when she is forced to research middle-age pregnancy for an assignment, her way of thinking begins to change. Explained Horikita, “This drama is centered around life, and the idea that everyone on this earth is connected in some way. I want to create a drama...

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Oricon unveils weekly charts for February 28th

Oricon has just announced the results of their weekly single, album, and music DVD charts for the week of February 28th. Check them out below!Single Weekly Ranking 1. “Sakura no Ki ni Narou” – AKB48 : 2/16 (942,479)2. “Aoi Bench” – Tegomass : 2/16 (83,715)3. “Blue Bird” - Kobukuro : 2/16 (58,928)4. “Daiji na Koto” – AAA : 2/16 (27,297)5. “LOVE & PEACE” – Yoshii Kazuya : 2/16 (24,062)(Check out the full results for the single ranking here.) Album Weekly Ranking 1. “2 -NI-” – Yuzu : 2/16 (90,098)2. “Buzz Communication” – AAA : 2/16 (50,701)3. “Carpe Diem” – Aqua Timez : 2/16 (20,368)4. “LOVE STORY” – DEEP : 2/16 (14,409)5. “Parade” – Galileo Galilei : 2/16 (13,894)(Check out the full results for the album ranking here.) Music DVD Weekly...

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Kuraki Mai reveals PV teaser for “1000 Mankai no Kiss”!

Pop singer Kuraki Mai has just unveiled a short teaser for her upcoming single, “1000 Mankai no Kiss”!“1000 Mankai no Kiss” will be released on March 9th, and appears to be a pop song with influence from the 90s. For fans who couldn’t wait for the single to drop, Kuraki has released a forty-second teaser of the music video. The clips switch between close-ups, shots of Kuraki singing in a dark room, and scenes showing the singer running happily along the beach. Check out the teaser below!source: tokyohive...

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Nishino Kana + Perfume to have a chat on “Bokura no Ongaku”

Singer Nishino Kana and technopop group Perfume are both scheduled to appear on the February 25th episode of “Bokura no Ongaku,” which plans to feature a special talk section between these incredibly popular stars.Although Perfume has been in the music industry much longer, they are actually about the same age as Nishino. During their chat, the four lovely ladies plan to talk about life as a college student. Since Nishino is the main guest this week, she will perform her latest single, “Distance”, and a special acoustic version of her song “Kimitte” as a collaboration with the instrumental unit, TSUKEMEN. Her performance will be the first time that the singer has appeared on the music show.The episode will air on February 25th, 11:30 PM JST.source:...

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Shirota Yu to debut as a singer!

Popular actor Shirota Yu will debut as a singer under the name “U“, and he will release his debut single, “U“, on May 4th.“U” will be released as a triple-A side single which consists of “Sisyphus“, “Heart of glass“, and “U“, and all three songs were written and composed by Shirota himself. Shirota has been interested in music as he started to make his own music since he was teen, and finally, he signed with Avex. The concept of the songs is “passionate and sexy”, which suits Shirota’s character.The songs have already started distributing in 19 European countries, and the “Chaku Uta (R)” (ring tone) for one of the songs, “Sisyphus”, will start distributing on February 23rd. His first step as a singer will be the mini-live event at Lazona...

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Ueto Aya makes a lovely appearance at the “Kimono Queen Contest 2011″

Actress Ueto Aya made a guest appearance at Japan’s biggest kimono-centered event, the “Kimono Queen Contest 2011“.“I’m sorry for interrupting.” That’s how Ueto made her surprising entry at opening of the event. After a short greeting, she introduced her gorgeous black kimono. She stated, “I chose a stylish and beautiful kimono with a fan and crane pattern for today.” Further, she introduced the theme of this year’s contest. “The theme for today is ‘wannabe adult’. I’m 25, I’m already becoming one,” she said with a smile. She continued to talk about more things related to kimonos. “For my coming-of-age ceremony, my grandma gave me a light purple kimono with the pattern of a night-blooming cereus and added the brooch my mother was wearing for...

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AKB48 to release their first album in April!

It’s just been announced that AKB48 will be releasing their first full original album on April 6th!A total of sixteen songs will be featured in the currently untitled album, including the group’s huge hits “Ponytail to Shushu”, “Heavy Rotation”, “Beginner”, and “Chance no Junban”. The album will be available in two different versions: a limited ‘CD+DVD’ version and a regular ‘CD-DVD’ version. The limited edition is a special box set that comes with an exclusive 100-page photobook, a random collectible card featuring one of the girls, and an application for a special lottery. Albums purchased at any of the theater performances will include a ticket to a handshake event and a photographing session with the girls. The DVD will also contain...

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Mizuki Nana celebrates the release of her autobiography, “Shin Ai”

On Sunday, voice actress and singer Mizuki Nana held a handshake event to celebrate the release of her autobiography, “Shin Ai“, which was revealed in late January.In her autobiography, she talks about a lot of things we haven’t heard from her before, and she also included some precious memories she had with her late father. She said, “He probably would have gotten angry at me for writing something like this, but I still would have given it to him with a ‘thank you’.” Furthermore, she appealed to the 1,200 fans that attended the event, “I hope this book can became a source of energy for some of you.”Regarding Valentine’s Day, she commented that she gave self-made chocolates to 40 people from the staff. “I don’t have a special someone in my...

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