At six years of age, popular child actress Ashida Mana will be a lead star in upcoming special drama, “Sayonara Bokutachi no Youchien” (NTV), which will be broadcasted in March. As a result, Ashida will be the youngest lead star in Japanese drama history.
The drama will be about five kids who are about to graduate from the kindergarten, and it’s described as a “Kindergarten version of ‘Stand By Me’“. The title of the drama was named after a song which has been sung by kids at the graduation ceremony at kindergartens, and at the end of the drama, the kindergarteners will sing the chorus to the song
For the special drama, the same staff from NTV’s drama, “Mother“, which is the show that made Ashida Mana popular, will unite again. Ashida, who will be entering into elementary school this spring (in her real life), commented, “I have very few opportunities to co-star with people in my age group, so I’m looking forward to staying with them.”
The special drama is projected to be yet another touching drama on the resume of Ashida.
NEWS member Yamashita Tomohisa just started his solo Asia tour, “TOMOHISA YAMASHITA ASIA TOUR 2011 Super Good Super Bad“, at HITEC Star Hall in Hong Kong.
Yamashita appeared on stage, receiving enthusiastic “Yamapi!” calls, and he performed “Daite Senorita“, “Fever to Future“, and “Seishun Amigo” as the opening songs, and grabbed the hearts of 4,000 fans. When Yamashita performed “Seishun Amigo” on the stage, while being surrounded by the audience on all side, almost all of those in attendance were dancing to the song with Yamashita.
A total 25 songs were performed during the live concert, and Yamashita said to the fans, “I knew you guys (fans in Hong Kong) were very powerful, but it was just way beyond my expectations. I will study the language more, and I want to sing Hong Kong songs next time!”
Although he has held a live concert with NEWS in Taiwan back in 2007, this was his first solo concert overseas. During the concert, Yamashita gave handshakes on his own accord, and he even went down to the auditorium.
The live concerts in Hong Kong were held on January 29th and the 30th, so Yamashita said that he watched the Japan’s performance in the Asian Cup Final at the hotel room after the concert. Since he is in good contact with one of the Japanese team’s player, Nagatomo Yuto, who had the game winning assist, Yamashita gave congratulations to his friend, saying, “Nagatomo was amazing. He encouraged me. Congratulations.”
It’s been a whole nine years since any Johnny’s Entertainment artist has held a live concert in Hong Kong, however, it seems like the popularity of JE boys, including Yamashita, is still quite high. Since the tickets for the two live concerts in Hong Kong were sold out in an hour, there were two more additional stages. Thus, Yamashita held four stages in total in two days.
With this Asia tour, Yamashita will also visit Taiwan, Korea, and Thailand, apart from the five locations in Japan. He said, “I would like to dwindle the distances in this world. I would hope I could make people in other countries think, ‘Idols in Japan are pretty fun.’”
Ten member girl group Passpo announced that they would be making their major debut and going on a worldwide tour!
The group cheerfully introduced themselves in front of 1,000 fans on January 30th with a cute “Attention please! We’re Passpo!”, then showed off their major debut song “Shoujo Hikou,” presenting its “air travel” theme and flight attendant-inspired costumes. It was also revealed at the event that member Wakatsuki Chinatsu was responsible for the costume design and “rolling bag” dance for their debut single.
The group will be releasing their major label debut single, “Shoujo Hikou,” on April 6th after releasing four indie singles and an album. The average age of all the members is 17.4 years old, and finds much of their inspiration in popular Korean girl group Shoujo Jidai, their labelmate under Universal Music Japan. When asked about SNSD, Passpo replied excitedly, “We’d love to stand on the same stage as them someday.”
The girls seemed to have high expectations of their major label debut. “Even though we’re making our major debut, we want to give it our all just like the (indies) Passpo,” said the leader, Negishi Ai. She then added, “We want to stand at the top. We have our eye on Oricon’s number one spot!”
Passpo also announced at the event that they would be going on a worldwide tour by the end of the year, featuring stops in America and across Asia.
Check out Passpo’s performance at the Tokyo Idol Festival 2010 below. Do you think the girls have what it takes to make a successful major label debut?
Passpo – Let It Go!! + La La Love Train (Tokyo Idol Festival 2010)
Previously, tokyohive reported that singer, Crystal Kay had canceled her tour due to acute nephritis. On January 29th, Crystal made a new entry on her official blog, and apologized to her fans for the cancellation.
She wrote, “I’m sorry for making all of you worried. My body seems a little bit tired, but I’m fine!! It’s not that serious. The doctor told me that it will be better if I get some rest, so you don’t have to worry!! Since I have never cancelled my tour even once, I’m really really frustrated. I wanted to show you guys a great show. I cried reading your comments. Thank you so much. By reading these comments, it gives me the feeling of ‘Alright! I’m gonna cure it, and power-up!!!’ I will take a rest and cure it, and I promise I will try hard to make you guys better songs, so please wait for me. Thank you so much and I will see you guys soon. <3 U ALL.”
It is well-known that Nakagawa Shoko is a huge fan of anime and manga, but she probably never expected to be a character in one!
The idol posted some photos of a manga she had been reading, where Nakagawa is depicted as being slightly off-kilter, saying only nonsense. Nakagawa found it so hilarious that the remainder of her blog post consisted of repeating her only lines in the manga and deploring her overly-realistic upper lip.
Just moments ago, the Sanrio Japan Official YouTube Channel released the full PV for SCANDAL’s “CUTE!“, which is also the “CINNAMON Collaboration Song“.
The track is the coupling song off of SCANDAL’s first single of 2011, “PRIDE“, due out for release on February 9th.
On January 27th, actress Ayase Haruka attended an event in Tokyo to receive her “Valentine Queen Award 2011“.
Oricon Style recently did a survey related to Valentine’s Day, and Ayase won in two categories: “The Most Shining Actress Right Now” and “Favorite Actress”.
She looked back at her Valentine’s Day memories and said, “During my school days, my friends and I only made chocolate to exchange it within our group.”
Additionally, she revealed that she is still looking for her Valentine. She was careful not to say anything wrong, as people easily tend to create love rumors out of nothing. “There is nobody I could give my chocolate. I would immediately give it if there was a person that would make me feel like it, but that person hasn’t appeared yet.”
Seems like the Queen is lonely and needs a King, any volunteers?
Today it has been revealed that Sawajiri Erika’s husband, Takashiro Tsuyoshi, has signed and handed over the official divorce papers. He spoke about the matter in an exclusive interview with NTV’s morning news program “news every,” that aired around 5am.
One of the reporters of the show is said to be a good friend of Takashiro and when he asked him about the details of the divorce, he stated, “Everything has been handled sloppily until now, therefore we have to gain back trust in each other. It’s important not to lie, not to have any secrets. Everything should be dealt with openly. Only under those conditions I was willingly able to sign the papers and hand them over to her.”
The two of them have been discussing their divorce for more than three months now. On the 23rd, Sawajiri already revealed in an interview that they have come to an agreement, without telling Takashiro or her staff beforehand that she was going to disclose it to the public that soon. He commented, “Those one-sided words again… It still takes two for a marriage and a divorce. I think it would have been better to explain it to our parents prior to making it public.”
Right now Sawajiri is in Malaysia on a “beauty trip” and is supposed to return back to Japan on the 29th. After that, the two are going to advance towards their final negotiations.
As we reported back in December, Kanjani8’s new song titled, “T.W.L” which will be released this spring, will be used as the new theme song for ongoing anime “Crayon Shin-chan.” Today, it was revealed that “T.W.L” will start airing on February 4th, and the song was made by popular duo, Yuzu’s Kitagawa Yujin. This is the first time for Kitagawa to make a song for other artist.
This song is said be a “strong collaboration” due to the parties involved. Kanjani8 will also take the lead in the anime series theatrical movie, “Crayon Shinchan, Arashi wo yobu Ougon no Spy Daisakusen” (scheduled to be released on April 16th).
Singer, model and actress Meisa Kuroki has seemingly created a niche for herself in the pop world, as the singer’s new album “MAGAZINE“, which went on sale on the 26th, has moved up to #5 on the Oricon for its second day on the charts.
Having released three physical singles and two mini-albums since her debut back in 2008, the busy 22 year old is currently promoting her new album, which is her first full length studio effort. Kuroki, who has been tweeting regularly about the album’s progress since the end of last year, is pulling out all the stops, promoting new songs such as “Bye Bye My Friend” on Hey! Hey! Hey! Music Champ. The album also has another unique advantage: its packaging. The entire album has been formatted to look exactly as its title suggests – a magazine.
While the album is having success on the charts, Kuroki isn’t slowing down her musical work anytime soon. Word on the street is that the singer will be releasing a new single titled ”One More Drama” for April 13th.
Please check back with tokyohive for more details as the release becomes finalized, and look forward to Meisa’s performance of “LOL!” on tomorrow’s episode of “Music Station”!
We previously reported that AKB48 would be debuting a new sub-unit under the name Not Yet, and now a small clip of their debut performance has been revealed!
The new sub-unit performed their debut song, “Shuumatsu Not Yet”, on January 21st at the “AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2011.” The song is a bright, upbeat dance tune with a strong beat, along with an adorably energetic choreography.
We previously reported that pop group BRIGHT would be releasing a new song, called “Ichinen Nikagetsu Hatsuka”, on January 12th through Recochoku, but it appears the girls have more plans for the song!
A 60-second teaser of what appears to be an official PV or advertisement for the “Ichinen Nikagetsu Hatsuka” track was uploaded onto Avex’s official YouTube channel. BRIGHT also announced through this video, and on their official website, that they would be going on tour in order to promote their newest song.
Those who purchased the song through Recochoku as a ringtone will be entered into a raffle to attend a special premium live by the four-membered group. The series of performances, titled “BRIGHT LIVE TOUR ~Sannen Ikkagetsu Nijuuyokka,” will begin on March 12th and end on March 27th for a total of four lives.
AKB48 member Akimoto Sayaka will be challenging the “Tokyo Marathon 2011“, which will be held on February 27th. Although she has tried the half marathon two years ago, this will be the first time she has challenged the full marathon of just over 42 km.
Akimoto confessed that she is weak on long-distance running, despite being quite athletic. According to Akimoto, the biggest reason why she would challenge the full marathon is related to the scandal which was reported back in October 2010. Because of the scandal, Akimoto resigned as the captain of Team K. ”Since I made my fellows and fans, who have been supporting me, worried last year, I wanted to show them a person that can re-start for 2011“, Akimoto expressed.
She also said, “I also want to meet ‘my new self’ who challenges hard tasks without running from them, but rather overcomes them.”
She is currently training with Ozaki Akemi, who was the winner of “Athens Classic Marathon” in 2009.
Other than Akimoto, there will be other celebrities who are challenging the “Tokyo Marathon 2011″, such as Kokubun Taichi (TOKIO), Yoshizawa Hitomi, Papaya Suzuki, Ohkushi Erika, and so on, and it will be broadcasted on Fuji TV at 9:00 AM on February 27th.
TBC, the largest beauty salon chain in Japan, has announced that they’re going to continue with the scheduled airing of their new commercial featuring KARA. Rest assured, all five members will be seen on the commercial next month, despite the ongoing controversy the group is facing with three of its members desiring to terminate their contracts.
The company stated, “We have been discussing the timing for the start of our new campaign in various conferences, and came to the conclusion that we should go on as planned and use it as a message of support for the group.”
However, it’s still undecided as to whether or not their theme song, “Roller Coaster“, will be distributed digitally in the future.
Uncertain as well is the future of KARA’s TV Tokyo drama, “URAKARA“. According to the station, they haven’t completed recording the 4th episode, which is supposed to air on February 4th. However, if the members won’t come to a conclusion with their agency soon, TV Tokyo may decide to postpone this week’s 3rd episode.
Singer and voice actress Aya Hirano (best known for her work in “The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya“) will soon be releasing her very first “Best Of” album on April 20th!
The album, which is to contain both original and character songs, will come in three different editions. One such package includes a special collector’s edition that will contain a DVD as well.
Although not much more has been said about the album, additional details will be available as the release nears its finalized stage.
Aya will also be releasing a DVD/Blu-ray of her live shows and performances from last year, titled “AYA HIRANO Special live 2010 ~Kiss♥me~“, on May 3rd.
Today the winners have been announced for the “53rd Blue Ribbon Awards” where reporters from the 7 major newspapers in Tokyo come together to elect their favorite movies and actors of the year.
Both “Akunin” and “Kokuhaku” dominated the nominations this year. In the end Nakashima Tetsuya’s “Kokuhaku” (Confession), that has just been announced as one of the 5 nominees for “Best Foreign Language Film” at the upcoming Oscars a few hours ago, emerged as the winner and won “Best Film“. The stellar performance of actor Tsumabuki Satoshi in “Akunin” earned him the “Best Starring Actor” award. Actress Terajima Shinobu won “Best Starring Actress” for her role in “Caterpillar“.
Ishii Yuuya received “Best Director” for his amazing work in “Kawa no soko kara konnichi wa” (Sawako Decides).
Actress Kimura Yoshino won “Best Supporting Actress” for her role as a monster parent in “Kokuhaku” whereas Ishibashi Renji received “Best Supporting Actor” for his outstanding work in “Outrage” and “Kondo wa aisaika“.
This year’s “Rookie of the Year” award went to Sakuraba Nanami for her role in “The Last Chushingura” and to Ikuta Toma for his movie debut “Ningen Shikkaku” (The Fallen Angel). It is the first time in the long history of the award that an active Johnny’s talent has won in one of the categories.
Proudly he stated, “I have always felt like a leftover not fit for any group within the agency. I love to act and the ratio of successful applicants for a position as an actor isn’t that high within the agency, thus I decided that this is what I want to do. However, I have still continuously been trying to find out where I am actually standing right now and it really means a lot to me to be the first of my agency to win one of the awards.”
Sakuraba was already able to feel the confidence she received from the award as well. She stated, “Back in my hometown in Kagoshima, when I first heard about such an award, it always felt like a distant thing to me. I never would thought that I would be receiving it someday. It makes me so incredibly happy to be called an ‘actress’. With the newfound self-confidence I have received from the award, I’d like to keep on trying my best.”
Actor Chiba Yudai and fashion model Kanno Yui will both be making special appearances in rookie rock band Violent is Savanna’s newest PV, “Awa-Iro Sakura Chiru”!
Although their second major label single, “Awa-Iro Sakura Chiru / Refrain Tumor”, will not be released until February 9th, the band has already released the music video for their newest song, marking the first time that Chiba and Kanno have appeared together.
Aside from his role as the Red Ranger in Tensou Sentai Goseiger, Chiba also appears in television commercials and fashion magazines as a model. On the other hand, Kanno has made multiple appearances in popular teen magazines, and has even produced her own brand of cosmetics.
Violent is Savanna debuted as major band last year. During their time as an indie band, they charted at number two on the indie single charts. The band’s latest song, “Awa-Iro Sakura Chiru”, is said to be a painfully sad “sakura song” to coincide with the theme of farewells during the season of the cherry blossoms.
Yamashita Tomohisa’s fourth solo single, “Hadakanbo”, was released on the 19th of January and has already claimed the top spot on the charts!
Yamashita’s single is his first solo release in about four months, and “Hadakanbo” sold 68,000 copies in its first week, giving the popular NEWS member nothing but chart-topping singles since his debut with “Daite Señorita.” Including his participation in NEWS, Akira to Shuuji, and GYM, Yamashita currently has an impressive 21 consecutive singles that have ranked at number one under his belt.
On the 26th, Yamashita Tomohisa will also be unleashing his first solo album, “SUPERGOOD, SUPERBAD.”
Will it also top the charts? Make sure to check next week’s Oricon Album Ranking Chart to find out!
On January 24th, AKB48’s B Team sub-unit, Watarirouka Hashiritai, attended a press conference held by 7&i for their upcoming Valentine’s Day event.
A special version of the unit that features two additional members, Iwasa Miyaki and Komori Mika, are currently helping to promote the event with their upcoming single, “Valentine Kiss.” The campaign hopes to help change Valentine’s Day to an event where women not only give chocolate and gifts to those they have romantic feelings for, but also to the important people in their life that they would like to express their thanks towards.
A special CM featuring Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 was screened during the press conference, along with the group’s cover of Kokusho Sayuri’s 1986 hit, “Valentine Kiss,” the official campaign song of the special Valentine’s event. Directly following the event, the AKB48 members answered questions about their newest song. “Up ’til now, when you said ‘Valentine’, (you’d think of) Kokusho Sayuri’s ‘Valentine Kiss,’ but from now on we want you to (think of) Watarirouka Hashiritai 7’s ‘Valentine Kiss’,” Hirajima Natsumi told the reporters enthusiastically.
Inevitably, the girls were also asked to share their memories of Valentine’s Day. “I’ve always been the type to receive stuff from others than to make things on my own,” admitted Watanabe Mayu. “Since I was chosen as a Valentine’s campaign representative, I think I’ll try to make some chocolate this year.”
Nakagawa Haruka replied with a funny story.“When I was in middle school, there was a classmate who put pepper into her chocolate and gave it to the boys and the teacher. When the teacher ate some, they gave back the 10 pieces (that were left),” she recalled, causing the audience to laugh.
Seven exclusive “Ecodeco” cars also made their debut at the event. The cars, which features thank-you notes and pictures of each member of the idol group, were driven through the whole town for exhibition. All seven cars will go on display at Iyokado’s Ario location beginning on February 13th as part of the Valentine’s Day celebration, where the members of Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 will be working for an special one-day event.
After teasing us with a 30-second sample earlier, the nine ladies of Shoujo Jidai have finally dropped the full audio of their new digital release, “Run Devil Run“.
The girls will perform this track on the January 28th episode of TV Asahi’s “MUSIC STATION”, and many fans are curious over whether Shoujo Jidai will revive the original Korean choreography for its promotion.
Check out the track below (and you can support them by purchasing the music through iTunes Japan)!
Nihon TV’s late-night music program, “Music Lovers“, will feature Arashi on its upcoming episode!
Scheduled for a January 30th broadcast, the show will air all of Arashi’s performances from “Music Lovers”, which includes “Love so sweet“, “One Love“, and “Troublemaker“.
The show will also reveal a never-before-seen talk segment, so Arashi fans, make sure that you catch this very special episode!
Earlier, Morning Musume’s leader Takahashi Ai announced that she’ll be graduating from the group at the end of the Morning Musume tour this fall. Many have been wondering what the 24-year-old plans to do after her graduation, and now her plans have finally been revealed.
On January 23rd, it was announced that the singer will immerse herself in the ‘musical theatre’ world, as she plans to tackle the role of ‘Sarah’ for the play, “Dance of the Vampire.” Takahashi expressed, “Right now I have the feeling, ‘I want to be on stage!!’. When I heard that I would be in the play, I was so happy that I cried.”
“Dance of the Vampire” will run from November 27th up until December 24th.
NHK’s music program, “MUSIC JAPAN“, has announced their artist line-up for January 30th. The episode this week is jam-packed with a bunch of great artists, so we’re sure that many of you will be happy with this line-up!
Four-member pop group SPEED has just announced that they’ll be releasing their first clip collection since 2000!
The DVD collection, titled “SPEED Music Clips Complete Best”, will include the music videos for all their hit songs, from their debut to the present. The DVD will be released on March 30th, and although the covers have not yet been released, the tracklist has already been posted on the website.
Check out the line-up of SPEED hits below!
SPEED Music Clips Complete Best Track List 01. Body & Soul 02. STEADY 03. Go! Go! Heaven 04. Luv Vibration 05. Wake Me Up! 06. Nettaiya 07. White Love 08. my graduation 09. ALL MY TRUE LOVE 10. ALIVE 11. Precious Time 12. Breakin’ out to the morning 13. Long Way Home 14. Carry On my way 15. April 〜Theme of “Dear Friends”〜 16. Be My Love 17. Walking in the rain 18. Ashita no Sora 19. Wake Me Up! Re Track 20. Nettaiya Re Track
Ex-Morning Musume member Fujimoto Miki recently took a selca of herself in a furry winter jacket, showing off her youthful appearance and milky white skin. The former idol also posted the following message:
“Morning~ I have a date after this ^_^ It’s warm in the afternoon, but since it gets cold when the sun goes down, I’m wearing warm clothes. See you later~ “
Fans marveled over her beauty, commenting, “Miki-san, you’re way too beautiful,” “Mikitty, you look so cute today,” and “I’m glad you’re dressing warm, it’s cold outside.”
Hello! Project soloist Mano Erina has opened up a poll that will allow fans to choose what songs the idol will sing at her next concert!
An official website has been established where fans can vote for their top three favorite Mano Erina songs. Thirty-one songs are available for voting, including most of her hits from the time of her debut until her second album, “MORE FRIENDS“, which was released in November of 2010.
The poll will determine which songs Mano Erina will perform at her upcoming 2011 concert tour, which currently has only two confirmed dates: a performance in Shibuya on May 28, and another at Zepp Osaka on June 11.
Voting ends on February 6, so make sure to vote for your favorite Mano Erina songs here!
AKB48’s sister group, SDN48 has announced that they will be releasing their 2nd single on March 23rd. The announcement was made during “AKB48 Request Hour Set List Best 100 2011“, in which SDN48 made an appearance on January 21st.
SDN48 released their major debut single “GAGAGA” in November 2010, which was also released in Korea as well. No details on their 2nd single including its title have been revealed yet, but we will update this with more details when they are out, so stay tuned to tokyohive!
Fuji Television’s music program, MUSIC FAIR aired the “Tokunaga Hideaki the 25th anniversary special” on January 22nd, and AKB48 member, Itano Tomomi made an appearance on the show. Itano performed, “Kagayakinagara…” with Tokunaga Hideaki which is one of the classic masterpieces of Tokunaga from 1987.
Although this was the only song Itano performed on this episode, MUSIC FAIR will air the sequel to the “Tokunaga Hideaki the 25th anniversary special” next week as well. So you will be able to see her performing more on next week!
Below is the performance of Itano and Tokunaga together.
Sandara Park releases an angelic CF for “Nikon”
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Nikon Imaging Korea has just released a jaw-dropping commercial with 2NE1‘s
Sandara Park.
The idol shed her quirky style and emerged as a gorgeous woman w...
It is well-known that Nakagawa Shoko is a huge fan of anime and manga, but she probably never expected to be a character in one!
Nihon TV’s music program, Happy Music, welcomed w-inds. as a guest on its January 29th broadcasting.
As we reported back in December, Kanjani8’s new song titled, “T.W.L” which will be released this spring, will be used as the new theme song for ongoing anime “Crayon Shin-chan.” Today, it was revealed that “T.W.L” will start airing on February 4th, and the song was made by popular duo, Yuzu’s Kitagawa Yujin. This is the first time for Kitagawa to make a song for other artist. 
This song is said be a “strong collaboration” due to the parties involved. Kanjani8 will also take the lead in the anime series theatrical movie, “Crayon Shinchan, Arashi wo yobu Ougon no Spy Daisakusen” (scheduled to be released on April 16th).
AKB48 member Akimoto Sayaka will be challenging the “Tokyo Marathon 2011“, which will be held on February 27th. Although she has tried the half marathon two years ago, this will be the first time she has challenged the full marathon of just over 42 km.
She also said, “I also want to meet ‘my new self’ who challenges hard tasks without running from them, but rather overcomes them.”
On January 24th, AKB48’s B Team sub-unit, Watarirouka Hashiritai, attended a press conference held by 7&i for their upcoming Valentine’s Day event.
A special CM featuring Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 was screened during the press conference, along with the group’s cover of Kokusho Sayuri’s 1986 hit, “Valentine Kiss,” the official campaign song of the special Valentine’s event. Directly following the event, the AKB48 members answered questions about their newest song. “Up ’til now, when you said ‘Valentine’, (you’d think of) Kokusho Sayuri’s ‘Valentine Kiss,’ but from now on we want you to (think of) Watarirouka Hashiritai 7’s ‘Valentine Kiss’,” Hirajima Natsumi told the reporters enthusiastically.
After teasing us with a 30-second sample earlier, the nine ladies of Shoujo Jidai have finally dropped the full audio of their new digital release, “Run Devil Run“.
