Actor Jun Shison will be playing a transgender woman in the NHK drama series Joshi teki Seikatsu, which translates to “Life As a Girl”.
The drama series is based off of a novel by 2016 novel of the same name by Tsukasa Sakaki. Shison plays the lead role of Miki Ogawa, a man who begins to live his life as a woman. Romantically, she chooses to pursue women rather than men. She leaves her small hometown and moves to the city of Kobe to fulfill her dream.
Former 5th generation Morning Musume member Risa Niigaki has announced that she has filed for divorce from her husband, actor Yoshikazu Kotani.
Both of them released nearly identical statements on their official ameblo blogs. Both acknowledged how short the marriage lasted, only 1 year and 6 months. The two originally wed on July 2016. The primary reason they gave for the split was that both of them were just walking on different paths, and after long discussions the two decided the best decision would be to part ways.
Niigaki and Kotani apologized to everyone who supported and celebrated the marriage, and look forward to the road ahead.
The two met in 2013 while co-starring in the play Zettai Kareshi, and began to date each other roughly a year later.
2017 is over, and it was another great year for Arama! Japan! We had many popular posts in 2017, but which ones received the most comments?
The post with the most comments from 2017 was July 7 edition of Open Post with 363 comments. Second place went to “ONE OK ROCK DOES NOT ROCK.” with 333 comments. And rounding out the top 3 is “Avex pictures enforces export ban on Blu-rays, DVD, and CDs” with 261 comments. It should be noted that the July 7 edition of Open Post is now our most commented on post, beat the 355 comments of 2016’s “Disbandment of SMAP Confirmed!”
Last year, SEKAI NO OWARI’s pianist Saori announced her marriage, followed by her pregnancy. Both Saori and her husband, actor Ikeda Dai, took to Twitter today to announce the birth of their first child, whose gender was not disclosed. The baby was born at the end of 2017. Both Saori and her child are healthy. Both Saori and Dai spoke on how happy they are and how they supported each other during the prenancy. The couple also shared pictures of their child on Twitter.
Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Sandaime J Soul Brothers defeat Utada Hikaru and Spitz. This week, we have a blast from the past facing off against two newcomers. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the singles charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!
This week, Hey! Say! JUMP topped the Hot 100 chart with their single “White Love.”
BOYS AND MEN topped the Hot Albums chart with their new album “Tomo Arite…”
DAOKO x Yonezu Kenshi retook the top spot on the Streaming Songs chart with their single “Uchiage Hanabi”, topping the chart for the tenth non-consecutive week.
back number topped the Download Songs chart with their new single “Mabataki”
B’z topped the Download Albums chart with their newly available digitally album “DINOSAUR.”
On December 31, the 68th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen aired. Despite efforts to increase the number of viewers, the show still flopped, with an average rating in the Kanto region of 37.6% (last year 37.65%).
In the Kanto region, the rating for the first half of the show was 35.8% (last year 35.1%), while the rating for the second half of the show was 39.4% (last year 40.2%). The second half rating is the third worst in the show’s history.
Suiyoubi no Campanella has been pushing a total of four digital singles since the release of SUPERMAN early last year, from Melos to Gala, and in the very first day of this 2018 year they have released a fifth one! Titled “Edokko Doko Doko”, this song has been used since November in “Nihongo de Asobo”, a kids/educational show aired in NHK, but the full song was not released up until this year. The track, just as the show, is inspired in the Japanese Edo period, and features dialogues and sung vocals mixing throughout the song. Check the cover for the digital single and links for downloading it just after the jump!