Japan Box Office Ranking (Week of Aug 22 – 23)

The top 1 – 6 of the box office charts remained unchanged from last week. There are also no new movies that opened in the top 10 of the charts. On its 3rd week, Jurassic World already nears 6 billion Yen. The Boy and the Beast remained strong at no. 4 on its 7th week. The movie already reached 5 billion Yen.

Check out the latest ranking below.

Arashi’s “Ai wo Sakebe” PV, new album “Japonism”, Dome Tour, Arashi Blast in Miyagi

The full music video for Arashi’s wedding song Ai Wo Sakebe is out! Part of the MV was shot in an actual wedding reception held in Tokyo. The PV also features footage from dance rehearsals of Arashi, the groom and the groom’s men before Arashi’s surprise appearance at the reception. The single will be released on September 2.

In addition, the group announced the release of their 14th album, Japonism on October 21. In their 16th year, Arashi expressed their new interpretation of the wonderfulness of Japan in their unique way through their new album “Japonism.” The album features songs that are different from previous songs, and is an album that showcases Arashi’s ambitious challenging spirit and continuous evolution.

The music and lyrics for the lead song (title TBA) was done by Hotei Tomoyasu, who is based in London, with “Japan seen from the outside” as the theme. ARASHI will express the “wonderfulness of Japan” through song on top of a tense Hotei sound, where the battle of (ARASHI)x(Hotei)x(Japanese instruments) sounds takes place.

Staff Selections: June / July 2015

Hello Arama Japan readers! We are back with our monthly wrap up feature (well bi-monthly in this case). A few of the staff members have come together to share their faves for the months of June and July. Find out what the staff was loving these past 2 months! Also feel free to post what you loved this past June and July in the comments!

Remembering The MTV Video Music Awards’ International Viewer’s Choice Award for MTV Japan

This year’s edition of The MTV Video Music Awards take place on August 30. The awards will be handed out in Los Angeles at the Microsoft Theater. Seen as a largely American event, there was once a time when this show acknowledged international acts on a greater scale. This was done via The International Viewer’s Choice Award. From 1989 to 2003, this award was given to various international acts annually. The winners were selected by the viewers of various MTV channels around the world. One of these channels was MTV Japan. The International Viewer’s Choice Award for MTV Japan was given out from 1989 – 1991, 1994 – 1998, and 2001. We will now take a look at the winners and nominees for this award.

TV Drama Ratings (Aug 21 – 27) + Updates

The latest numbers are in for the drama ratings chart! Also, here are some tidbits in Jdrama land.

Koinaka will end with 9 episodes. FUJI TV will air Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai) drama SP on September 21 and Date: What It’s Like to Be in Love (Deto – Koi to wa Donna Mono Kashira) drama SP on September 28.

“Anohana” is a live action drama adaptation of the popular anime series of the same name. “Date” was FUJI TV’s Winter Getsu9 drama aired last January 2015 and stars Ann and Hasegawa Hiroki.

Due to the 24Hr Television special that aired on NTV, the 7th episode of Dokonjo Gaeru did not air. Instead, NTV aired the drama special Mom, I’m Okay (Okasan, Ore Wa Daijobu) starring Hey! Say! JUMP’s Yamada Ryosuke. The 24Hr drama special gained a rating of 20.2%.

The latest episode of Napeleon’s Village also did not air. TBS aired a coverage of the 2015 World Championship in Athletics during the timeslot.

Check out the rest of the chart below!

AKB48 and Saito Kazuyoshi Perform on CDTV for August 29

This week’s guests were AKB48 and Saito Kazuyoshi.

AKB48 – Halloween Night

Saito Kazuyoshi – Semeto Ikoze!

The Gospellers, Little Glee Monster, and More Perform on Music Fair for August 29

This week’s guests were The Gospellers, Little Glee Monster, Gosperats, and Choutokkyuu.

The Gospellers x Little Glee Monster – Runaway

Gosperats – Machikado

The Gospellers x Little Glee Monster – Hurricane

The Gospellers – Yume de Aetara

Gosperats x The Gospellers x Little Glee Monster – Megumi no Hito

Little Glee Monster – Sukida.

The Gospellers – Dream Girl

Choutokkyuu – Beautiful Chaser

Gosperats – Uta no Okurimono

SCANDAL Rocks the Party with “Sisters” PV

All-female band SCANDAL has released the music video (short ver) for their newest single “Sisters”. The music is composed by MAMI and lyrics written by RINA, as inspired by the film “Hinagiku”.

With a song about inspiring women to stand together, 200 female fans were chosen among 8,000 applicants to join the shoot for the music video. The video shoot updates was relayed via SNS such as Twitter and Instagram with hashtag #SCANDAL_Sisters. The full version of the PV will be available for the group’s mobile fan club for 1 week from September 1.

The single will be released on September 9. Check out their latest music video and single details below.