Mon, April 7, 2008 (10:25am EDT)
Mika Nakashima sat down with Oricon last month to talk about her latest single "Sakura ~Hanagasumi~." sigelx has the translation.
Mon, April 7, 2008 (10:17am EDT)
A total of 18 artists will be participating in the "hide memorial summit" taking place on May 3-4 at Ajinomoto Stadium. Yoshiki held a press conference on Monday to announce the details.
The lineup on May 3 will be hide with Spread Beaver, T.M.Revolution, DJ OZMA, RIZE, Maximum the Hormone, Hurdy Gurdy, Phantasmagoria, Versailles, MarBell, and Daizy Stripper.
On May 4, the bands will be X JAPAN, LUNA SEA, Dir en grey, Oblivion Dust, MUCC, D'espairsRay, The Underneath, and Heidi.
Tickets are going on sale April 27, priced at 14,800 yen for one day and 25,000 yen for both days. Lawson Ticket is selling tickets for pick-up. e+ is also listed as a vendor, but information won't be available on the site until April 14.
The lineup on May 3 will be hide with Spread Beaver, T.M.Revolution, DJ OZMA, RIZE, Maximum the Hormone, Hurdy Gurdy, Phantasmagoria, Versailles, MarBell, and Daizy Stripper.
On May 4, the bands will be X JAPAN, LUNA SEA, Dir en grey, Oblivion Dust, MUCC, D'espairsRay, The Underneath, and Heidi.
Tickets are going on sale April 27, priced at 14,800 yen for one day and 25,000 yen for both days. Lawson Ticket is selling tickets for pick-up. e+ is also listed as a vendor, but information won't be available on the site until April 14.
Mon, April 7, 2008 (2:58am EDT)
The female lead for the TBS drama series "ROOKIES" was finally announced on Sunday. Selected by public vote in an internet audition, 25-year-old model/actress Miyako Takayama was given the part and will be starring opposite Ryuta Sato.
Based on a manga by Masanori Morita, the story tells of a high school teacher (Sato) trying to reform delinquent students through baseball. Takayama plays a store employee who develops a relationship with Sato.
The audition was conducted in collaboration with Yahoo! Japan. 1,200 applicants were reduced to a field of 6 for the final round, and Takayama received almost a third of the 42,000 votes. A similar audition was held for the role of a team manager, chosen from a pool of high school girls who are currently team managers in real life.
"ROOKIES" begins its broadcast on April 19.
Based on a manga by Masanori Morita, the story tells of a high school teacher (Sato) trying to reform delinquent students through baseball. Takayama plays a store employee who develops a relationship with Sato.
The audition was conducted in collaboration with Yahoo! Japan. 1,200 applicants were reduced to a field of 6 for the final round, and Takayama received almost a third of the 42,000 votes. A similar audition was held for the role of a team manager, chosen from a pool of high school girls who are currently team managers in real life.
"ROOKIES" begins its broadcast on April 19.
Mon, April 7, 2008 (2:37am EDT)
Fuji TV's fall drama series "SP" had a special episode air on Saturday, and Video Research Ltd. has revealed that the show achieved strong ratings of 21.5%.
This once again demonstrated the show's popularity. The series' final episode, which aired on January 26, had ratings of 18.9%, which was impressive for its Saturday 11:00pm time slot.
Starring Junichi Okada, Yoko Maki, and Shinichi Tsutsumi, "SP" is the most successful late-night drama in recent years. It was announced on Saturday that a movie version has been greenlit for 2009.
This once again demonstrated the show's popularity. The series' final episode, which aired on January 26, had ratings of 18.9%, which was impressive for its Saturday 11:00pm time slot.
Starring Junichi Okada, Yoko Maki, and Shinichi Tsutsumi, "SP" is the most successful late-night drama in recent years. It was announced on Saturday that a movie version has been greenlit for 2009.
Mon, April 7, 2008 (2:25am EDT)
The '70s idol group Candies still has a strong following, as evidenced by a large fan gathering on Friday to mark the 30th anniversary of their final concert.
Candies, composed of Ran Ito, Yoshiko Tanaka, and Miki Fujimura, debuted in 1973. They were incredibly popular, but they disbanded only a few years later, saying that they wanted to return to being ordinary girls. Their last concert was held on April 4, 1978 at the Korakuen Stadium. Ito and Tanaka later returned to show business and are currently active as actresses.
On Friday 2,000 fans, many of them members of the Candies fan club at the time of their breakup, gathered at JCB Hall, which sits on the former site of Korakuen Stadium. The fans staged a "reunion concert," showing the complete footage of the trio's 51-song final concert on three giant screens.
The event started with the death of a fan club member last year who requested Candies songs to play at his funeral procession. His friends carried out his wishes, and afterwards they formed the idea for a reunion. They eventually enlisted the help of Amuse chairman Yokichi Osato, who formerly managed Candies and produced their last concert.
Tickets were completely sold out at 10,500 yen each, with the proceeds going to the Japan Cancer Society. (The fan who died last year suffered from colon cancer.)
Candies, composed of Ran Ito, Yoshiko Tanaka, and Miki Fujimura, debuted in 1973. They were incredibly popular, but they disbanded only a few years later, saying that they wanted to return to being ordinary girls. Their last concert was held on April 4, 1978 at the Korakuen Stadium. Ito and Tanaka later returned to show business and are currently active as actresses.
On Friday 2,000 fans, many of them members of the Candies fan club at the time of their breakup, gathered at JCB Hall, which sits on the former site of Korakuen Stadium. The fans staged a "reunion concert," showing the complete footage of the trio's 51-song final concert on three giant screens.
The event started with the death of a fan club member last year who requested Candies songs to play at his funeral procession. His friends carried out his wishes, and afterwards they formed the idea for a reunion. They eventually enlisted the help of Amuse chairman Yokichi Osato, who formerly managed Candies and produced their last concert.
Tickets were completely sold out at 10,500 yen each, with the proceeds going to the Japan Cancer Society. (The fan who died last year suffered from colon cancer.)
Mon, April 7, 2008 (1:49am EDT)
The 2008 Nippon Connection film festival in Frankfurt, Germany, came to a close on Sunday. Twitch reports that the top award this year went to Yosuke Fujita's comical "Zenzen Daijoubu" ("Fine, Totally Fine"), which stars Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Yoshino Kimura, and Yoshinori Okada.
Fujita won 2,000 euros in prize money, funded by Bankhaus Metzler.
This year's Nippon Connection screened more than 150 Japanese films over the festival's five days.
Fujita won 2,000 euros in prize money, funded by Bankhaus Metzler.
This year's Nippon Connection screened more than 150 Japanese films over the festival's five days.
Mon, April 7, 2008 (1:48am EDT)
On June 4, Ai Kawashima will simultaneously release two compilation albums, titled "Single Best" and "Coupling Best."
"Single Best" is a two-disc collection that will contain several new recordings, including a new version of Kawashima's debut song "Tenshitachi no Melody." The limited edition will come with a bonus DVD.
"Coupling Best" also consists of two discs. According to CDJapan, the release will include all of her B-sides.
"Single Best" is a two-disc collection that will contain several new recordings, including a new version of Kawashima's debut song "Tenshitachi no Melody." The limited edition will come with a bonus DVD.
"Coupling Best" also consists of two discs. According to CDJapan, the release will include all of her B-sides.
