Genki Iwahashi stunned fans when he suddenly announced his departure from top Johnny’s group King & Prince. Back in 2018 Genki went on hiatus from the group to seek treatment for his panic disorder. The following year in February he returned, but it was to a limited capacity.

He reached a mutual agreement with Johnny’s and the other King & Prince members to leave the group.

Genki’s first official activity since leaving the group was creating his very own Instagram account. For his first upload he wrote a very lengthy post thanking everyone for all the encouraging and supportive messages.

As China ascends, the issue of Taiwan becomes more and more of an issue. Under China’s “One China Policy”, Taiwan isn’t its own country, but a part of China. Several companies have ran afoul of the “One China Policy”, with Avex being the more recent one.

Chinese netizens recently discovered that Avex, in a press release about “a-nation 2020”, mentioned booking concerts in Korea, Taiwan, and China. This separation of Taiwan and China angered Chinese netizens.

On April 28, JO1 will release their new single, “CHALLENGER.” This is the third single by the group, who recently celebrated their one year anniversary.

“CHALLENGER” will be released in three editions: CD+DVD limited edition A, CD+Photobook limited edition B, and CD only regular edition.

JO1 recently released the music video for the A-side of their new single, “Born To Be Wild.” The video plays off the single’s concept of “JO1 steps into an unknown world.” Check it out below, along with more information on their new single!

NiziU has become known for the dances in their music videos, which then spread to social media platforms such as TikTok. First came the “jump rope dance” in “Make you happy.” That was followed by the “rabbit dance” in “Step and a step.” Now they are back with a new dance, the “Number Dance”, which is shown in their new music video for “Take a picture”, out April 7.

The music video for the Coca-Cola CM song “Take a picture”, sees NiziU sneaking into an amusement park after hours for a night of fun. The soon to be viral “Number Dance” is featured prominently in the chorus. Check it out below!

This week’s guests were Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai, Sekitori Hana, and Kubota Kai.

Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai – Mirai Eigo

Sekitori Hana – Atarashii Hana

Kubota Kai – Boku ga Shinde Shimatte mo

This week, Utada Hikaru topped the Combined Single chart with her digital single “One Last Kiss”, with 39,371 points in its second week.

Johnny’s WEST topped the Combined Album chart with their new album “rainboW”, with 245,908 points in its first week.

DA PUMP also topped the Single chart with their new single “Dream on the street”, selling 21,638 copies in its first week.

Johnny’s WEST also topped the Album chart with “rainboW”, with 245,908 points in its first week.

Hikaru also topped the Digital Single chart for the second consecutive week with “One Last Kiss”, selling 32,987 copies its first week.

Hikaru also topped the Digital Album chart for the second consecutive week with her mini album “One Last Kiss”, selling 5,399 copies in its second week.

Ado topped the Streaming chart with her digital single “Usseewa”, with 9,101,631 streams in its 22nd week, topping the chart for the sixth non-consecutive week.

This week’s episode was a three hour special. This week’s guests were Little Glee Monster, [Alexandros], Moriyama Naotaro, DA PUMP, Kawaguchi Kyogo, Saito Kazuyoshi, Nogizaka46, Kawashima Ai, Teshima Aoi, AKB48, Hirame, Hinatazaka46, Spitz, NiziU, Awesome City Club, Akiyama Kiro, adieu, GENERATIONS, Omori Motoki, and Kami wa Saikoro wo Furanai.

We’re back with this week’s edition of Oricon Flashback. This is where we look back on what topped the charts this week 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, and 30 years ago. Think of it as a way to reminisce and learn about the past of Japanese music.