|
|
news: idol
Shoko Nakagawa confirmed to sing for "Gurren Lagann" movie
Sat, March 29, 2008 (1:36pm EDT)
At the Tokyo International Anime Fair, it was announced that Shoko Nakagawa will sing the theme song for the upcoming "Gurren Lagann" movie, which is scheduled to open in theaters this fall. Last year, Nakagawa sang "Sorairo Days," the theme for the television series.
The title of her new song was not announced.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artiste
Sawajiri back in Japan
Sat, March 29, 2008 (6:48pm EDT)
Actress Erika Sawajiri returned to Japan on Saturday after nearly three months in London with her boyfriend, media creator Tsuyoshi Takashiro.
While in London, Sawajiri was attending a language school. Her familiarity with English became evident at the airport when several cosmetics items fell out of her bag, and she exclaimed, "Oh $hit!" She continued to mostly use English while at the airport, and she reportedly has become fluent enough to handle ordinary conversation.
Sawajiri stated that she will be in Japan during her birthday, April 8, though she plans to return to London some time after that. It has also been reported by other news sources that she will begin filming for a commercial next month.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actor
Actor Shohei Hino injures cyclist in traffic accident
Sun, March 30, 2008 (7:19pm EDT)
Actor Shohei Hino was involved in a traffic accident on Friday that resulted in the injury of a female cyclist.
Hino, 58, was driving his car in Meguro, Tokyo, on Friday morning. He was passing through an intersection that had no traffic signals when he hit a bicycle coming from his right side. The cyclist, a 61-year-old housewife, was transported to a hospital, but she suffered only minor injuries that will take one week to heal.
Police intend to file a case with the public prosecutor's office, charging Hino with negligent driving.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actor
JAM Project to make US debut at Otakon
Sat, March 29, 2008 (3:23am EDT)
Otakon 2008 has announced that supergroup JAM Project ("Japan Animation song Makers") will make its U.S. debut at this year's convention, which is being held in Baltimore on August 8-10. Formed in 2000, the group has done numerous theme songs for television and video games, including the "Super Robot Wars" game series.
JAM Project currently consists of six artists, all strongly associated with anime music. Hironobu Kageyama is well known for his "Dragonball Z" songs, among other things, and Rica Matsumoto has done the voice of many characters, including Ash in "Pokemon." Masaaki Endoh's song credits include "GaoGaiGar," while Hiroshi Kitadani did the first opening for "One Piece," and Yoshiki Fukuyama handled the singing voice of Basara Nekki in "Macross 7." Masami Okui has done music for many shows, including "Revolutionary Girl Utena," "Slayers," and "Di Gi Charat."
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artistes
X Japan announces Paris show in July
Sat, March 29, 2008 (7:16pm EDT)
The first of X Japan's three reunion concerts took place on Friday. Before the second concert on Saturday, the band held an urgent press conference to announce that they have finalized plans for a performance in Paris on July 5 (possibly at Japan Expo). According to the band, they hope to draw a crowd of about 20,000 people.
Full details have not yet been publicized, but they did mention that video footage of guitarist hide will be played during the show, similar to the reunion concerts.
Yoshiki also explained at the press conference that the 2-hour-20-minute delay for the first show was caused by equipment problems. And although Yoshiki fainted after the band's 8th song on Friday, he was in fine condition for Saturday's performance, which started on time and was completed with a full 13-song set, including a drum solo by Yoshiki that reportedly lasted 20 minutes.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artistes
The weekend's three shows at Tokyo Dome are now part of the X Japan legend. The hugely anticipated reunion after ten years, and without charismatic guitarist hide, was full of drama and some fan disappointment. The set list for Friday's opening concert - which Japan Zone attended - had 16 songs but the band ended up playing just nine in a 1-hour, forty-five-minute show, less time than the more than two-hour delay that preceded it. The delay was said to be due to extended rehearsals and technical problems, mainly with a |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artistes/dorama
GReeeeN gets first drama theme with "ROOKIES"
Sun, March 30, 2008 (11:03pm EDT)
The four-member band GReeeeN has been asked to do their first theme song for a television drama series. The song, titled "Kiseki," will be used in the TBS baseball drama "ROOKIES."
GReeeeN started writing the song in February, the day after 3 of their members took the national dental exams. All 4 members were dentistry students until these 3 graduated this past January.
"Kiseki" goes on sale May 28, though ringtones will be available starting on April 19, the day "ROOKIES" premieres.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: music/dorama
Avex announces compilation, drama project to celebrate 20th anniversary
Mon, March 31, 2008 (12:10am EDT)
This summer, Avex plans to release a compilation mix album to celebrate its 20th anniversary, which is officially on April 11. Tentatively titled "20 Nen 200 Kyoku," the collection is said to fit 200 of the company's biggest hits on 4 CDs. In all, the included songs have shipped a total of 200 million copies (counting singles and albums).
In conjunction with the album, Avex is producing a series of drama shorts that will be aired on TV Asahi (Kanto Local). The series' title is a play on words - "Otome" normally means "maiden," but the name is written as which are the characters for "sound" and "woman."
The drama consists of 2-minute episodes, with each one being an individual story that is themed around one of the songs on the compilation. Only about 100 of the songs are planned to be used. Episodes will air late at night Monday through Thursday (at roughly 1:23am), starting on April 7. Since 4 episodes will be broadcast each week, the project is scheduled to last for approximately 6 months.
Each week will feature an Avex artist or talento. The first week will star Ami Suzuki, with the first episode themed around Nanase Aikawa's "Yume Miru Shoujo Ja Irarenai" and the second based on Every Little Thing's "Mata A#a."
misono will star in the second week. Other participating artists include TRF's YU-KI, AAA's Misako Uno, and actress Yuri Nakamura (formerly of YURIMARI).
While the compilation is scheduled for release this summer, Avex also has plans to distribute the dramas through DVD and the internet. No target sale date for the DVD has been announced, but it will reportedly include special cuts of the dramas, each lengthened by a couple minutes. The regular episodes will be available online at the project's website one week after broadcast.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: movie
Japan's most successful movie franchise is back! Fuji TV said yesterday that they are planning a third installment in the "Odoru Daisosasen" (Bayside Shakedown) series. The announcement came at the opening of a real life Tokyo Bayside Police Station in the Oumi district of Koto Ward, the area that has been the location for the previous movies. Based on a popular 1997 Fuji TV drama series starring Oda Yuji (40), the first movie was a big hit the following year. A sequel in 2003 remains the most successful Japanese live action movie ever, making more than |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artiste
Hamasaki Ayumi is the first queen of karaoke. She was named as the most popular artist chosen by users of the DAM karaoke system over the last 15 years. The company announced its first ever rankings based on data from 1994, when it was established. Since her debut in 1998, Ayu has released more than 200 songs on karaoke, of which "Seasons" has been the most popular. Filling out the Top 3 most sung artists are Glay and Mr. Children. The most popular song was the Okinawan ballad "Nada Sousou" by Natsukawa Rimi.
Source: www.japan-zone.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: comedian
Koumoto Junichi (31) of the Yoshimoto comedy duo Jicho Kacho suffered a broken rib during a recent TBS variety show. The show featured comedians doing sumo against pro wrestlers, the obvious disadvantage being somewhat balanced by both "wrestlers" and the "dohyo" being doused in lotion. Koumoto, who managed to beat the towering "Captain Hustle" Ogawa Naoya (40), is said to require about four weeks to recover.
Source: www.japan-zone.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actress
Today's issue of women's weekly magazine "Shuukan Josei" revealed that actress Mano Azusa (50) has been divorced for the last two and a half years. She married a computer company employee on Christmas Day, 1989 after a ten-year relationship. But she filed for divorce on her wedding anniversary in 2005.
Source: www.japan-zone.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actress/movie
[JAPAN] Kou Shibasaki promotes 揝haolin Girl擺/b]
JapanToday.com reported, 揂ctres Kou Shibasaki, 26, turned up at the premiere of her new film 揝haolin Girl |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actress
[KENYA] Actress Tsuruta Mayu visits refugee camp in Kenya
JapanToday.com reported, 揓apanese actress Mayu Tsuruta, the goodwill ambassador for the upcoming Tokyo International Conference on African Development, visited a refugee camp Sunday in Kenya. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artistes
[JAPAN] X-Japan holds reunion concert, concert cost 2.5 billion yen
JapanToday.com reported, 揚opular rock group X JAPAN held its first live concert in 10 years at Tokyo Dome on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Some 50,000 fans came to hear the charismatic rock band which disbanded in 1997. During the concert, vocalist YOSHIKI sung several popular titles and new songs. On Friday, he fainted after he finished the last song at the end of the concert. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: music chart
Charts: EXILE and 20th Century
Wed, April 2, 2008 (3:45am EDT)
In Oricon chart news, EXILE's compilation album "EXILE CATCHY BEST" took the no. 1 ranking in the albums chart. The sales for the first week totaled 680,000 copies and beat out this year's previous high of 480,000 copies by Hikaru Utada's "HEART STATION." It also currently has the highest total sales of albums released this year ("HEART STATION" is at 616,000).
Thelma Aoyama ranked #3 with "DIARY" (116,000 copies), while Ayumi Hamasaki's "ayu-mi-x 6 -GOLD-" and "-SILVER-" charted at #6 and #8, respectively. Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra's "Perfect Future" came in at #9, ahead of the compilation "39 Anime x Music Collaboration '02-'07" and LUNA SEA's "COMPLETE BEST."
On the singles chart, 20th Century's single "Ore Janakya, Kimi Janakya" sold 39,000 copies in its first week and took the no. 1 spot. It has been 7 years since the group's last single, and this is their first #1 release under this name. The group is actually composed of V6's three older members - Masayuki Sakamoto, Hiroshi Nagano, and Yoshihiko Inohara.
Tourbillon's "Break the Chain" entered the charts at #3. Other new releases in the top 10 were the "Kamen Rider Den-O" song "Double-Action Wing form" (#5), alice nine.'s "MIRROR BALL" (#6), and FUNKY MONKEY BABYS' "Tabidachi" (#10).
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: movie
Gravure idols Kadena, Mori$hita co-star in movie
Tue, April 1, 2008 (12:41am EDT)
Gravure idol Reon Kadena will take on her first movie role in the sexy action film "Himitsu Sennyuu Sousakan: Wildcats in Strip Royale," directed by Keiichi Kobayashi. She will co-star with Yuri Mori$hita, who appeared with Haruna Yabuki in the movie's predecessor last year, "Himitsu Sennyuu Sousakan: Honey & Bunny."
The movie also marks Kadena's return to show business after a yearlong absence. It will see limited theatrical release starting in late June.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: actor
Haruma Miura in Yuzu PV
Tue, April 1, 2008 (1:12am EDT)
 
Young actor Haruma Miura has collaborated with folk duo Yuzu on the music video for "Umaku Ienai," a song from their "WONDERFUL WORLD" album that goes on sale April 16.
In February, Miura proclaimed that he was a big fan of Yuzu during a television appearance. When the duo found out, they made Miura an offer through director Natsuki Imai, who previously worked with the actor in last year's movie "Koizora." Imai also served as the director for this PV, assisted by other "Koizora" staff members.
The music video casts Miura as a musician who decides to leave his hometown in pursuit of his dreams, painfully separating himself from his girlfriend, played by Kaoru Hirata. One of the video's highlights is Miura performing a solo version of Yuzu's "Eikou no Kakehashi" in front of the duo.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
news: artistes
New project announced for HYDE, KAZ
Tue, April 1, 2008 (1:31am EDT)
L'Arc~en~Ciel vocalist hyde and Oblivion Dust guitarist KAZ have formed a new band called VAMPS. It was recently announced that they will perform a ZEPP tour between August and October, playing a total of 46 shows in Sendai, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Nagoya, Osaka, and Tokyo.
hyde is using his solo project name (HYDE) for this band. KAZ has previously worked with him as a support guitarist and joint producer.
The two are said to be currently working on recording a new single.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
Post time 2-4-2008 06:02 PM
