V6 and Shogo Hamada top the Weekly Oricon Charts! 5/04-5/10
Chart

V6 and Shogo Hamada top the Weekly Oricon Charts! 5/04-5/10

The Oricon physical music sales charts for the week of 5/04-5/10 have been released!

Johnny & Associates’ V6 topped out the singles chart with their 20th anniversary and overall 45th single  “Timeless,” selling 93,402 copies in its first week of sales.

For the album chart, Shogo Hamada holds his #1 position with his first studio album in almost 10 years. The massive 17-track album “Journey of a Songwriter ~Tabisuru Songwriter” stayed at the top of the charts selling 24,303 units in its second week.

Check out the top 10 of both charts below!

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Perfume announce anniversary concerts, WT3 release & more
ConcertMusicMusic videoNews

Perfume announce anniversary concerts, WT3 release & more

Electro-pop trio Perfume, who recently released their newest single “Relax In The City / Pick Me Up” on April 29th, have announced their busy schedule for the rest of 2015. The group will embark on a series of special live events labeled Perfume Anniversary 10days 2015 PPPPPPPPPP (the “PPPPPPPPPP” part is pronounced “papapapapapapapapapa”, as in pafyuumu/Perfume) in commemoration of their 15th anniversary, which starts at the small live venue TSUTAYA O-WEST and graduates up to Hiroshima Green Arena in the members’ hometown, with three more dates to be announced. More news, as well as the full PV for “Relax”, below!

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Crystal Kay Releases Teaser for Her New Single
New release

Crystal Kay Releases Teaser for Her New Single

As previously reported, Crystal Kay will release her new single “Kimi ga Ita Kara” on June 3. She recently released a teaser video for the upcoming single. In the teaser, listeners can hear the 4 songs that are on both the Limited and Regular Editions of the single. Each edition of the single has a different bonus track. The Limited Edition has an English version of “THE LIGHT”, while the Regular Edition has a remix of “THE LIGHT” by tofubeats. Check out the teaser along with the single’s covers and tracklist after the jump!

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Suichuzukan Annnounces Their First Full Album
Music videoNew release

Suichuzukan Annnounces Their First Full Album

In 2011, 5 classmates at Tokyo’s Kuwasawa Design School formed a band. They named that band Suichuzukan. They released a demo, “Fureru Tokoro, Sasaru Toge”, the following year. In 2013, they released a polished version of that demo, along with a few new tracks, as their first mini album. That same year saw the band perform at Fuji Rock Festival on the buzzy “Rookie A Go Go” stage, following in the footsteps of bands such as Quruli, ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION, and Sambomaster. Last year, they released their debut single, “Nami.” Now they’re about to release their first full album.

On July 2, Suichuzukan will release “198X.” The album will have 10 tracks. Ahead of the album’s release, the band has released the music video for the album’s 4th track, “Sakura no En.” The music video is composed of clips of the band in nature and in the city, with some psychedelic effects at times. Check it out after the jump along with the album’s cover and tracklist!

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Kou Shibasaki to Release Cover Album
New release

Kou Shibasaki to Release Cover Album

On June 17, Kou Shibasaki will release her first cover album. It is titled “Kou Utau.” The album will have 15 tracks. It sees her covering a range of acts, from Miyuki Nakajima and Makihara Noriyuki to Tokyo Jihen and Gesu no Kiwami Otome. She also covers a song by her frequent collaborator Masaharu Fukuyama. Some of the songs on the album were requested by fans via Twitter.

The album will come in a Limited Edition and a Regular Edition. The Limited Edition will have a “Poetry & Visual Book.” In this book, there will be photographs by Ayako Mogi and poetry by Kou.

There will be a free paper distributed with the album as a bonus. It will have an interview with Kou. The free paper will be available at several TSUTAYA stores. Those stores are the Daikanyama and Roppongi stores in Tokyo, the Shonan store in Kanagawa Prefecture, the Hakodate store on Hokkaido, and the Tenjin Station store in Fukuoka. It will also be available at several online stores, including Tower Records, HMV, TSUTAYA, Neowing, and Seven Net, for those who pre-order before the album’s release.

Check out the album’s covers and tracklist after the jump!

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Carly Rae Jepsen and Rola Collaborate on Special Video for “I Really Like You”
Music video

Carly Rae Jepsen and Rola Collaborate on Special Video for “I Really Like You”

Carly Rae Jepsen’s career took off in 2012 with the worldwide hit “Call Me Maybe.” Last year, it was certified Triple Platinum for digital sales in Japan, meaning that it sold 750,000 copies digitally since its release. The album “Call Me Maybe” was from, “Kiss”, sold about 350,000 copies in Japan.

One of the fans of “Call Me Maybe” was Rola. She did a YouTube video cover of the song which amassed millions of views. Carly saw the video and the two eventually met.

They’ve now reunited for a special video for Carly’s new song “I Really Like You.” Carly was in Japan recently promoting the song. She’s appeared on shows such as “Sakigake! Ongaku no Jikan” and “Buzzrhythm.” The song has been doing well digitally, becoming a mainstay on the Recochoku and iTunes Top 10 for the past few weeks. The new “I Really Like You” video features Carly and Rola hanging out and partying. Check it out after the jump!

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Sakigake! Ongaku no Jikan for May 10
Music/Award show

Sakigake! Ongaku no Jikan for May 10

This week’s guests was Shokotan Daisuki Dempagumi. They both performed, as did Nishiuchi Mariya, the show’s host. There were also talks segments with Hoshino Gen and Aiba Masaki.

Shokotan Daisuki Dempagumi – PUNCH LINE!

Nishiuchi Mariya – Arigatou Forever…

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