As previously reported, JASMINE is set to release her first best album “PURE LOVE BEST” on October 29. In anticipation of the release, she has released a new music video for her debut single “sad to say.” The song peaked at #10 on Oricon but reached #1 digitally, selling in excess of 250,000 copies. It is still her biggest hit. This new music video features cameos by various members of the Japanese urban music scene such as JAY’ED, CREAM, EMI MARIA, Mirei Toyama, CIMBA, Zeebra, Maiko Katagiri from MAY’S, LEO, AISHA and TEE. Check it out after the jump!

May J. – Hontou no Koi

Morning Musume. ’14 – One Two Three (updated) / TIKI BUN

V6 – Sky’s The Limit

Denki Groove – Baby’s on Fire

Shiina Ringo – Arikitarina Onna

VAMPS – VAMPIRE’S LOVE

Arashi – Zero-G

As is tradition, Japanese Entertainment magazine Only★Star have released their yearly Favorite Artist feature to the public.  The results for this ranking are based on a survey that the Oricon-owned publication runs each year, which polls 20,000 Japanese citizens of various different age groups in order to gain at the very least a respectable idea of the public’s opinion.  While likely not totally accurate, it’s still a very interesting statistic to consider, particularly when compared to the results for previous years.

While there has been a fair amount of flux in the rankings compared to how they stood in 2013, Arashi have stood strong and remained at #1 for the 5th year in a row, making them the first artist to achieve this feat in the magazine’s history.  Following them are popular rock band Mr.Children at #2 and veteran hard rock duo B’z at #3, both of whom have risen up in the poll as compared to last year.

Check out the rest of this year’s Top 20 artists below!

Th full trailer for the live-action film adaptation of Saso Akira’s Maestro manga is released. The film stars Matsuzaka Tori as Kosaka, a brilliant concert master, Nishida Toshiyuki as the mysterious conductor Tendo, and miwa as Tachibana Amane, the heroine of the series and a flautist.

Kobayashi Shotaro directs and the movie opens on January 31, 2015.

American-born Japanese artist Ai’s English version of her biggest hit “Story” which was released in 2005 will be used as the ending theme song for Disney’s “Big Hero 6″ – known in Japan as “Baymax”. The song is also already featured in the Japanese trailer of the movie released last October 21 at Disney’s Official YouTube channel.

The film is about a young boy named Hiro and his robot Baymax, left behind by his brother Tadashi who died in accident. The lyrics in “Story” speaks of  connections between people as also seen in the relationship that develops between Hiro and Baymax, who stayed by his side to protect his mind and body.

“Story (English Version)” was released as a digital single last October 22. The cover jacket features AI and her younger sister SACHI, representing the relationship of trust drawn from the the movie.

You can listen to “Story (English Version)” below.

Is it Sakura or Hinata for Naruto in the end? It has been argued by fans for many years and the recently released cover for The Last: Naruto the Movie soundtrack raises more questions regarding the romantic fate of Naruto. The cover shows Hinata Hyuga and Naruto Uzumaki together, which may be hinting of the feature of the movie. On the other hand, it may also just be a buzzmaker for the release. Regardless, the cover art also marks the first appearance of Hinata’s full-body character design for the film.

The OST will be released on December 3. The theme song, “Hoshi no Utsuwa”(Star Vessel) is described to have a gentle, yet powerful outlook of the world which conveys friendship and the bonds between people in a medium-tempo number. The song will be performed by the duo Sukima Switch, who at the same time will also be voice-acting ninja characters in the movie.

With a movie tagline of “The Last Story, The First Love”, the movie will surely give fans a lot to look forward when it opens on December 6. The manga is also slated to end in the next few weeks.

Celebrities, prime minister, a Japanese princess, Disney executives and international guests walked the red carpet as the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival opened last October 23 during the opening ceremony held in the Roppongi Hills complex.

According to Variety, in a speech without notes, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe identified detailed elements of the festival program, pitched Tokyo as a gateway to Asian cinema, and personally welcomed U.S. animation icon John Lasseter. He also repeated the country’s ‘Cool Japan’ culture and tourism pitch and joshed with five part boy-band Arashi, who were dressed like the PM in sharp, dark suits. “I hope some of their popularity rubs off on the government,” he said.  He added, “I want the Tokyo International Film Festival to develop into the film festival of Asia.”

Last October 23, the main event of the “International Drama Festival in TOKYO 2014” in Tokyo, the “Tokyo Drama Awards 2014” was held. Sakai Masato, Ishihara Satomi, Mitsushima Hikari are among those who attended. The event is also part of the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival.

Held for the 7th time this 2014, “Tokyo Drama Awards” recognizes excellent dramas that the Japanese are excited to bring overseas. In order to achieve further global exposure of the nominated programs, the award’s judging criteria place emphasis on “marketability” and “merchantability” rather than “artistry” or “show quality” which had been more important aspects in other conventional awards.

The Award covers dramas shown between July 2013 and June 2014.