On October 5, KANA-BOON will release their new single, “Wake Up.” The song is the theme song for the movie “Good Morning Show”, which opens in Japanese theaters on October 8. The DVD that comes with the Limited Edition of the single features footage from KANA-BOON’s first international shows, which took place this past July in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The music video for “Wake Up” was recently released and it features frontman Taniguchi Maguro as a regular guy who has an awakening of his own. Check it out below along with more information on the single!

On November 6, this year’s edition of the MTV Europe Music Awards will take place in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. One of the awards given out that night is for Best Worldwide Act. Fans from around the world vote for their favorite international act to win this award. The nominees are taken from various regions of the world. One of those regions is Japan. The nominees for the Best Japanese Artist Award were recently announced. Check them out below!

This week’s guests were Ichikawa Yukino, Itsuki Hiroshi, Iwasa Misaki, Otake Shinobu, Oka Midori, Kumiko, Satomi Kotaro, Sera Masanori, Tendo Yoshimi, Harada Shinji, Hoshino Gen, Natsukawa Rimi, miwa, Miyama Hiroshi, Yamauchi Keisuke, Matsumoto Takashi, Ogata Kanako, and MUSIC CONCERTO.

On October 1 at Saitama Super Arena, this year’s Japan Open took place. Team Japan, consisting of Shoma Uno, Nobunari Oda, Satoko Miyahara, and Wakaba Higuchi, won the event for the second consecutive year. With a score of 637.65, they bested Team Europe’s score of 595.66 and Team North America’s score of 574.20.

In the men’s competition, Shoma Uno came out on top with a score of 198.55, beating Javier Fernandez of Spain’s score of 192.20. If this was an official event, this would be Shoma’s personal best score. He opened his program with a quad flip. Shoma became the first person to ever land a quad flip in international competition earlier this year. He followed his quad flip with a fall on his quad toe loop.

Retired skater Nobunari Oda came in third place with a score of 178.72. During his program, he landed a quad toe loop.

On the women’s side, Satoko Miyahara came in second place with a score of 143.39, behind Evgenia Medvedeva of Russia, who scored 147.07. If this was an official event, this would be Satoko’s personal best score. She was pleased with the score her new program received ahead of the beginning of the Grand Prix series. “I was able to skate the way I wanted to on a big stage. I think it’s a good start,” she said.

Entering her first season as a senior internationally, Wakaba Higuchi came in fifth place with a score of 116.99. Some of her jumps were singled and doubled instead of tripled.

This week’s guests were ORANGE RANGE, Takeda to Tetsuya, and Koresawa.

ORANGE RANGE – Ishin Denshin

Takeda to Tetsuya – LOVE SOUND

Koresawa – J-POP

Making her return to the Japanese entertainment industry this past April after 8 and a half years, Utada Hikaru’s comeback album Fantôme has topped Oricon’s weekly album chart.

During its first week of sales, Fantôme sold 253,000 physical copies and currently holds the record for highest album sales from a female soloist in 2016 in Japan so far. Worldwide, the only other female artist to sell more this year was Beyoncé with Lemonade.

On November 9th up-and-coming rock act [Alexandros] will be releasing their second major album “EXIST!”.  This new release will come in four variants:  a Regular CD-Only edition, an Analog edition, a Limited Edition A which will include a DVD with 90 minutes (20+ tracks) of live footage from the band’s “Premium V.I.P. Party” at Osaka-jo Hall, and a Limited Edition B which will house a DVD with all of the music videos connected to the album.

Ahead of this record’s release, the group have now published the PV for their GLOBAL WORK CM track “Feel like” to their official Youtube channel.  The lighthearted, full-English tune is set to a variety of colorful imagery, which is intermixed with shots of dancers weaving between the band members as they perform.

Though the track list for “EXIST!” has not been published yet, you’ll find the full MV for “Feel like”, as well as the set list for their “Premium V.I.P. Party” just beneath the cut.

The notorious career ruiner strikes again—this time, it’s his band members’ at stake.

Enon Kawatani, the vocalist of Gesu no Kiwami Otome and Indigo la End, has suspended his band’s activities after being caught drinking with his girlfriend, 19-year-old actress Honoka Rin only days before she turned the legal drinking age in Japan.

Check out what he and his label had to say below: