Popular rock band BUMP OF CHICKEN will be celebrating their 20th anniversary this coming February and as such have decided to release a brand new studio album on February 10th.  This unexpected release will be titled “Butterflies” and is planned to include all five of the tracks they’ve released since their previous album – “You were here”, “Fighter”, “Parade”, “Hello, world!”, and “Colony” – as well as a lead track titled “Butterfly” and five additional songs for a total of 11.

“Butterflies” is going to be released in three different editions:  a Regular CD-Only version, and a CD+DVD and CD+Blu-ray variant which will include the entirety of their special live at Yokohama Arena from this past summer on each respective format.  In addition, the band will also be holding a special 20th anniversary live at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe on February 11th and a Stadium Tour starting in April.

Please read on below for a look at the schedule for BUMP’s upcoming tour and look forward to additional updates about their new album as information becomes available.

The 66th edition of NHK’s year end music show Kohaku Uta Gassen will take place on December 31 at 7:15 PM JST and will run until 11:45 PM JST. The moderator for the Red Team, the women’s team, will be Ayase Haruka. The moderator for the White Team, the men’s team, will be V6’s Inohara Yoshihiko. Haruka previously held her position for the 2013 edition of the show. This is Yoshihiko’s first time as moderator. Kuroyanagi Tetsuko and Udo Yumiko wil serve as mediators.

A total of 51 acts will perform on this year’s show, 25 female and 26 male. There are 10 acts making their Kohaku debut this year, 5 from each team. The female acts debuting on this year’s show are Ohara Sakurako, Superfly, Nogizaka46, μ’s, and REBECCA. The male acts debuting this year are BUMP OF CHICKEN, Gesu no Kiwami Otome., Hoshino Gen, Yamauchi Keisuke, and Miyama Hiroshi.

A few weeks ago, the winners of this year’s MTV Video Music Awards Japan were announced. The second part of the awards takes place in a few hours! On November 26 at 7 PM JST, MTV VMAJ -THE PARTY!!- takes place. The highlight of the show is the awarding of Best Video of the Year. The show is hosted by VERBAL from m-flo. Several of the award winners will be appearing on the show, including AK-69, Beat Buddy Boi, DOBERMAN INFINITY, Daichi Miura, Team Syachihoko, and Sandaime J Soul Brothers. Winners of the Best Japan Act award for the MTV Europe Music Awards, Dempagumi.inc, will also be attending. Several other celebrities will be attending as well, including Crystal Kay. The DJs for the night are DJ DARUMA & JOMMY and TJO.

The show will be streaming live on Nico Nico starting at 6:50 PM JST. We here at Arama! Japan will also be opening our TinyChat room for the night in case anyone wants to watch the show in the company of fellow readers. Links to the show and the chat are after the jump!

Electro-pop trio Perfume has been featured in a new commercial for the Mercedes-Benz A-class car. The catch: the unit appears in the ad as their illustrated counterparts, created by Neon Genesis Evangelion character designer Sadamoto Yoshiyuki. A new song titled “Next Stage with YOU” is used as the commercial jingle. Check it out below.

Popular rock singer Inaba Koshi (of B’z fame) has revealed that his first solo single in five-and-a-half years has been set for release on January 13th of next year.  Titled “Hane” (“Feather”), the lead song has already been picked up as the next opening theme for mystery anime Detective Conan and will involve the combination of Eurobeat sounds with heavy guitar riffs courtesy of LOUDNESS guitarist Takasaki Akira.

The single is currently planned to be issued in four versions:  a Regular Edition, comparable CD+DVD and CD+Blu-ray Editions which will include unreleased footage from his concert tour “Live 2014 ~en-ball~”, and a special “Ryu ga Gotoku” (“Yakuza”) Edition which will include a DVD and a Blu-ray disc which both contain the music video for “Receive You [Reborn]”, Koshi’s rendition of the classic Yakuza theme song (not included on the normal single), a special talk with Yakuza creator Nagoshi Toshihiro, and a download code for the upcoming video game “Yakuza:  Kiwami” (which Koshi’s new song “BLEED” is the main theme for) that will unlock a special opening sequence inside the game.

You’ll find the cover and track list for “Hane”, as well as previews of both the lead song and “Suiro” (“Waterway”; the theme song for the WOWOW drama “Godan”) right after the jump.

Following the release of their debut record “Etudes”, up-and-coming rock act LILI LIMIT have announced that their second mini-album will be available for sale starting on January 20th next year.  Titled “#apieceofcake”, the release will include eight brand new songs written and composed by the band’s various members.

In addition, the group will be releasing the mini-album’s lead track “Festa” as a limited single through retailer Tower Records; this special pressing will also include a remix of their song “Girls like Chagall” done by famed electronic producer and DJ Sunahara Yoshinori.

Read on below for a look at #apieceofcake’s track list and stick with us for additional updates about this record as its release date draws closer.

As already reported, KAT-TUN member Taguchi Junnoske announced that he is leaving KAT-TUN and Johnny & Associates next spring, a surprising announcement that made it to the top of worldwide trending topics and gave NTV’s Best Artist its peak rating of 19.6%.

Moments after Junnos’ annoucement, statements from J&A and the members were posted on Johnnys Web. An official English version was recently updated, as can be seen below.

back number topped both Recochoku and iTunes this week with their new single “Christmas Song.”