BoA has been in a disastrous situation, with only her ever-changing face making waves over the past few years. She was considered a top artist from her debut in 2001 until 2005, but recently her Japanese activities have gone largely unnoticed. The singer is scheduled to release her new single, “MASAYUME CHASING” in Japan on July 23, but again people are only talking about her unrecognizable face on the CD jacket. The 27 year-old looks completely different in the three different styles of the photographs, with one set looking like Aota Noriko, and another like Choi Ji-woo, causing some to forget what the original BoA, famous for her heavy dancing while singing, even looked like.

DLC costumes for Hyrule Warriors have been revealed today via its website. The game, which will be released in Standard, Premium, and Treasure editions includes the three outfit “Courage” costume set in all editions, with “Wisdom” and “Power” costume sets for the special editions. Additionally, a video featuring new character Lana, the Sorceress has been posted on KoeiTecmo’s Youtube channel.

Following the release of her 3rd album in 2013, MiChi is back with her 8th single ‘All I know‘ available on iTunes July 16th.

MiChi will be performing ‘All I know’ as well as old songs in a one-woman show at the Sapporo CITY JAZZ PRE LIVE @ Sapporo Music Tent on the 4th and Tokyo SUMMER MadNesS @ Shimokitazawa Garden on the 11th of this month.

Popular Lolita brand Baby the Stars Shine Bright  has announced that they will open their New York City branch on July 19th! Even more exciting, the shop is to be next door to the reopened Tokyo Rebel shop, which focuses on Japanese alternative street brands. Baby, the Stars Shine Bright will be sharing space with its sub-brand Alice and the Pirates, which is good news for punk and goth lolita fans. On the Tokyo Rebel side, they are still official retailers for over a dozen brands (including Baby, the Stars Shine Bright)

Though the brands have not yet announced a store location, they have been hiring shop workers, setting up stock and preparing for the grand opening. (If you see any suspicious store fronts in progress in the NYC area, drop us a line!)

Rock band coldrain has recently released their 12 track album “The Revelation” internationally. The album was released in Europe on June 23rd and North America on June 24th through their American label, Hopeless Records. It can also be found on iTunes, and physical copies can be purchased from their store along with a poster and t-shirts.

coldrain is a 5 member band from Nagoya that combines rock and screams with flawless English lyrics. Their members are Masato on vocals, Y.K.C on lead guitar, Sugi on rhythmic guitar, RxYxO on bass and Katsuma on drums.

Check out their latest music video ‘Aware and Awake’ with a comment from Masato regarding it, as well as their new album “The Revelation” through an official Youtube stream, all below.

It is that time of the year again, half of the year has flown by. As such, many Japanese music charts have released their half-yearly ranking such as Soundscan and Oricon. Today we’re bringing you the JOYSOUND Karaoke Half-Yearly Ranking for 2014. This is an interesting ranking as it shows what were certain artists’ hit songs. Likewise, which artists are popular among the general public. The ranking is split up into various categories such as Enka and Anisong to show who were the heavy hitters for their own genre.

We are able to see timeless classics such as Cruel Angel Thesis and the most recent infectious hit song, Koisuru Fortune Cookie! For the artist chart, we see that AKB48, EXILE and Arashi are holding the coveted top 3 spots once again.

JOYSOUND is a premier karaoke brand in Japan. With over 230,000 songs in their catalog, they have more than any other brand in the industry. In 2006, JOYSOUND launched the karaoke social network UTASUKI. With this service, users create their own online page from their mobile phone or PC, curate a list of favorite songs along with their own personal song history, and then easily access it during a visit to their favorite karaoke shop. UTASUKI now boasts a membership of over 9 million users.

Check out the ranking below.

It’s summertime and father of Japanese hip-hop, Zeebra is starting it off big. Recently Zeebra announced some big news to the public. The first being a new album and the other, his own label?!

Last year Zeebra released a new album ’25 To Life’. This year, on July 16th he’ll be dropping a summer themed best of album. Titled ‘Summer Collection’, this album will feature various Zeebra songs that give the feeling of summer. While containing previously released songs such as ‘Perfect Queen’ and ‘Moonlight’, it will also include 2 new songs and 2 remixes. These new songs are ‘Summertime In The City’ (produced by MURO), and ‘Diamond In The Sand Feat. May J.’ who he has collaborated with before.

The remixes include Mappiruma with Goku Green, T-Pablow & Mony Horse which shows off the energy of the newcomers. Thus titled, ‘Mappiruma New Boys Remix’. The other remix is to Endless Summer Feat. Coma-Chi SONPUB Remix.

Check out the info below!

On June 26th, fashion model Rola (24), has released her style book, “ROLA’S CLOSET”. The book features 275 different coordinates, as well as photos of her closet at home. Photos of her collection of bags, accessories and shoes are also included. The book is priced at 1400¥.

Her fashion has also gained attention from around the world through her numerous coordinate snaps posted on her Instagram.

Rola held a talk event on the day of the release with an audience of 100 female readers.