It has been announced that starting on July 17th, Ririka Sutou of NMB48 (Team N) will temporarily cease all activities with the group due to health problems.
It was revealed through the group’s official website that she received a diagnosis of retinal detachment. Having undergone corrective surgery, she’s been given orders to take one month of rest to fully recover.
In February of last year, former AKB48 member Shinoda Mariko opened a store for her original brand ricori at Lumine Est Shinjuku. Shortly after, the brand expanded to two other branches in Shinsaibashi and Umeda HEP Five in Osaka and were met with a great response.
It was unexpectedly announced today that all ricori stores will be shutting down.
After the success of 2010′s The Borrower Arrietty, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi returns to Studio Ghibli with the film When Marnie Was There based on Joan G. Robinson’s novel of the same name. Set on the shores of Hokkaido, it’s described as an atmospheric ghost story that tells the truths about about friendship, families and loneliness.
The trailer released earlier today features the film’s main theme song “Fine on the Outside” by American singer-songwriter Priscilla Ahn.
Electronica artist Saori@destiny held her last concert at Shibuya Glad on April 1st in 2012, and in her blog post after her final performance she tiptoed around the word retirement knowing her future in show business was unclear.
A couple days ago on her official staff account, she confirmed her return to music with the new stage name “Saoriiiii“.
This year MIYAVI returned to Europe to perform at one of the world’s most prestigious music festivals!
The Montreux Jazz Festival is an annual music festival in Montreux, Switzerland on the Lake Geneva shoreline. On July 11th, they held a day devoted to Japanese artists as joint initiative between the Montreux Jazz Festival, the Blue Note Tokyo, Montreux Sounds Entertainment Japan, and the Japanese Embassy in Switzerland representing many years working with jazz-crazy Japan. Performances on this day included Hiromi, H ZETTRIO, Akikazu Nakamura-Forest, Blue Note Tokyo All Star Jazz Orchestra, Yurifa Matsumoto, Hotei, and of course Miyavi.
Here’s a short English interview with him interspersed with footage of him performing ‘WHAT’S MY NAME?‘ from his sixth album.
Today Tower Records, one of the largest sellers of physical music in Japan, released their mid-year chart for 2014. Check out what made the top 10 for Japanese albums, Western albums, and music dvds after the jump!
Oricon’s weekly charts have been posted!
It was reported by NikkanSports that the upcoming single from Johnny & Associates boy band Sexy Zone was only recorded by three of its five members.
Their 7th single ‘Otoko never give up‘ is set for release on September 17 but will only feature members Kento Nakajima, Fuma Kikuchi and Shori Sato. Of course this resulted in rumors swirling about the future of Marius Yo and Sou Matsushima, the two youngest members of the group.