HKT48 and Johnny’s WEST top the weekly Oricon charts! 4/20-4/26
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HKT48 and Johnny’s WEST top the weekly Oricon charts! 4/20-4/26

The Oricon weekly physical music rankings for the week of 4/20-4/26 have been released!

Fukuoka’s own HKT48 find themselves at the top of the charts with their fifth single “12 Byou” selling 277,916 copies, oddly enough near-exactly matching the first week numbers of their previous single.

Johnny’s Entertainment seven-member boyband Johnnys’ WEST released their first anniversary album “Paripipo“, selling 81,000 units in their first week and topping Oricon weekly album album ranking.

Check out the top 10 charts for each list below.

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Digital Singles Charts for the Week of 4/22 – 4/28
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Digital Singles Charts for the Week of 4/22 – 4/28

This week on Recochoku, Sandaime J Soul Brothers continue their reign at the top, but with “STORM RIDERS feat. SLASH” taking the place of “starting over.”

On iTunes, Gesu no Kiwami Otome. takes the top spot again with “Watashi Igai Watashi Janai no”, selling 38,814 copies this week.

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Keishi Tanaka gives us a look backstage in his PV for “Suteki na Kage no Ketsumatsu”
Music videoNew release

Keishi Tanaka gives us a look backstage in his PV for “Suteki na Kage no Ketsumatsu”

Up and coming jazz-pop singer Keishi Tanaka recently released his second full album “Alley” on April 22nd.  In support of this release, he’s also chosen to publish a music video for the album’s lead track “Suteki na Kage no Ketsumatsu” to his official Youtube channel.

This PV finds us following Keishi as he goes on tour, shots of him and his staff travelling, setting up at the venue, and performing live for the audience cut together to provide this uniquely personal experience.  The finished product is presented as though it were a scrolling film reel, the track’s lyrics set to both sides of the video itself.

You’ll find the full music video for “Suteki na Kage no Ketsumatsu”, as well as the track list for Keishi’s new album “Alley” right after the jump, so please do hang around for just a bit longer.

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Kinoko Teikoku Releases PV for “Sakura ga Saku Mae ni”
Music videoNew release

Kinoko Teikoku Releases PV for “Sakura ga Saku Mae ni”

Earlier this year, up and coming band Kinoko Teikoku were picked up by major label EMI Records. They are now set to make their major label debut on April 29. They’ll do this with the single “Sakura ga Saku Mae ni.” The B-sides for the single are “Donut” and “Spica.” The cover art for the single is a collage of images that represents each song on the single.

Kinoko Teikoku have now released the music video for “Sakura ga Saku Mae ni.” The video is a mixture of cityscapes (often empty) and home video footage. Check it out after the jump along with the single’s cover and tracklist!

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Maroka Uchiyama’s Campaign Flops
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Maroka Uchiyama’s Campaign Flops

As previously reported, Maroka Uchiyama has entered the world of politics. He was running for a seat on the city assembly of Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward. The election was Sunday and the results are in! Maro’s bid fell on largely deaf ears. The multi-hyphenate came in third to last place out of 50 candidates. He managed to get 229 votes. He thanked his supporters, but also apologized to them for his failure. He thinks one problem he may have had is that the youth, the constituency he was targeting, don’t really care about politics. He admitted that he didn’t care for it in his younger days.

This defeat is the only the beginning of his political career though. He’s not going to let this roadblock stop his political ambitions. He is considering running for a seat in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the National Diet, Japan’s legislature. He’s advocating for world peace. He also reaffirmed this commitment to not letting his political career derail his music career.

Today, Maro uploaded some videos of him on the campaign trail. Check the out after the jump!

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Shota Matsuda and Kozue Akimoto Are Dating
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Shota Matsuda and Kozue Akimoto Are Dating

Actor Shota Matsuda and model Kozue Akimoto are now a couple! They began dating in November of last year. They were introduced by a mutual friend. They both have a love of fashion, so this is a hobby that they share. The coupling is attracting media attention not only due to their own fame, but also due to their familial fame. Shota is the son of a legendary actor, the late Yusaku Matsuda. Kozue is the daughter of an iconic sumo wrestler, Chiyonofuji Mitsugu. Good luck to them!