Nikkei Entertainment’s “Talent Power Ranking” list for 2022 is now out. Arashi‘s Aiba Masaki tops the list for talents from Johnny & Associates, up from #2 last year. His groupmate Sakurai Sho is second, up from #4. Rounding out the top three is another Arashi member, Matsumoto Jun, last year’s #2.

Also included was the fastest risers in the company. Naniwa Danshi‘s Ohashi Kazuya and Onishi Ryusei came in first and second, respectively. Nagase Ren of King & Prince rounded out the top 3.

Check out both rankings below!

This week’s episode featured Daichi Miura. His song “Sansan” serves as the theme song for the current asadora “Chimu Dondon.” In the interview segment of the show, him and host Oizumi Yo discuss the food and music of Okinawa, where the heroine of the drama and Daichi both originate. The heroine of the drama, played by fellow Okinawan Kuroshima Yuina, also appears on the show, as does her co-star Kamishiraishi Moka, and Daichi’s former FOLDER groupmate Mitsushima Hikari.

Daichi Miura – Sansan

Daichi Miura x Kamishiraishi Moka – Tinsagunu Hana

Daichi Miura – Namida Sousou

This year’s edition of Nikkei Entertainment’s annual “Talent Power Ranking” is now available. The main list is now available. Ayase Haruka tops the ranking for the second consecutive year. Shohei Ohtani comes in second, up from #99 last year. Sandwich Man is #3, dropping one spot. Find out the rest of the top 50 after the jump!

This week’s guests were SUPER★DRAGON, BALLISTIK BOYZ, Foi, and Ueno Daiki.

SUPER★DRAGON – Brand New Music

BALLISTIK BOYZ – Last Dance ni BYE BYE

Foi – BOYFRIEND

Ueno Daiki – Omokage

This week, AKB48 topped the Combined Single chart with their new single “Motokare Desu”, with 330,291 points in its first week.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER topped the Combined Album chart with their mini album “minisode 2:Thursday’s Child”, with 152,767 points in its second week.

AKB48 also topped the Single chart with “Motokare Desu”, selling 328,521 copies in its first week.

TOMORROW X TOGETHER also topped the Album chart with “minisode 2:Thursday’s Child”, selling 150,526 copies in its second week.

Yonezu Kenshi topped the Digital Single chart for the second consecutive week with his single “M87”, selling 45,093 copies its second week.

Momoiro Clover Z topped the Digital Album chart with their new album “Shukuten”, selling 1,768 copies in its first week.

BE:FIRST retook the top spot on the Streaming chart with their single “Bye-Good-Bye”, with 11,794,794 streams in its eleventh week, topping the chart for the third non-consecutive week.

s**t kingz‘s shoji and GANMI‘s Sota recently had a conversation for Natalie with the translated title of “Choreograph Study Group 2021”, where they talked about their favorite dance performances of 2021.

The conversation continued though with them talking about their experiences as choreographers in Japan and aboard. Topics in this conversation included why KPop is able to make an impact overseas, while JPop continues to be made for domestic consumption. Also discussed are Johnny & Associates (which continues to eye overseas activities), Perfume (who has a large international fanbase), and BE:FIRST (who made a great debut last year).

This week’s performers were JO1, STU48, and BALLISTIK BOYZ. This week’s talk guests were Omiokuri Geinin Shinichi and ZAZY.

JO1 – With Us

STU48 – Hana wa Dare no Mono?

BALLISTIK BOYZ – Last Dance ni BYE BYE

We’re back with another episode of the Arama! Japan Podcast! This episode covers April 2022! This month we covered a variety of topics, including Arata Mackenyu‘s multiple scandals, Sono Sion‘s sexual harassment scandal, and Utada Hikaru at Coachella.

I am joined this episode by my co-host Hannah. Check it out below!