The AKB48 Theater is where the idol group AKB48 was founded on December 8, 2005 when they performed for the first time to an audience of 7. Following their massive boost in popularity since, the 250 person capacity theater now requires one to win a lottery to gain entrance.

A little less than ten years since its formation, the theater famously situated on the 8th floor of the Don Quixote Building in Akihabara is finally boasting its one-millionth attendee, a 19-year-old female university student from Osaka on her first-ever visit.

In a confetti-filled explosion at 6:25 pm, she was greeted at the entrance by the theater’s first manager, the current theater manager and Team K captain Yui Yokoyama and given a free lifetime pass. Additionally, the previous and following people in line also received a free ticket to a performance of their favorite team.

During the performance, 22-year-old leading member of AKB48 Yui Yokoyama thanked fans saying, “We will join forces to achieve 2 million and 3 million visitors.“

AKB48’s 39th single “Green Flash” will be released in Japan on March 4.

(via Oricon)

International kawaii ambassador Kyary Pamyu Pamyu has just released the short version of her upcoming single “Mondai Girl” to her official YouTube channel.

In the video, Kyary pairs up her cute and standard pastel visuals against a darker look as an intergalactic lilic-colored matted hair girl with furry alien friend in some recursive mental imaging of each other. Additionally, she channels a bougie blonde socialite with a pet dog being hounded by the paparazzi on a leisurely walk in the vein of Paris Hilton.

Check out the short version of “Mondai Girl” below!

As previously reported, Shiina Ringo is set to release her new single “Shijou no Jinsei” on February 25. She’s previously released a short music video for the single’s A-side. She’s now released one for the single’s B-side, “Donzoko Made.” The music video has much of the same setup as the the one for “Shijou no Jinsei.” Check it out after the jump!

Up-and-coming alternative rock band WHITE ASH recently chose to publish the PV for their latest song “Orpheus” to their record label’s official Youtube channel.  The video is shot in greyscale and features the band jamming to the track, this footage intercut with shots of each member in various impactful poses.

“Orpheus” is the lead track off of WHITE ASH’s upcoming third studio album “THE DARK BLACK GROOVE”, which is set to be released next week on March 4th.  The album will consist of eleven tracks in total, also including the band’s previously released single “Hopes Bright”.

Check out the music videos for both “Orpheus” and “Hopes Bright”, as well as the full track list for “THE DARK BLACK GROOVE” right below the jump.

As we reported previously, folk-pop duo Yuzu will be performing the theme song for the latest movie in the long-running “Crayon Shin-chan” animated series.  Now the pair have announced that they will be releasing the song as a physical single on April 15th of this year.

“OLA!! / Pocket” will be Yuzu’s first single in one year and two months, since they released “Hikare” in February of 2014, and their first Double A-side single since the very successful “Ame Nochi Hallelujah / Mamotte Agetai” hit shelves back in November of 2013.  The release will come in two versions:  a Yuzu version which includes both tracks, and a Crayon Shin-chan version which will only include “OLA!!” and a special Yuzu x Crayon Shin-chan collaboration item (which will be revealed at a later date).

In addition to this announcement, the duo also published the PV for the latter A-side, “Pocket” to their official Youtube channel.  This visually striking music video was shot with the help of the MEGASTAR planetarium software, which allowed the pair to project images of a “magnificent starry sky” all around them.

You’ll find this very pretty PV right after the cut, and please look forward to the single’s release in April.

Kojima Haruna and Kashiwagi Yuki center for the new AKB48 single titled “Green Flash”, to be released on March 4. As previously reported, the song is a homage to the 1986 French movie “The Green Ray” directed by Eric Rohmer . “Green Flash” refers to that occurrence which can be more commonly observed at sunset where the sun can be briefly seen changing its color.

Green Flash PV was directed by Koreeda Hirokazu who also directed the group’s music video for “Sakura no Ki ni Narou” released in February 2011. Check out the released short version of their new music video as it features the members in crying and emotional scenes. As is consistent with the theme, the jacket covers released also features the members shedding a tear. See their different faces in the covers for their Limited and Regular Editions A, S, N and H below.

The Oricon physical music sales chart for the week of 2/16 – 2/22 has been released!

For the albums chart, SMAP dominate selling over 160,000 copies of their 54th single “Karei naru Gyakushu/Humor Shichau yo“. GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE take the number one spot of the albums charts, pushing 64,429 units of their 2nd album “GENERATION EX” in its first week.

Check out the top 10 of each list below!

It’s the international collaboration you didn’t know you wanted — Flower has released a video for their new song “Dreamin’ Together” featuring UK girl group Little Mix.

As all Western artists usually make an attempt to do at some point in their career, Little Mix is trying to get a better standing in Japan’s huge music market by collaborating with a Japanese group.  In February of last year they had two wins at Japan’s Gold Disk Awards, which are awarded to the highest-selling artists of the year on the Oricon charts. It is clear that Japan is an ongoing focus market for them.

The music video features scenes of Flower in Japan and Little Mix in London performing the track in rehearsal studios. Little Mix sing in both English and Japanese on the new track, which will be released through Sony Music Japan. Check it out below!