My review of Arashi’s new album, “Japonism”, for The Japan Times was released online today. It comes out in print tomorrow. I’m going to start things off by saying that I actually didn’t mind the album. I thought it was a cute look for a boyband in their 30s. It’s not something that I personally would seek out, but I didn’t mind listening to it.

I did bring up something that was a talking point when the album was announced: the extra edition. It’s clear that they wanted to take the best selling album of the the year title from Sandaime J Soul Brothers, which they ended up doing.

I also looked at the album’s title and how it connected to feelings of patriotism as well as Arashi’s government ties and the upcoming 2020 Olympics.

You can read the review here. Please share your thoughts on it in the comments there.

Again, thank you everyone for your support!