This week’s guests were Hirose Kohmi and Chara.

Hirose Kohmi – Romance no Kamisama 2016

Chara – Yasashii Kimochi

Taking the place of the usual episode of Utacon this week was The 54th Kayo Charity Concert. The show was hosted by Shunputei Syota and Kurosaki Megumi and was held at the Shizuoka Citizen Cultural Center. The performers at this event were Sayuri Ishikawa, Ooe Yutaka, Oka Midori, Kozai Kaori, Sakamoto Fuyumi, Satomi Kotaro, Hata Motohiro, Fukada Kohei, Fuji Ayako, Fuse Akira, Hosokawa Takashi, Matsuhara Takeshi, miwa, Minami Kosetsu, Fujino Koichi, and the Central Aichi Symphony Orchestra.

This week’s guests were Nishino Kana and 7!!

Nishino Kana – Dear Bride

7!! – Kimi ga Iru Nara

Singer Ai Shinozaki has recently opened an official Vimeo account for her fans viewing pleasure! To kick things off Ai and her team uploaded a teaser for her newest single “True Love“. The video itself is quite simple, with Miss Shinozaki singing in front of a pinkish-purple background. In parts of a video we see her holding, then dropping, an envelope. I guess we have to wait for the whole video to see if the letter plays an important part; but until then enjoy the teaser.

Two weeks ago we reported that electropop trio Perfume was featured in a new, wintery promotional campaign for clothing brand “UNIQLO”, promising us a second part coming soon. Well, rejoice Perfume fans, as today is the day! The second part of the CM is out now, and we can see how the girls are freed from the ice cubes and start dancing their souls out on them, keeping the ethereal, non-gravitational vibe. This unrevealed song seems to be a powerful, mainly instrumental, dance track like “Party Maker” or “STORY”. Also, this CM is tagged as #002 (being now tagged the first one as #001), and though it seems clear this campaign won’t reach 100 different CMs, maybe a third or even a fourth could be in the works! Check the CM just after the jump!

On November 23, Passepied will release their new single, “Mayday.” This release comes five years exactly after their debut release, the mini album “Watashi Kaika Shita wa.” This new single will come in a limited edition and a regular edition, with the limited edition including a DVD which features footage from a concert Passepied held this past June. Check out more information on the single below, along with the short PV the band just released!

Queens of the Modern J-Pop Charts AKB48 have revealed that they will release their 8th original studio album, currently untitled, on January 25, 2017.

The new album will contain the A-side songs from their singles between the release of their 42nd single “Kuchibiru ni Be My Baby” through their 46th single “High Tension“, which includes “Kimi wa Melody“, “Tsubasa wa Iranai“, “LOVE TRIP“, and “Shiawase wo Wakenasai“. Additionally, the coupling songs “365 Nichi no Kamihikouki” from their 42nd single and “Hikari to Kage no Hibi” from their 45th single will also be on the track listing.

A few weeks ago, Shukan Bunshun dropped the bombshell that LDH and Burning Productions bribed the Japan Record Awards so that Sandaime J Soul Brothers would win the top prize for their song “Unfair World.” Several parties involved in the scandal denied what happened, despite the evidence proving otherwise.

One would think that such a scandal would create a media circus, but that has not been the case. In a November 4 blog post for Nikkei Business Online, entertainment writer Odajima Takashi reported that there has been no secondary coverage of the scandal. He explained in his piece that rumors of Japan Record Awards bribery have been circulating for years, “but this was the first time a related article was published with evidence, and I expected a lot of noise.” In the end, Shukan Bunshun’s bombshell “turned out to be a dud,” wrote Odajima.