– that’s one of the headlines running in local Hawaii news for days now. It’s not everyday or a lot of times we see Jpop acts on concerts outside Japan- a huge scale at that, and being covered locally widely. This is the first time Arashi (storm in English) is playing in the US.

It took the Hawaii Tourism Authority 2 years and a 15th year celebration to lure Arashi in. According to concert promoter Tom Moffatt “Of all the concerts I’ve done, I think this is the biggest. To build a stage like this from scratch, the number of high definition screens, nobody has ever done that before.” He added “You know, I’ve done great acts like the Rolling Stones and Elvis…but the excitement level on this one is, because the media involvement, is unprecedented, really.”

The stage is almost ready. Part of the draw of the concert for locals who haven’t even heard of the group Arashi before or who would not even understand them, is to see what the show is about, seeing the huge stage being constructed. By any definition, this is a $8 million worth of production- which was paid for by the band. They’re bringing the largest stage in Hawaiian history at 63 feet high and 280 feet wide, moving platforms and 13 HD screens, which took dozens of sea and air cargo containers to bring, to Hawaii.

How are they being received? Watch local Hawaii news coverage on the upcoming concerts.

Former Morning Musume member Natsumi Abe (33) performed a convention live for her new album “Hikari he –classical & crossover-” on September 18th.

She sang “I Dreamed a Dream” from the musical “Les Miserables” and other tracks from her album. It has been 10 years since her graduation from Morning Musume and Abe has now decided to take a completely different route. She sang in front of 300 people involved in the music industry. “This album is my first step on a new road,” Abe exclaimed.

Her new album will be released on October 22nd.

FLiP is an all-female Japanese rock band from Okinawa formed in 2005 and is composed of members: Sachiko (Vocal & electric guitar), Yuko (Chorus & electric guitar), Sayaka (Electric bass & Chorus) and Yuumi (Drummer & Chorus). They released their debut indies mini-album “Haha kara Umareta Hinekure no Uta” in 2008 followed by “Kanshou Chuudoku” in 2009. They are currently signed to EMI Records after originally signing with Sony sub-label DefSTAR Records.

The band has been impressing audiences with strong instrumentals and vocals. Following their latest digital single “Madonna” released on July 31st, FLiP is set to release a new physical single “GIRL” on October 1. Check out their new infectious song and PV below.

Sacchan (21), Ruby (22), and Ui Ando (21) appeared at Sankei Sports on the 18th to promote their debut single. The girls currently model for chubby girl fashion magazine “la farfa”.

Together the three girls weigh 210kg (around 463lbs) and they’ve formed a new unit called “la BIG 3”. Their debut song is called “Pochative ~Body mo Heart mo Glamorous~”; a cute way of making a play on the word pocchari (chubby) and positive. La farfa explains they use this phrase to encourage plump girls to be positive.

On November 5, Shiina Ringo will be releasing her sixth studio album “Hi Izuru Tokoro.” This will be her first studio album since 2009’s “Sanmon Gossip.” The album will have 13 tracks, 7 of which will be new. The album will come in 3 editions: CD only, CD+DVD, and CD+Blu-ray. In support of “Hi Izuru Tokoro”, Ringo will be releasing one of its tracks, “Arikitarina Onna”, as a digital single on October 1. The covers for the album have yet to be released but the tracklist has as has the cover for the forthcoming digital single “Arikitarina Onna.” Check them out after the jump!

Actor Osamu Mukai (32) will be starring in Fuji TV’s “Nobunaga Concerto”, set to air on October 13th.

Shun Oguri (31) will be playing the lead character who travels back in time to the Sengoku era and finds out he looks exactly like Nobunaga Oda. Oda asks him to switch places for a time, because he isn’t in good condition. The character agrees and tries to unite the country. This will be Osamu’s first Getsu-9* historical drama. He will be playing Nobunaga’s chief retainer Tsuneoki Ikeda.

On September 17th, NMB48’s Miyuki Watanabe (21) got a solo debut from winning the “5th Janken Tournament”. On the 18th she was interviewed by Sankei Sports.

After the tournament, Watanabe went out to eat with producer Yasushi Akimoto (56) and fellow members. Then she went on to appear live on “AKB48’s ALL NIGHT NIPPON” from 1 until 3 in the morning. The super busy new Janken Queen appeared for her interview at 9am and didn’t appear tired at all, despite having less than 6 hours of sleep.

Check out the interview under the cut!

In days of late, Oguri Shun’s escapades have been the talk of Japanese media and internet alike. With his wife soon to be giving birth to their first child, rumors of Oguri Shun’s alleged infidelity and negative views about marriage have lit up message boards, entertainment websites and the blogosphere. Yamada Yu has also made strange Instagram posts and blog posts which have netizens worried that she is not in her right mind because of her husband’s infidelity. So, what exactly has Oguri Shun been up to that has caused such controversy?