Kinki Kids appeared as the closing act of the music festival “TV Asahi Dream Festival 2017” held last October 29 at the Saitama Super Arena. Domoto Tsuyoshi, who had to pause music activities since June due to sudden deafness, makes a return to the stage via the festival.

Tsuyoshi appeared wearing a hat and headphones on top. During MC, Koichi talks of Tsuyoshi’s sudden deafness and Tsuyoshi revealed that the sound on his left ear is turned off. The music performance was done unplugged. Tsuyoshi explained that at first, his ears will also hurt when he’s out at restaurants. “When you have difficulty in hearing, your other senses compensate for the loss in hearing. It can be a bit tiring. Coming back to the stage..the doctor told me that getting back into the motion of my music activities will be good for me.”

During the festival, the duo also announced that they will be releasing a best-of album which includes a complete selection of all 45 of the group’s singles! All songs have been remastered, and the regular edition includes 2 bonus tracks as well. KinKi Kids “The BEST” album will be released on December 6.

Happy Halloween! As usual a plethora of Japanese celebrities took to various social media to show off their costumes in celebration of Satan’s birthday. Disney seemed to be quite a popular trend this year, but overall The Kano Sisters arguably set the standard, along with J-rocker HYDE.

Kyoko Kano donned a very elaborate costume of Maleficent and Belle from Beauty and the Beast, she also dressed up as Disney’s interpretation of Cinderella. Meanwhile, her younger “sister” Mika Kano dressed up as a sexy little red riding hood, and the busty ninja Tsunade from the manga and anime series Naruto Shippuden. As usual HYDE’s Halloween costumes were just as impressive and elaborate this year, with his version of Jack Sparrow arguably looking better than the original!

Check out some of our favorite costumes this year below the jump.

DAOKO has been in the spotlight for quite a long time, being her collab with Yonezu Kenshi “Uchiage Hanabi” an utter sensation in Japan and most recently her collaboration with Yasuyuki Okamura “STEP UP LOVE” has quickly rocketed to more than 2 million views in YouTube in a matter of two weeks. The genuine pop flavor of these tracks definitely helped them get this much attention, but it definitely meant the loss of her old personal style in a search of more likeable although not so original melodies.

Fortunately for those that missed this more distinct feeling, today we have been blessed with a new track that while doesn’t particularly bring back too many “old DAOKO vibes”, certainly explores a different side of the artist from her recent poppy tunes. This track, “Onaji Yoru”, has been possible thanks to the fact that D.A.N. has been an active part of the production of this song. In the clip you can check how DAOKO explores and overlooks from her most adult look yet one of her trademark interests: urban night. Check the full MV for this mysterious new track just after the jump!

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

From October 27 – 29, this year’s edition of Skate Canada took place in Regina, Saskatchewan. This was the second event in the International Skating Union’s 2017 – 2018 Grand Prix Series. Shoma Uno won the event, making him the only entry out of Japan’s four at this event to medal.

Shoma Uno came in first place with a total score of 301.10, 39.96 points ahead of American Jason Brown. Shoma’s short program received a score of 103.62, putting him in first place ahead of Canada’s Patrick Chan, whose short program received a score of 94.43. Shoma Uno successfully executed a quad flip, a quad toe / double toe combination, and collected a level four for his three spins. “My performance today was a reflection of my ability. I was able to control my body movement so well, maybe too well, and I was afraid of how smoothly my warm-up went,” Shoma said afterward. “I hope I’m able to put forth a strong effort in the free skating as well.”

And he did put forth a strong effort, having the top free skate of the event with a score of 197.48, 27.05 points of Jason, whose free skate ranked second. After the free skate, Shoma said, “I’m pretty satisfied. The fact that I’ve been able to constantly score (a total of over) 300 shows I’ve been growing since last year.”

This week, TWICE topped the Hot 100 chart with “One More Time.”

Arashi topped the Hot Albums chart with their new album “’untitled’.”

DAOKO x Yonezu Kenshi topped the Streaming Songs chart with “Uchiage Hanabi” for the fourth week in a row.

Aimer topped the Download Songs chart with her “Hana no Uta” for the second week in a row.

DREAMS COME TRUE topped the Download Albums chart with “THE DREAM QUEST” for the second week in a row.

Last year, legendary cult figure Jun Togawa celebrated her 35^th anniversary. This culminated with an extraordinary collaboration album with “brutal orchestra” Vampillia, as well as work with legendary noise band Hijokaidan. Very recently,  digital music vendor OTOTOY did a probing interview with Togawa that covered her career, the self cover album and more interesting ground such as a cancelled 30^th anniversary album and why she has been almost invisible for a decade, amongst much more.

The extended interview was translated into English by Namikiji (see their tumblr here) and published on fansite “Jun Togawa Forever”. Read on below for the full interview (provided very kindly by permission) and links to music videos from the Vampillia feat. Jun Togawa 35^th anniversary album “Watashi ga Nakou Hototogisu“.

Last month we reported that pop-rock band back number would be providing the theme song for the upcoming film “8-nen Goshi no Hanayome” (“The Eight-Year Bride”).  Now the trio have announced that this track, titled “Mabataki”, will be released as a single on December 20th.

Their first single to be released in over a year, “Mabataki” will be issued in two versions, with the Limited Edition to come packaged with a DVD which contains both the song’s Music Video and Making-Of footage.  In addition, the group will also be releasing their latest live DVD/Blu-ray, which features footage from their show at Saitama Super Arena, next month on November 15th.

Read on below to find the track lists for both of these releases, as well as a preview of the content that can be found on the Live DVD/Blu-ray.