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 Hell NYC: Yume Tamago Koda Kumi: Bambi Nishino Kana: Distance Porno Graffitti: EXIT RIP SLYME: Sense of Wonder
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, “It’s like the age difference between a mother and child. It’s scary in a good way. It makes me nervous, or perhaps I should say, it sends chills down my spine.”.
This book focuses heavily on the graduation of Kamei, Jun Jun, and Lin Lin, but the next person in line to graduate is actually Morning Musume’s leader, Takahashi Ai; she will be graduating from the group next fall. Takahashi sighed, “My viewpoint has changed. The countdown has started and I wonder how much I can teach the new members in the limited time I have left. I’m a bit troubled”. She has also been thinking about different things to do after she’s graduated, “I’ve decided to do musicals, so I want to take lessons in order to head towards that goal.”
Michishige then commented on the cover of the new photobook, “It’s rare that I’m center on front covers, so I like this. It feels like a Michishige Sayumi photobook, and I thought ‘finally, my time has come!’”. Michishige is Takahashi’s junior, so she praised her, “I usually say this, but you’re really reliable. I think Ai-chan is really awesome and I’m glad to be here during Ai-chan’s time as a leader. Even those who look away, I want you all to see how great Ai-chan is.” Lastly, Michishige displayed her narcissistic character, “I put myself at number one, but Ai-chan is definitely number two!”
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 that Taniyama and KENZO play owners of the bar “Pole Star”, and they end up rescuing a mysterious woman by the name of Akane (played by Miyaji Mao).
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 mobile novel, the movie is about the young transfer student, Mizorogi “Beat” Biito (Seto), and his incredible talent as a designer. He starts to organize a fashion show for the upcoming cultural fashion show, and during the process he is able to unite all the different personalities of his new classmates.
The five of them actually gave us a great teaser by wearing the some of the outfits that we are going to see in the movie. Only Seto’s outfit had to be rearranged a bit for the show, he revealed later.
Sakuraba Nanami was really excited to be on an actual runway, and said, “Our movie is about fashion as well, but it is also about friendship, family and… love.” She was a bit bashful talking about love, but then she continued, “The power of fashion is really amazing. I hope that people who love fashion will watch our movie!” About being on a real runway, she commented, “I was very nervous, but it was a lot of fun once we were on the runway. Being on a genuine runway is so amazing!!”
Kiritani added, “The movie is also a lot about ‘believing in yourself’.”
IMALU made a short comment as well, “It’s the first Japanese movie that is all about fashion, and that is already a highlight in itself, but the most amazing parts of the movie are the scenes at the fashion show. All those scenes are even in 3D! It is going to feel like being at an actual fashion show like today, so definitely look forward to this movie!”
The Kobe Collection is going to have another spectacular show in Tokyo on March 12th.
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“.
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.”
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 love it here.”
The press mentioned that Japanese idol groups like AKB48 are forbidden to have relationships, to which Ai smiled and explained, “Our group is similar to those in Japan, we’re also not allowed to have relationships.”
Their stage performance includes some traditional dance, which Ai explained, “There are 56 different ethnic groups in China, so we want to do our best to show various characteristics from these different ethnic groups. I don’t think there are a variety of ethnic groups in the units of other countries.”
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 love it here.”
The press mentioned that Japanese idol groups like AKB48 are forbidden to have relationships, to which Ai smiled and explained, “Our group is similar to those in Japan, we’re also not allowed to have relationships.”
Their stage performance includes some traditional dance, which Ai explained, “There are 56 different ethnic groups in China, so we want to do our best to show various characteristics from these different ethnic groups. I don’t think there are a variety of ethnic groups in the units of other countries.”
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 Smile 02. 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 Girls 07. World Is So Grooving 08. Bitter or Sweet 09. Catch Me Now
“2019 re-mix cover side” Track List 10. Love Camera ~Sekai ga Koi Suru Message (Toku P Re-mix) 11. TOKYO DAYS (U-ji Re-mix) 12. heavens discotheque (I-eru P Re-mix) 13. Magic Smile (Peperon P Re-mix) 14. Kirameki Jet! (SWANTONE Re-mix) 15. Summer Day (Sugimoto P Re-mix) 16. Unbalance (Shizuku P Re-mix)
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 Setsuko (67) into taking Wasao on a walk, during which time they managed to capture a single howl on tape. It was the only howl they had heard up to that point, and it would be the last. Because the sound was never included in the film, this single bark – which has now been transformed into “song” – should be considered precious.
A Chaku Uta version of Wasao’s song will go on sale on February 28th, and part of the proceeds will go to UNESCO Japan, which currently employs Wasao as a “doggy ambassador”.
Additionally, check out the trailer for the “Wasao” movie below:
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.”
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!
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 words. We had to record it over and over again to get it right.”
In singing about a girl who falls so dangerously in love, Yajima says she can sympathize with the protagonist: “To be so excessively in love, so much that you reach the point of insecurity… I think that kind of love would be wonderful.”
The PV for this song has quickly achieved popularity on online video sites, with YouTube views having surpassed 870,000 at the time of this article. In the year going forward, Suzuki says she wants to show the world a new, more adult C-ute. “It’s great that so many people have watched our video already, but we want to reach out to even more people, and hopefully we have a chance to perform overseas.”
“Kiss Me Aishiteru” is being released on the Zetima label. First-run limited edition recordings in three versions (A, B, and standard) will contain serial numbers for drawings with a DVD and event ticket prizes. C-ute’s new album, “Cho WONDERFUL?“, goes on sale next month on the 23rd, and their spring tour kicks off April 30th at Nakano Sun Plaza.
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. The girls are scheduled to return to Japan again sometime during the first 10 days of March to continue shooting the drama.
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.
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!
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“!
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.
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 tree and the touching story of a girl named Natsuko, who thanks her friend for the good times they had together rather than saying goodbye when her friend moves away.
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.
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 by the number of votes that it was a very popular poll, but can you guess who won? Scroll down and find out whether the actual results prove you right.
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 that makes an impression on its viewers.”
The script is written by screenwriter Suzuki Osamu (38), who asserts, “I know many people who have become pregnant later in life. This show will feature less-commonly known information about middle-age pregnancy, and other topics that most dramas don’t cover. I hope this will be exciting for our viewers.” Playing the younger brother who must shoulder his family’s troubles is Kanjani8’s Okura Tadayoshi (25).
(Check out the full results for the album ranking here.)
Music DVD Weekly Ranking
1. “Koshi Inaba LIVE 2010 ~en II~” – Inaba Koshi : 2/16 2. “LIVE DVD ‘THIS IS MY BUDOKAN?!’ 2010.11.28″ – ONE OK ROCK : 2/16 3. “ARASHI 10-11 TOUR ‘Scene’ ~ Kimi to Boku no Mite Iru Fuukei~ STADIUM” – Arashi : 1/26 4. “Kessei 10 Shuunen, Major Debut 5 Shuunen Kinen! Perfume LIVE @ Tokyo Dome 「1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11」” – Perfume : 2/9 5. CNBLUE 2nd Single Release Live Tour ~Listen to the CNBLUE” – CNBLUE : 2/9
(Check out the full results for the music DVD ranking here.)
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.
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.
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 Kawasaki on February 28th.
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 her coming-of-age ceremony. It’s a very precious item to me.” About the times she likes to wear a kimono, she replied, “Usually I like to wear a kimono when I’m going out for a meal or when I’m going to watch a play. It would be a dream if I could wear one every day. I think it’s a great privilege for women to be able to wear kimonos.”
Ueto also recalled her own first beauty contest, which became an important stepping stone to where she is now. “I was in sixth grade and completely felt out-of-place. However, I hate to lose and therefore came up with choreography and went up on stage. I worked hard for the prize, but knew that it would be impossible to win. I couldn’t believe it when they called my name. I didn’t know why I was chosen, but I was very grateful.”
It is already the 42nd year that the “Kimono Queen Contest” is being held in Japan. Ueto’s agency, Oscar Promotion, is sponsoring the contest in which girls have to properly dress and wear a kimono and look beautiful at the same time. College student Natsume Yuika was chosen as the queen, and another young woman, Sato Riho, won the Oscar Promotion Award, which could open the door to a promising career in the future.
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...
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. 
Kansai’s large-scale fashion show, “Kobe Collection 2011 Spring/Summer“, was held at the World Memorial Hall in Kobe today.
Sakuraba Nanami was really excited to be on an actual runway, and said, “Our movie is about fashion as well, but it is also about friendship, family and… love.” She was a bit bashful talking about love, but then she continued, “The power of fashion is really amazing. I hope that people who love fashion will watch our movie!” About being on a real runway, she commented, “I was very nervous, but it was a lot of fun once we were on the runway. Being on a genuine runway is so amazing!!”
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.
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.
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.
In singing about a girl who falls so dangerously in love, Yajima says she can sympathize with the protagonist: “To be so excessively in love, so much that you reach the point of insecurity… I think that kind of love would be wonderful.”
“Kiss Me Aishiteru” is being released on the Zetima label. First-run limited edition recordings in three versions (A, B, and standard) will contain serial numbers for drawings with a DVD and event ticket prizes. C-ute’s new album, “Cho WONDERFUL?“, goes on sale next month on the 23rd, and their spring tour kicks off April 30th at Nakano Sun Plaza.
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.
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.
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.
Popular actor Shirota Yu will debut as a singer under the name “U“, and he will release his debut single, “U“, on May 4th.
Actress Ueto Aya made a guest appearance at Japan’s biggest kimono-centered event, the “Kimono Queen Contest 2011“.
Ueto also recalled her own first beauty contest, which became an important stepping stone to where she is now. “I was in sixth grade and completely felt out-of-place. However, I hate to lose and therefore came up with choreography and went up on stage. I worked hard for the prize, but knew that it would be impossible to win. I couldn’t believe it when they called my name. I didn’t know why I was chosen, but I was very grateful.”
