After almost 20 years of activity it has been announced that Saki Shimizu will be retiring from the entertainment industry. The announcement was made on her agencies official website, where they also revealed that she was married! She married a non-celebrity man who has she been dating for some time, a specific date wasn’t revealed.

SCANDAL is back with the release of their 25th major single “eternal“, the groups first physical single release in almost 2 years. To tease the release of the single the group has been uploading “diaries” via their official YouTube channel.

The videos showcase behind the scenes and making-of footage for the “eternal” MV, along with footage of them recording the song. Fans will be able to purchase the single in 4 different versions. A CD only, CD+T-shirt, 7 inch vinyl, and a cassette tape.

All versions will contain the same b-side, “eternal” remixed by Towa Tei. Check out the full MV below!

Comedian Naomi Watanabe is one of the many Japanese entertainers who will be focusing their activities outside of Japan. She made the announcement on Instagram writing in both Japanese and English. Naomi dipped her foot in the overseas pool back in 2016, when she took her live tour to Taipei, New York, and Los Angeles.

Naomi secured a partnership with the high profile American agencies ICM and IMG , and beginning in April she will be based out of the U.S. This month she will be “graduating” from the plethora of variety shows she’s currently a regular on.

On March 1, Fujii Kaze will release a new digital single, “Tabiji.” The song serves as the theme song for the TV Asahi drama “Nijiiro Karte.” This is his drama theme, as well as his first tie-in.

Kaze created “Tabiji” after visiting the set of “Nijiiro Karte”, meeting the cast and staff, and reading the drama’s script. When comparing his usual songwriting process to the creation of “Tabiji”, with it being his first tie-in, Kaze said that he didn’t find creating it too difficult.

Kaze also had another first with this release: his first TV performance. Kaze performed “Tabiji” on the day of release on the TV Asahi news show “Hodo Station.” On the show, Kaze visited his former high school in Okayama Prefecture, where he reunited with his former music teacher. Kaze performed “Tabiji” as a gift to students who have had their graduation plans altered due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the performance below!

This week’s guests were HY and Oisicle Melonpan.

HY – North Forest

Oisicle Melonpan – Shayou

This week’s episode was a two hour special. This week’s guests were DISH//, DA PUMP, Sexy Zone, Kawasaki Takaya, Yuuri, Official HIGE DANdism, millennium parade, Ikimonogakari, and AI.

DISH// – Neko ~The FIRST TAKE ver.~

DA PUMP – U.S.A.

Sexy Zone – Sexy Zone

Kawasaki Takaya – Mahou no Juutan

Yuuri – Dry Flower

Sexy Zone – RIGHT NEXT TO YOU

Kitamura Takumi (DISH//) – Mata Au Hi Made (Ozaki Kiyohiko cover)

Kawasaki Takaya – 366 Nichi (HY cover)

Yuuri – Infinitiy

Official HIGE DANdism – Universe

millennium parade – Fly with me

DISH// – Bokura ga Tsuyoku.

Ikimonogakari – BAKU

millennium parade – FAMILIA

AI – HOPE

Kawasaki Takaya – Sakura Usagi

This week, SixTONES topped the Hot 100 single chart with their single “Boku ga Boku Janai Mitai da”, with 43,226 points.

NCT 127 topped the Hot Albums chart with their new mini album “LOVEHOLIC.”

SixTONES also topped the Artist 100 chart.

SAEKI youthK topped the Hot 100 Lyricists.

Ayase topped the Hot 100 Composers chart for the ninth consecutive week.

Yuuri topped the Streaming Songs chart for the fifth consecutive week with his digital single “Dry Flower.”

Hoshino Gen topped the Download Songs chart with his new digital single “Souzou.”

Mr.Children topped the Download Albums chart with their album “SOUNDTRACKS.”

We’re back with another episode of the Arama! Japan podcast! This episode covers January 2021! This month we covered a variety of topics, including Atsuko Maeda & Ryo Katsuji‘s divorce, Mahoto Watanabe & Yui Imaizumi‘s marriage and pregnancy, Johnny’s Jr. new age limit, fashion / anime collaborations, and more.

Featured on the podcast alongside myself this time is Hannah. Check it out below!