Arashi are hopelessly dorky for “Don’t You Get It?” PV

Arashi are hopelessly dorky for their latest PV “Don’t You Get It?” , the title song for their new album “Are you Happy” set to release 26th October.

“Don’t You Get It?” is a positive song to encourage people who are facing difficulties in life. In the spirit of their song, in the PV the guys continue to dance to the music as they are pelted with strong winds and toilet paper etc. The guys also do other silly stuff to make this a truly Arashic Production.

I can’t wait for the PV!

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Preorder their album below:

Regular Edition

Limited Edition

Arashi to release Olympic single “Power of the Paradise”

Arashi’s 50th single “Power of the Paradise” will be released on 14th September 2016. This is the theme song for Nihon TV’s “Rio De Janiero 2016” show, which Sakurai Sho is main caster for.

This is a support song encouraging everyone to scale for greater heights.

Source

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Purchase their single below:

Limited Edition

Regular Edition

Bundle of both editions

CM Kings and Queens for 1st half 2016

According to Nihon Monitor, the CM King and Queen so far in 2016 are Arashi’s Aiba Masaki(3rd year in a row) and Matsuko Deluxe.

In essence, Arashi continues to sweep the men’s category while AKB48 disappeared entirely.

Men’s category:
1. Aiba Masaki (12 CMs)
2. Sakurai Sho, Nishikori Kei, Ninomiya Kazunari (11 CMs)
3. Matsumoto Jun (10 CMs)
4. Ohno Satoshi, Matsuoka Shuzo (9 CMs)
5. Nishijima Hidetoshi, Yutaka Matsushige (8 CMs)
6. Abe Hiroshi, Oguri Shun, Ayumu Goromaru, Suda Masaki, Daigo, Tamaki Hiroshi, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Mukai Osamu, (7 CMs)

Women’s category:
1. Matsuko Deluxe (12 CMs)
2. Kasumi Arimura, Hirose Suzue, Yoshida Yo  (11 CMs)
3. Rola  (10 CMs)
4. Ueto Aya, Ayase Haruka, Kiritani Mirei, Matsuoka Mayu (9 CMs)
5. Ishihara Satomi, Kimura Fumino, Takei Emi, Yamomoto Mizuki (8 CMs)
6. Ann, Kanno Miho, Taira Yuna, Nanao, Honda Tsubasa, Miyazaki Aoi, Watanabe Naomi, Yoshida Saori (7 CMs)

Source

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Disappearance of 48Group from the list

In the golden years of 2011, Oshima Yuko had 19 CMs, while Maeda Atsuko and Shinoda Mariko had 17. In the Top 20, more than half would come from AKB.

“CMs are also a barometer for popularity. We can see changes in the “national idol group” which is supported by a core group of fans through this ranking.” – idol magazine writer

This change could also be felt in Fuji TV’s broadcast of the 2016 Senbatsu Sousenkyo last month. The average ratings was 8.7% in Kanto region from 7pm to 9pm. Also, there were calls for TV networks to stop broadcasting and just stream on the Internet.

“AKB has failed in its generation succession. This year, people do not know anyone below the rank of Top 6 so CM offers will probably not come in. CMs are the biggest revenue for AKB, so the management would probably work their hardest to get income from other avenues. Recently, their theaters started selling limited edition photos and also replicas of the Sousenkyo trophies.”

Source

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Artistes to lookout for in latter half 2016

Dean Fujioka
The multilingual actor rose to popularity after acting as “Godai-sama” in “Asa ga Kita”. He had zero CMs last year but clinched 6 already this year.

Atsugiri Danielson
A comedian (actually IT employee) aka American In Japan who jokes about his difficulties learning Japanese. He had 2 CMs last year, and 5 this year.

Mitsuki Takahata & Yoshine Kyoko
Both are heroines in NHK morning dramas this year. Mitsuki Takahata is currently leading “Toto Neechan” with high ratings while Yoshine Kyoko is set to takeover the same slot in October with “Beppin san”. They have 3 or 4 CMs currently.

Source

Arashi Ninomiya Kazunari dating announcer Itou Ayako

It’s reported that free announcer Itou Ayako(35) has been frequenting Nino’s house. Itou Ayako reports for “news every.” (Nihon TV) and is in charge of the “Culture & Sports” corner.

One weekend in June, Ninomiya(32) was seen leaving his house early in the morning for Arashi’s “Waku Waku Gakou” at Tokyo Dome. That evening, a woman in T-shirt, jeans and white sneakers appeared at the exit of his house and headed for a high class supermarket in the neighbourhood. She looked around her in a cautious manner from time to time, and returned to the house after shopping.

After finishing the event at Tokyo Dome, Nino returned home late at night.

Insider revealed “With his busy schedules, they can’t have dinner outside. She cooks for him. Especially breakfast. They seem to have breakfast together frequently.”

Itou Ayako was observed to frequent his place after work for several days straight.

The 2 first met each other in August 2012, when Ninomiya was MC for that year’s 24hr TV and Itou Ayako also appeared to promote for the show. “They got closer in May 2014, when Itou, together with other announcers appeared as a team for VS Arashi. They exchanged contacts at that time and started to communicate frequently.” – same insider

They then started their “cautious dating”, usually going to each other’s homes and never meeting outside. Last summer, they dated mainly in Nino’s house. Itou would cook and do the housekeeping, supporting her busy boyfriend.

Ninomiya was last linked to Nagasawa Masami(29) and Sasaki Nozomi(28), both of whom were younger than him.

“Itou san is the older sister type. She seems to have introduced him to her family too” – previous insider

Last November, Itou was asked by the press “Don’t you want to get married?” In reply, she said “Yes, if there’s a chance.”

“Itou san has been consulting people around her regarding marriage. To close friends there’s talk about who should emcee if a wedding reception is held. She’s 35 so she’d probably think seriously about it?” -previous insider

 Source

Update: Seems like the agency has given announcer Itou an “X” because she’s just not likeable enough for the fans. Netizens have discovered multiple hints of her relationship with Nino from her blog (actually excessive amount). An “X” means they’ll have to breakup. Those who were approved in the past were Sasaki Nozomi and Inoue Mao.

Source

Performances from The Music Day 2016

The Music Day is an annual music festival by Nihon TV. This year it featured some 71 acts spanning 11 hours.
Highlights include: Johnny’s shuffle medley, NEWS and Arashi’s new song.

The show was simultaneously aired on cable channel GEM throughout Asia. Hopefully those with the channel watched it!

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NEWS – Koi wo Shiranai Kimi e [NEW SONG!!!!]

Hey!Say!JUMP – Weekender/Maji Sunshine

Sexy Zone – Sexy Zone

Kanjani 8 – Medley

Kinki Kids – Flower/Bara to Taiyo

Arashi – One Love/Happiness

Arashi – Power of the Paradise [NEW SONG!!!!]

Johnny’s Shuffle Medley

NMB48 – Boku wa Inai

 

SKE48 – Pareo wa Emerald

AKB48 – Love Trip

Nogizaka46/Keyakizaka46 – Dream Collaboration

 

Kobukuro – Mirai

 

Arashi to release double A-side single for Ohno and Matsujun’s dramas

“I seek” will be the theme song for Ohno Satoshi’s new drama “Sekaiichi Muzukashii Koi”. Ohno acts as a arrogant company president who tries to win back his first love with lowly tactics. The love comedy starts 13th April at 10pm on Nihon TV.

Full Audio of “I seek”:

 

“Daylight” will be the theme song for Matsujun’s new drama “99.9: Keiji Senmon Bengoshi”. Matsujun transforms into a criminal lawyer who seeks to find the 0.1 truth behind criminal cases when there’s a 99.9% chance of the defendant being sentenced of a crime. His drama starts 17th April at 9pm, TBS.

 

Full Audio of “Daylight”:

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Purchase their new single here:

Limited Type A

Limited Type B

Regular Edition

66th NHK Kouhaku Utagassen 2015~2016: X Japan comeback,Arashi,Golden Bomber and more

NHK’s Kouhaku is one of the most prestigious music shows in a year. Artistes who are invited are chosen according to several factors – the results of this year’s activities, public opinion and performance concept. Take a look at the highlights from last night, have they lived up to expectations?

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X Japan – Forever Love/Born to be Free
X Japan disbanded in 1997 after appearing on Kouhaku, but regrouped in 2007. 2015 marks their return to Kouhaku after an absence of 18 years. Remembering their bandmates Hide and Taiji who passed away in 1998 and 2011 respectively, 2 guitars which belonged to them were placed onstage, as if to show that the band was performing as 7 instead of 5.

Leader Yoshiki says “We didn’t think that we’d get a chance at this stage. We’d like to thank the fans who supported us all these time, because of you, we got a 2nd life.

Arashi – Star Wars Collaboration / Sakura/ Ai wo Sakebe
Tying in with the popular movie, the members of Arashi transformed into Star Wars warriors complete with lightsabers and sang their hit songs for the year together with the Droids of the Galactic universe.

Alternative Link
NMB48 – 365nichi no Kamihikouki
I have no idea whether they’re trying to promote “Asa ga Kita”, Yamamoto Sayaka, the song or NMB48, but seeing how the cast of “Asa ga Kita” joined in the performance in the end, i guess the point was to promote the drama! Yamamoto Sayaka still got a huge deal out of this though, the guitar (which is actually unnecessarily in the context of her performance) and her solo opening made her stand out so much that the rest of NMB48 simply faded into the background. Most importantly, she got to stand beside Tamaki Hiroshi who is one of my absolute favourites!

AKB48 10th Year Anniversary – Aitakkata/Flying Get/Heavy Rotation
The concept of this performance was “Magic”. The moment when i read reports about it, alarm bells sounded because god knows how many lame magic tricks AKB48 has attempted in the past year. The real magic came when Maeda Atsuko and Oshima Yuko appeared out of nowhere to join the group. Takamina is shocked, but it is afterall the group’s 10th anniversary so i’m sure we’ll be seeing more Acchan-Yuko in 2016.

Ayase Haruka, Perfume, V6 x Disney Medley
Disney is quite a regular fixture on Kouhaku and Perfume often collaborates with Disney, but we’d never discover how cute Ayase Haruka is if not for this performance.She sings so well and dances like she’s part of Perfume!

 

Golden Bomber – Memeshikute
Golden Bomber cannot escape the vicious cycle of promoting”Memeshikute” and even Ayase Haruka is innocently asking “How much longer can they continue with this song?” but Golden Bomber always makes it fresh for the audience. In this performance, Darvish Kenji is dressed in a kimono but Kyan and Utahiroba Jun strips him to reveal that he’s actually dressed for a sumo match. The screen shows a computer system randomly picking his opponent from the Kouhaku judges, and it settles on Naoki Matayoshi, an award winning novelist and comedian. Naoki Matayoshi is carried into the ring and he loses to Darvish, but instead of getting a prize, sumo wrestlers pickup Darvish and knocks him against a temple bell,which is sounded traditionally to mark the start of a new year. Darvish ends up in a daze and Naoki describes his state using a scroll with the words “Hibana”(“fire sparks”). “Hibana” is actually the title of his award winning novel.

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If you’re interested in the full show, you can view it here.

 

 

 

Johnny’s Countdown 2015~2016: Shuji & Akira comeback, dream units and more!

 

This year’s Johnny’s Countdown was held in Tokyo Dome and the hosts were the adorkable Arashi. Hey!Say!JUMP and V6 had a concert and Kouhaku commitments respectively so they were filmed separately. Nevertheless, this year was really interesting as fans could choose what they want to see and hear.

Segments and notable moments from the show are summarized below:

• Songs you want to hear from each group(Fan Request)
  Kanjani8 had a very nice song chosen for them, “Osaka Romanesque”.
• Collaboration special
  Noriyuki Higashiyama sings Kondo Masahiko’s “Andalucia Ni Akogarete” with the Johnny’s Dancing Kings.
  Ex-NEWS & Kanjani8 member Uchi Hiroki also makes a brief appearance back-dancing.
• Song exchange medley
  Kanjani8 sings Sexy Zone’s “Cha Cha Cha Champion” in hilarious cosplay.
  Kis-my-ft2 Yokoo breaks a note while singing Chinen Yuri’s solo in Hey!Say!JUMP’s “Ultra Music Power”.
  Arashi performs NEWS debut song “NEWS Nippon”. Unlike Yokoo, Ohno sings Tegoshi’s high note flawlessly.
• KAT-TUN 10th year anniversary
  In celebration of their 10th anniversary, they started off with “Bokura no Machi de” from 2006. This was the only song i like out of their 3 songs. They also sang “In Fact” and “Kiss Kiss Kiss” from these years. This is also the last countdown for 4-member KAT-TUN.
• Kinki Kids 20th year anniversary
  This pair stopped dancing many years ago but this time they danced to “Yamedaide, Pure” from 1999. This is a rare song in Kinki’s playlist so it’s a must-watch!
• Dream units you want to see, Top 5 (Fan Request)

No.5: Sakurai Sho & Kikuchi Fuma
Song: Arashi
Sakurai Sho is Fuma’s senior from Keio University and apparently Fuma’s father wrote the lyrics to Arashi’s debut song. Fuma looks so enthusiastic next to Sho but i heard he’s actually a Akanishi shipper?

No.4: Noriyuki Higashiyama & Ohno Satoshi
Song: Nihon Yoitoko Makafushigi
Higashiyama took great care of Ohno before his debut. The song they performed is covered in Arashi’s latest album “Japonism”. Ohno shows some fear before attempting a dangerous backflip which 50-year old Higashiyama did without hesitating.

[Surprise: Yamashita Tomohisa & Kamenashi Kazuya]
[Song: Seishun Amigo]
According to a GirlsChannel report, Yamapi was originally not scheduled for Johnny’s Countdown as he had MV filming overseas. Fans had no option to nominate the duo but they still insisted on sending in requests. The overwhelming response must have resulted in Yamapi’s appearance. Aside from it being the biggest surprise of the night, it was also Kame and Yamapi’s reunion after 6 years so the fans in Tokyo Dome exploded in joy. Kame thanked the fans in the end by giving us a flashback of the Shuji-Akira bromance 10 years ago – a backhug for Yamapi.

Those smiles…I think it would not be exaggerating to say that this scene is worth watching 100 times over!

No.3:Matsumoto Jun & Kawai Fumito
Song: Wish
Kawai is well-known for his dance impersonations of Matsujun and despite Matsujun’s resistance, his impersonations delight everyone.

No.2: Kitayama Hiromitsu & Okura Tadayoshi
Song: (Each other’s songs)
They are apparently good friends!

No.1: Shibutani Subaru & Takizawa Hideaki
Song: Ashita ni Mukatte
These 2 were known as “Takizawa of the East” and “Subaru of the West” during Johnny’s Junior’s Golden Age. I do not know much about this era as it was 17 years ago, but judging from the fan votes here, this pair was huge and still is! “Ashita ni Mukatte” is actually an Arashi song which they often performed in their junior days.

If you want to watch the whole show:

Alternative Link

To conclude, this year’s Johnny’s Countdown is a memory worth keeping! Wishing all a Happy New Year!

Arashi to collaborate with Star Wars on Kouhaku

Arashi will put on a collaboration stage with movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” during “66th NHK Kouhaku Utagassen” on 31st December.

New characters in ＢＢ－８,Ｒ２－Ｄ２、Ｃ－３Ｐ as well as Darth Vader and Stormtrooper will also be making their appearances.

Ohno Satoshi says “We’ve been allowed to tag along Star Wars to perform onstage. We’re nervous since it’s a huge name we’re collaborating with but we’ll work hard and show you our courageous sides!”

NHK has also announced a disney stage with Ayase Haruka, Inohara Yoshihiko, Perfume and V6 collaborating with popular characters Mickey Mouse etc.

Source

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I never watched Star Wars in my life but this is too cool. Maybe Nino will finally get to use his glow-in-the-dark suits from Arashi ni Shiyagare.

AllThingsJpop Top 10 headlines of the year

Since 2015 is coming to an end, i might as well conclude with the Top 10 headlines of the year. These articles are ranked according to their viewership. Articles from 2014 and earlier have been left out.

1. Bunshun leaks pictures of AKB48 Kashiwagi Yuki and NEWS Tegoshi Yuya..a Hakone date?
This scandal was published in June 2015 and i guess the huge picture of Yukirin and Tegoshi, arms wrapped around each other, was a huge shock. No proper news sources would report it (for Yahoo it took a few days before article was posted) but the story was already all over the Internet. Though both parties remained largely silent, to this date, we’re still getting epilogues on the mysterious relationship between Yukirin and Tegoshi.

2. AKB48 2015 Senbatsu Sousenkyo ~Unpredictable Rankings, The Tumultuous Night~: Final Results

3. Back Number sings OST theme for drama “5-ji kara 9-ji made”
This comes in as a surprise because i had no idea “5-ji kara 9-ji made” would be so successful internationally. I’ve had readers asking me for titles of tracks which i had no idea of. But no worries, CDJapan now has the OST for sale!

4.  Kisumai Fujigaya Taisuke revealed to be dating Miori Takimoto for years
I seldom post about Kisumai let alone Fujigaya so the spike in numbers for this was quite surprising. I guess Kisumai is really huge, or there could be much more shippers of the couple from “Ikemen Desu Ne” that i’m aware of.

5. AKB48 General Elections 2015: Final look at China fans’ campaigns
This article ended up being published in a Japanese matome kinda site for 48 fans, and for some reason they’d misquoted the facts. So if you read the matome sites, please be aware that not all info passed around there is TRUE.

6. Horikita Maki gets married to Koji Yamamoto after 3 months of dating!
Title is enough to let everyone’s jaws drop in shock. Their love story is even juicier.

7. Tanaki Koki sends Taguchi message of support and talks about life after KAT-TUN
I would actually rank this way higher because it was just published. Surprised that people are still interested in Koki.

8.  Akimoto Yasushi touches on AKB48 Kashiwagi Yuki’s recent scandal

9. Oh no! Arashi’s Ohno snapped living with ex-actress 10 years his junior

10. Netizens discover signs of Shimazaki Haruka interacting with Johnny’s Junior, Sashihara dating Kisumai Senga?

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Thanks to everyone for supporting my site this year! There are busier days ahead and i won’t be posting regularly but i’ll be here when there’s important news! Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!