Last October 22, Yamashita Tomohisa attended a thanksgiving stage greeting held for the success of his movie “Kinkyori Renai”. Due to the criminal damage of property case which had been forwarded to the prosecutor’s office last October 21, Yamashita apologized infront of the 400 fans who have gathered.

“Thank you very much for gathering today, and I apologize for using this time and place as I take this opportunity to apologize for having caused trouble and anxiety to many people by my actions lately. I would like to consider one’s standpoint from now on and that I will devote myself with it every day. Thank you for your consideration,” Yamapi said and bowed deeply afterwards. Fans silently listened to him and gave him a warm applause.

Kiryuhin of Golden Bomber recently got a special treat when he was able to meet up with his idol, Hyde of L’Arc En Ciel. The two took a photo and spent time making toast sprinkled with gold dust.

Hello AramaJapan readers! I’ve somehow managed to bamboozle my superiors into letting me handle our next Featured Artist; this week, we’ll be taking a good, long look at Akai Koen, who happen to be one of my favorite girl bands in the Japanese industry. However, this isn’t just any feature. This will be the first of a unique subset of original content that we’re choosing to dub a ‘Double Feature’, which will contain everything you’ve come to expect from our Featured Artist articles, but also include a full album review. I’ll be digging into Akai Koen’s latest full-length release ‘Mouretsu Rythmique’ and seeing how it holds up as a studio set. That said, we’ve wasted enough time here, so let’s get to it!

It’s come to light that Erika Sawajiri (28) has been the victim of a stalker.

Sawajiri is currently living with her mother in a leading high-class residential area in the city. Fashion designer and current boyfriend “A” is also a frequent visitor to this residence, but his reasons for visiting are anything but peaceful. Spills a nearby neighbor:

“Police have been patrolling around the outside of Sawajiri-san’s house day and night for the past month. This is because a malicious male fan found her home, turned into a stalker and started chasing after her…”

Daichi Miura has been named Best Japan Act for The 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards. He was originally chosen as a wildcard along with BABYMETAL, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, MAN WITH A MISSION, and SEKAI NO OWARI. After winning that round, he advanced to the final Japan nominee list where he faced off against Namie Amuro, E-girls, ONE OK ROCK, and Perfume.

He now one of the nominees for Best Japan-Korea Act. He is up against South Korea’s B.A.P. Whoever wins this, will then be one of the final nominees for Best Worldwide Act. That award be given away at The 2014 MTV EMA on November 9 in Glasgow, Scotland.

You can vote for Daichi here. Voting is open until October 29. All 10 nominees for Best Worldwide act will be revealed on October 30.

Popular rock band BUMP OF CHICKEN have announced that they’re going to be releasing a Documentary film which will chronicle the events of their recent live tour.  ‘BUMP OF CHICKEN “WILLPOLIS 2014” Gekijou-ban’ is set to release in several theaters across Japan for a limited showing starting on December 5th and concluding on December 18th.

Furthermore, the band have also announced that they’ll be releasing a new Live DVD / Blu-ray of the same tour on February 4th of the new year.  The live footage will come from the final stop of BUMP OF CHICKEN’s WILLPOLIS 2014 Tour – their first show at the prestigious Tokyo Dome.

While a track list has technically not yet been released, check out the set list for BUMP’s Tokyo Dome show and the official preview for their Documentary below.

Self-proclaimed Kawaii “rap-idol” group Rhymeberry has released the video for their 5th single “IDOL ILLMATIC”.

In “IDOL ILLMATIC” the girls pay respect to some of their favorite old school hip-pop acts (see some of their faves near the end of the video) while rapping about the idol business and school life. The girls will embark on a nationwide tour next month to support the single, which is scheduled to be released November 19th.

Check out the video below!

Nogizaka 46 was able to proudly proclaim itself as a scandal-free idol group…until recently, when it was discovered that member Matsumura Sayuri was openly engaged in an affair with a married man. After the news broke, there have been mixed reactions, with some fans offering support and others demanding her retirement.