As they conclude their 30th anniversary celebration, veteran rockers Elephant Kashimashi have announced that they will be releasing a new album titled “Wake Up” on June 6th.  “Wake Up” will include the group’s already released tracks “Yume wo Ou Tabibito”, “i am hungry”, “Kaze to Tomo ni”, “RESTART”, and “Ima wo Utae”, as well as seven new tracks for a total of 12.

The record will be released in three different versions:  a regular CD-Only Edition; a Limited Edition which will include a bonus CD containing several demo tracks from the album and a DVD containing the era’s music videos; and a Deluxe Edition which will include a live CD containing audio from the final show of their “THE FIGHTING MAN” tour, a DVD which includes both a documentary centered around said tour and footage of their “Koyoi no Tsuki no You ni” performance from last year’s Kouhaku Uta Gassen, and a special photo-book.

Read on below to find the cover and complete track list for “Wake Up”.

Hot on the heels of the release of her most recent single, singer/songwriter aiko has announced that she will be releasing a new studio album next month on June 6th.  Titled “Shimetta Natsu no Hajimari”, this will be aiko’s first new record in over two years, since 2016’s “May Dream”.

“Shimetta Natsu no Hajimari” will include aiko’s three previous singles this era, “Koi wo Shita no wa”, “Yokoku”, and “Straw”, as well as ten brand new songs for a total of 13.  Among these new tracks are songs like “Hana ga Saita” and “Uchuu de Iki wo Shite”, whose titles have a uniquely ‘aiko-esque’ feeling to them.

You’ll find the cover and complete track list for aiko’s latest album right after the jump.

Respected singer/songwriter Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi announced the surprise release of a digital single this week on May 16th.  Titled “Don’t Think Twice ~Sakura Namiki no Omokage ni Yurete~”, this song marks the first new material from Nagabuchi since the release of his album “BLACK TRAIN” last summer.

In conjunction with this announcement, he has also published the full PV for “Don’t Think Twice” to his Youtube channel.  This video finds Nagabuchi looking suave in his studio and performing the track beneath a monochrome visual filter.

You’ll find this surprisingly staid music video right after the cut.

One of the main vocalists for Sandaime J Soul Brothers, Ryuji Imaichi has released the MV for his latest solo track Alter Ego. The lyrics were written by Imaichi himself, and was produced by Canadian producer/songwriter Illangelo.

Illangelo rose to prominence around the world due to the success of his longtime collaborator TheWeeknd.

Alter Ego was originally released as a digital single back in April, it will be receiving it’s first physical release as a track on J Soul Brothers’ upcoming studio album FUTURE due out on June 6th. The full tracklist for FUTURE can be seen here.

Back in 2009 Yoshikitty made her debut in the Sanrio world. She’s based off of YOSHIKI, the leader of rock band X JAPAN.

The character was created in a collaboration between YOSHIKI and Hello Kitty, it’s the very first Sanrio character to be based off of a real-life figure.

YOSHIKI further collaborated with the brand by creating the Hello Kitty theme song titled “Hello, Hello”.  The song was created in memory of the late Sanrio vice president Kunihiko Tsuji.

One song from 2018 was certified Million for selling 1,000,000 copies: Yonezu Kenshi’s “Lemon.” This is the fastest that a song has ever sold a million downloads in Japan.

One song from 2018 was certified Platinum for selling 250,000 copies: Mr.Children’s “here comes my love.”

Two songs from 2018 was certified Gold for selling 100,000 copies: Namie Amuro’s “Hope” and Keyakizaka46’s “Glass wo Ware!”

More artists have been announced for avex trax’s annual music festival a-nation

This year the festival will have 4 primary dates, with each of them having their own headliner and supporting acts. Additionally, the dates will be held at venues all around Japan. Tokyo, Osaka, Nagasaki, and Mie were the four locations selected.

The first round of artists were announced a month ago, the headliners for the dates at the major shows in Tokyo and Osaka have finally been revealed. They are as follows:

Actor Ken Watanabe has divorced his wife of 13 years, fellow actor Kaho Minami.

Both of their agencies confirmed the news to the media. Trouble started for the pair when allegations of Watanabe cheating became rampant in the tabloids, but soon those stories started to trickle into “normal” news media as well.