J-pop group GIRL NEXT DOOR is ready to release their new single, “Ready to be lady.” The single will drop 10/13 and come in three different versions.
This is the ninth single release for the group, and it will include a Eurobeat mix of “Infinity.” Type A will include a DVD with three music videos and behind-the-scenes video. Type B will include a DVD with concert performance footage “edition 1.” All three types will have four songs total including, the Eurobeat mix of “Infinity.”
One of the ℃-ute members, Suzuki Airi, will release a new solo photobook “Toukou bi” on August 20th. The theme of the photobook is “16 years old Memorial summer”, and she will show off herself in a bikini and a school uniform.
Airi will hold the release event on September 5th at Fukuya bookstore in Shinjuku.
Miss Japan 2010 Maiko Itai poses for photographers in her national costume at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Switzerland Linda Faeh poses in her national costume at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Kazakhstan 2010 Asselina Kuchukova poses during the Miss Universe national costume event in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Colombia 2010 Natalia Navarro prepares for the Miss Universe National Costume event in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23
Miss Germany 2010 Kristiana Rohder poses for photographers in her national costume at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Thailand Fonthip Watcharatrakul poses in her national costume at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Ukraine Anna Poslavska poses in her national costume at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
Miss Sweden 2010 Michaela Savic during the Miss Universe national costume event in Las Vegas, Nevada August 16, 2010. The Miss Universe 2010 pageant will take place in Las Vegas on August 23.
“Now gaining popularity overseas! Nippon Broadcasting System is bringing you an English translation of the AKB48 program that has been downloaded over 150,000 times!
Application for iPhone/iPod touch “AKB48’s Yuki Kashiwagi and Aki Takajo All Night Nippon Mobile” is now available with English-subtitles!
Nippon Broadcasting System has been broadcasting “AKB48’s Yuki Kashiwagi and Aki Takajo All Night Nippon Mobile” on mobile phones since January, and via an iPhone/iPod touch application since May.
Now, available on our app store, we’ll start selling an iPhone/iPod touch application with English subtitles for “AKB48’s Yuki Kashiwagi and Aki Takajo All Night Nippon Mobile.”
In July, AKB48 performed in Los Angeles. Due to their growing popularity abroad, they have more overseas performances coming up. Since iPhone/iPod touch apps make it easy to sell audio content overseas, we have upgraded the program to include English-subtitles.
On “All Night Nippon Mobile English-subtitled version,” English subtitles are displayed at the bottom of the screen so that fans in foreign countries, who do not understand Japanese, can follow the contents of the program. The original recording of Yuki Kashiwagi’s and Aki Takajo’s voices is used, so the program can be enjoyed similar to a movie with subtitles.
The first 3 episodes of “AKB48’s Yuki Kashiwagi and Aki Takajo All Night Nippon Mobile” is available on the iPhone/iPod touch app, and the first 7 episodes are available on mobile phones. There have been over 150,000 downloads to date! For this content, we are also going to sell English-subtitled versions for each episode individually. Nippon Broadcasting System will enrich the content of “All Night Nippon Mobile English version” and proactively promote sales.
App for the iPhone/iPod touch “AKB48’s Yuki Kashiwagi and Aki Takajo All Night Nippon Mobile(English-translation compliant version)” 1st edition.”
Date of delivery: X X, 2010 onwards Rate: 350yen ($2.99) Duration : Total 8 files (approx. 55 minutes)
The last day of X JAPAN’s world tour performances in Japan, “X-JAPAN WORLD TOUR Live in YOKOHAMA”, was held on the 15th. They pulled in a crowd of 130,000 over 2 days.
One of the highlights of the live show was YOSHIKI’s solo drum performance, which lasted 12 minutes. It has been a while since YOSHIKI did a solo drum performance after his operation for Cervical disc hernia. YOSHIKI’s condition is not completely recovered, however, he showed a great solo with a corset around his neck.
Fans also showed their love for X JAPAN with “X Jump.”
X JAPAN will start their North American tour on September 25th.
Are you all excited about NEWS’ new album “LIVE“? The release of the new album will be on September 15th, and now the track list has been revealed. -CD 1. Koi no ABO 2. LIVE 3. Umareshi Kimi he 4. Supernatural 5. Aki no Sora 6. 2ri/130000000 no Kiseki 7. Dancin in the Secret 8. Wonder Land 9. Sakura Girl 10. BE FUNKY! 11. D.T.F 12. Naiyou no nai Tegami 13. Endless・Summer
-DVD (about 30 minutes long) Unplugged LIVE – Sakura Girl/SUMMER TIME/Aki no Sora/ Snow Express) Unplugged LIVE Making
-CD (order unknown yet) 1. Koi no ABO 2. LIVE 3. Umareshi Kimi he 4. Supernatural 5. Aki no Sora 6. 2ri/130000000 no Kiseki 7. Dancin in the Secret 8. Wonder Land 9. Sakura Girl 10. BE FUNKY! 11. D.T.F 12. Naiyou no nai Tegami 13. Endless・Summer 14. Share 15. Forever (Unplugged Ver.)
Pop starlet Ayumi Hamasaki, has already announced the release of her new single “crossroad” for September 22nd, but now it seems she will follow it up with another single titled “L“, just one week later.
“L” will mark the 50th single release for Ayumi Hamasaki and with the speedy release of the song, it seems that she is just as excited as fans are to celebrate it. The last time she released a Maxi single like this was in 2003 with “&” so it will also mark the first Maxi single release of Ayu’s in about seven years. Fans eager to pick up the single have their pick of four different versions; Jacket A (CD + DVD), Jacket B (CD + DVD), Jacket C, and Jacket D. Jacket A and B will come with six tracks (two versions each of the three songs) and Jackets C and D will contain four tracks (three main songs plus an orchestra version of a “crossroad” track). The CD + DVD versions will come with a DVD that contains the “L” PV and making of and the limited editions will also come with a numbered access card that will give the purchaser a download of the acapella version of the song on Chaku-Uta. Fans who buy “Moon/blossom,” “crossroad,” and “L” will also get a special gift of downloadables.
With the release of these singles, Ayumi Hamasaki will be challenging the long standing record set by Matsuuda Seiko, for 24 consecutive number one singles. Although this has been causing some friction in the Japanese pop world as Koda Kumi is also set to release her new single on the same day as “crossroads.” Ayu will definitely be taking on quite the challenge with her single releases, but fans will be sure to cheer for her in her record setting endeavor.
On August 22nd, Shibuya’s flagship HMV CD store will be closing its doors in Tokyo, but they announced that before they shut down, they will have a giant live event for all the music fans who have supported them over the years. The event will be called “HMV Shibuya Otsukaresama Fest” and will feature nine hours worth of live DJs and talk shows to give a nice grand finale to the great store.
The Shibuya HMV opened back in 1990 as the flagship store for Tokyo. It has constantly been an information center for music fans in Japan and is credited with getting “Shibuya Kei,” a subset of Japanese electro-pop, out to the people. Although the store has been in Shibuya for 20 years, it moved to its current central location in 1998 and although it is a mainstay in the Shibuya area, the store announced it would be closing its doors in June.
Even though the store may be disappearing, fans and artists don’t want to see it go out without a bang. Many artists felt they needed to do something for the HMV Shibuya store and wanted a ‘final festival’ for everyone to enjoy. The store certainly had a great impact on the music scene in Shibuya and this will allow fans and artists alike to say “thanks for the hard work.”
The farewell event on the 19th will take over the first and second floor of the store and will feature Sunday Service, Hoff Dylan, Kaji Hideki, GOING UNDERGROUND, NORTHERN BRIGHT, Otogibanashi, Maeno Kenta, MOROHA, SUGIURUMN, DJ YOGURT, Gota Nishidera (Nona Reeves), TRAKS BOYS, and Yatsui Ichirou (Ereki Komikku).
On the final day of the store, the lineup will be Sunaga, Shuya Okino, Fantastic Plastic Machine, Jazztronik, Shachou (SOIL&PIMP SESSIONS), DJ KAWASAKI, WATUSI (COLD FEET), i-dep, Nakatsuka Takeshi, M-SWIFT, Tsuyoshi Sato (BLACK EDITION), Nakada Akira (Osaka Monorail), Mountain Mocha Kilimanjaro, Kentaro Takahashi, Momoko Suzuki, Shiina Junpei, wyolica, orange pekoe, ROOT SOUL, and eli from Love Tambourines.
“HMV Shibuya Otsukaresama Fest” will be held from 10am until 11pm when the shop closes. The final event, “Regeneration”, is currently scheduled for 2PM until 11PM on the final day.
Last night during their TOUR10 NAMELESS LIBTERY SIX BULLETS 01 in Koshi, the GazettE had an unfortunate incident. During “Kanto Dogeza Kumimai,” Ruki rushed to the back of the stage, while the rest of the band continued the song without him; then took a long break. Ruki came back out and spoke to Kai, who then in turned announced to the audience that Ruki is unable to continue.
The concert continued and they played Linda but without a vocal. Ruki was on stage, mouthing the lyrics and gesturing the fans to sing in his place. The band managed to finish the concert until the end.
Aoi tweeted to the fans, “Everyone is so kind, I’m really happy and thank you~! I have the unlucky task of sending off Ruki, so everyone please be kind. My heart is overflowed right now but at the same time a thorn has come out. The leader and Rui have both tweeted some depressing stuff to the fans, so sad! I should concentrate on the tour! But thank you ~!” ( *｀ω´)ゞ He then continued, “If you were there 4 hrs ago and are rehashing it, Sorry;; I knocked down the guitar and at the time my mind was blank. Well then good night!”
So until Ruki’s condition is better, the GazettE’s tour will be postponed.
Dance/pop singer MEG recently announced that she would be taking an extended hiatus, but it appears she will be releasing a best album before she leaves.
The album will be called “BEST FLIGHT“, and it will be available in three different editions: regular CD, Terminal A version, and Terminal B version. The terminal A version will include a special jacket cover, a DVD with the music videos for “SECRET ADVENTURE” and “PARIS,” and a limited edition t-shirt that was designed by MEG herself. The Terminal B version will come with a special jacket cover and an “IN YOUR EYES” bonus CD that will have five acoustic arrangements of MEG songs.
MEG had announced previously that she was going to take a break to recharge, gain new inspirations, and probably travel to Paris. She will be releasing her last single before her hiatus, “PASSPORT/PARIS,” on August 25th, so MEG fans at least have a few things to look forward to before she leaves the industry.
BEST FLIGHT Track list:
1 PASSPORT 2 TELEPHONE 3 GROOVY 4 KITTENISH 5 Just like that 6 FREAK 7 PRECIOUS 8 LOVE LETTER 9 HEART 10 JOKER 11 OK 12 MAGIC 13 SECRET ADVENTURE 14 MAVERICK 15 Amai Zeitaku 16 BEAUTIFUL 17 MIRACLE
One of the Arashi members, Ninomiya Kazunari, will star in new drama “Freeter, buys a house (フリーター、家を買う。)”, which will start in October on Fuji Television. It has been 2 years for him to star in a drama series, since his last one, “Ryusei no Kizuna.”
Nino will play a “freeter”, a freeter is a Japanese expression for people who lack full time employment or are unemployed, excluding homemakers and students. Nino, who has had a loose life as a freeter, tries to bounce back from his laziness. Karina will play the heroine.
The shoot for the drama started already, but since Arashi will be holding their nation tour on August 21st (ends in January 2011), he will be extremely busy for the next few months.
Three girls’ unit from AKB48, No Sleeves, held an event on August 3rd for the release of their new single “Kimi shika” (release on August 4th). Kojima Haruna, Takahashi Minami, and Minegishi Minami all showed up.
Takahashi Minami was hospitalized for two days due to bad health condition, however, she was discharged on this day.
Takahashi Minami was going to perform Rakugo (Japanese verbal entertainment) at the event, but she canceled it because of the lack of preparation. Therefore, Minegishi Minami took over and challenged Rakugo for Takahashi Minami, making Takahashi Minami cry with gratitude.
Kitahara Rie from the popular idol group AKB48 has announced that she will participate in an animation titled “Gakkou no Kowai Uwasa Shin Hanako san ga Kita” as a voice actress. The animation will start from August 13th on TwellV.
Kitahara will be voicing a character named Howa Howa, a character who’s always with the main character of Hanako san. At a press conference, Kitahara made the voice of Howa Howa saying “Ki Ki Ki~” with a big smile. She commented “I would love to do more of voice acting jobs in the future. I would love to get attention from little kids!”
Actor and singer, Kato Kazuki held a new single releasing event on August 1st in Tokyo. His new single “Shakunetsu finger de FEVER!” was released on July 28th, and he sang 4 songs, including this new single.
At his concert, fans always request him to take his top off, and of course, 1,000 fans gave him the “take-off call” at the event. Kazuki complied and took his jacket off, and showed his body in a tank top.
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...
One of the ℃-ute members, Suzuki Airi, will release a new solo photobook “Toukou bi” on August 20th. The theme of the photobook is “16 years old Memorial summer”, and she will show off herself in a bikini and a school uniform.
The last day of X JAPAN’s world tour performances in Japan, “X-JAPAN WORLD TOUR Live in YOKOHAMA”, was held on the 15th. They pulled in a crowd of 130,000 over 2 days.
On August 22nd, Shibuya’s flagship HMV CD store will be closing its doors in Tokyo, but they announced that before they shut down, they will have a giant live event for all the music fans who have supported them over the years. The event will be called “HMV Shibuya Otsukaresama Fest” and will feature nine hours worth of live DJs and talk shows to give a nice grand finale to the great store. 
Dance/pop singer MEG recently announced that she would be taking an extended hiatus, but it appears she will be releasing a best album before she leaves.
One of the Arashi members, Ninomiya Kazunari, will star in new drama “Freeter, buys a house (フリーター、家を買う。)”, which will start in October on Fuji Television. It has been 2 years for him to star in a drama series, since his last one, “Ryusei no Kizuna.”
The shoot for the drama started already, but since Arashi will be holding their nation tour on August 21st (ends in January 2011), he will be extremely busy for the next few months.
Three girls’ unit from AKB48, No Sleeves, held an event on August 3rd for the release of their new single “Kimi shika” (release on August 4th). Kojima Haruna, Takahashi Minami, and Minegishi Minami all showed up.
