Ikuta Toma will be starring in Ogigami Naoko’s new film titled “Karera ga Honki de Amutoki wa”, (When they knit seriously) and will be playing the role of of a transgender woman. The movie will be the first film for the director in 5 years. Ikuta commented “Now that filming has started, I realized that this role is very difficult. But it is rare to receive an opportunity to play this kind of role, so I have been doing my best. Kiritani Kenta will play the role of his lover.

You can take a look at Ikuta in his new role below.

Perfume’s YouTube channel has just uploaded the short version of their newest digital single “FLASH”, which has recently achieved second and third place in Recochoku and iTunes respective digital singles charts. The rather simple MV features the trio in an empty room whose lighting varies through the clip, creating different contrasts with Perfume’s black dresses. The video mainly consists of the now revealed choreography, which is heavily inspired by Kung Fu moves. Check it by yourself after the jump!

Last March 22, KAT-TUN celebrated their 10th year anniversary. The twitter sphere was abuzz when former members of the group tweeted in relation to the event.

At past 1 am, Akanishi Jin tweeted “Omedetou” (Congratulations), which delighted a lot of fans who replied with “Thank you, Jin-kun!” “Congratulations also Jin-kun,” “crying”. At around 5 am, Tanaka Koki also tweeted “Happy B’day”, but later deleted the tweet.

When his INKT bandmate SASSY replied to him “Congrats”, Tanaka tweeted he doesn’t want to cause any inconvenience, so while there aren’t many people looking at that time of the morning,  he’ll be deleting it.

This week, ONE OK ROCK topped Recochoku and iTunes with their new digital single, “Always coming back.”

This week, Kis-My-Ft2 topped the Oricon single chart with their new single “Gravity”, selling 212,940 copies in its first week.

Ikimonogakari topped the Oricon album chart with their new album “Cho Ikimonobakari ~Tennen Kinen Members BEST Selection~”, selling 136,808 copies in its first week.

Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw KAT-TUN defeat EXILE ATSUSHI + AI and AI to take the top spot. This week, we have a returnee from last week facing off against 2 newcomers. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!

NHK has announced that the channel will use Namie Amuro’s new song “Hero” as its theme song for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, taking place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was selected to sing the theme song due to her multi-generational support from the Japanese public, as well as her powerful, memorable voice. Namie was honored to be chosen to sing the theme song, saying that she wants “Hero” to be a song that everyone can cheer on the Japanese team with. “Hero” is written by Imai Ryosuke and composed by SUNNY BOY.

Before the Olympics, NHK will use “Hero” as the theme song for the All-Japan Gymnastics Championship on April 3, and the Japan National Swimming Championships on April 4.

Check out a preview of “Hero” after the jump!

Today, NONA REEVES released their new album, “Blackberry Jam.” The album was originally set for release on March 9, but was pushed back 2 weeks. Today, the band released the music video for the album’s title track. It’s a black and white clip featuring NONA REEVES recording the song in the studio. Check it out after the jump!