It was announced on January 23 during “AKB 48 Request Hour Set List Best 1035 2015” held at the Tokyo Dome City Hall that both SKE48 and NMB48 will be releasing their new singles on the same day on March 31.

In May 2012, Sashihara Rino’s solo debut single was released at the same time as AKB48’s official rival group Nogizaka46’s 2nd single, but this is the first time for a direct confrontation between sister groups.

During the event, a VTR of SKE48’s staff and NMB48’s staff having a meeting was played on screen. SKE48 ‘s theater manager Imamura Etsuro concluded the meeting “I want to launch it at this period (March)” to which NMB48’s theater manager Kaneko Takeshi responded “Let’s try it to liven up the entire group” and proceeded to firmly shake hands. Echoing the theme of “Battles Without Honor and Humanity”, it was announced that SKE48’s 17th single will be released simultaneously with NMB48’s 11th single.

English popstar Charli XCX has released a snippet of the Japanese version of her monster hit “Boom Clap”. Charli XCX first gained notoriety in 2012 by co-writing the hit “I Love It” by Icona Pop. Her worldwide breakthrough came when she was featured on Iggy Azalea song “Fancy”.

This is the first time Charli XCX has ever recorded a song in Japanese, how do you think she did? The Japanese version of “Boom Clap” will exclusively be available on the Japan press of her third studio album “Sucker”, due out on February 18th.

Check out the snippet below!

Business Journal reports that following her transfer to Avex subsidiary label “Dimension Point“, diva Namie Amuro has bought a home in Los Angeles and is planning to try and make it in America.

A music industry official claims she has received a serious offer overseas from Warner Music Group is planning to advance towards carrying our her activities in Los Angeles.

The same music industry official dished:

“Namie is well aware of Utada’s experiences [in the US]. She has has begun intense English-language lessons. Concerning her music, she is fully satisfied with the type of music she releases being on par with the status quo. She’s not in a ‘I want to break America and be successful at all costs’ mindset, but rather ‘I want to step up my game’.“

On April 8, model Natsume Mito will make her music debut with the single “Colony.”

“Colony” is written, composed, and arranged by Yasutaka Nakata of CAPSULE, Perfume, and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu fame. Natsume is managed by ASOBI SYSTEM, the same company that manages Kyary, CAPSULE, and Nakata himself. She will be making her music debut on Sony Music Associated Records.

“Colony” will serve as the ending theme for the upcoming movie “Koisuru ♡ Vampire”, starring Mirei Kiritani and A.B.C.-Z’s Shota Totsuka. Nastume will appear in the movie singing “Colony.” Yasutaka’s song “KT” will serve as the movie’s opening theme. “Koisuru ♡ Vampire” opens in theaters on April 17.

While the ceremony may be years away, there has been much talk about the musical acts who will appear at the forthcoming Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony in 2020. Of course, Japan’s most popular idol group, AKB48 and its sub-units have a lot of buzz surrounding their possible future appearance at the big event. One person who definitely doesn’t want AKB to perform at the opening ceremony is Matsuko Deluxe. Matsuko offered a severe criticism saying, “Absolutely, I do not want them to [perform at] the opening ceremony.”

On January 27, LDH announced that E-girls will be reduced to 20 members from the current 26 under a new system for the members line-up, called E-girls Pyramid. Under this organizational structure, the E-girls members are reevaluated every year. After the reevaluation, members who are deemed to be in need of more training have to exercise themselves in Rabbits (senior high students and above) or Bunnies (junior high students and below).

With that, members Takebe Yuzuna, Hagio Misato, Inagaki Rio, Ikuta Risa, Nakajima Momoka and Watanabe Marina returned to the training period at EXILE PROFESSIONAL GYM, reducing E-girls to 20 .

J-rock band SCANDAL has announced all the dates for their upcoming world tour “Hello World”!

The girls begin their tour at home in Japan this month until April 19th. They will then embark on the oversea dates starting in Paris on April 25th. Since their debut in 2008 SCANDAL has amassed a considerable global following allowing them to play shows in North America, Europe, and Asia. The band has also provided themes for many popular anime series including Pokemon, Fullmetal Alchemist, and BLEACH which played a major role in building up the band’s global presence.

Tickets are expected to go fast, Taiwan’s show in May has already sold out! Their entire oversea concert schedule can be seen below.

This week’s guests were NEWS, SWANKY DANK, and Kizuki Minami.

NEWS – Chankapana / KAGUYA

SWANKY DANK – the answer

Kizuki Minami – Kiseki wo Nozomu Nara…