It was announced on Tuesday that shima-uta singer Minami Kizuki will perform the theme song for BS Japan’s new historical drama ‘Hikari to Kage‘. The yet unpublished song is called ‘Sayonara Yori Mo Tsutaekattakkoto’. The song draws inspiration from the drama’s themes of ”human life” and ”empathy”.

Kizuki has specialized in shima-uta, traditional folk songs from the Amami Islands. She reached fame through competing in various karaoke TV shows in the mid 2010s. The English-speaking world was introduced to her in 2014 by NHK World programme ‘J-Melo’ for which she provided an ending theme called ‘Inoriuta – Toutoganasi’. Her latest single, ‘Anata ni Aete Yokatta’, was released in July.

Over the weekend Kana Nishino kicked off the beginning of her dome tour celebrating her 10th anniversary year. Titled “Kana Nishino Dome Tour 2017 Many Thanks“, the first dates were held at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka. She performed two shows in total at Kyocera and will perform another two shows at Tokyo Dome in September. Once the Tokyo Dome lives are complete Nishino will officially be the youngest solo female artist to hold concerts in both of those venues.

The concept of the tour is a garden party. To achieve this the stage has an extended runway decorated as a footpath with lush green grass. The runway then leads to the main stage where it’s adorned with various beautiful flowers and tress. Parts of the stage also move which allows the audience to get a closer look at the songstress.

Disney-loving artists have come together to share “dreams, emotion, and courage” throughout the world with the cover album “Thank You Disney”, to be released October 25, 2017.

The album will include Kenny Ortega’s arrangement of “Beauty and the Beast”, sung by AAA’s Nishijima Takahiro and Uno Misako, as well as 15 other cover songs from artists such as  Yuki Kashiwagi, Beverly, May J, and others. Featured songs are from a variety of Disney classics, as well as new releases; including favorites like “Aladdin”, “The Little Mermaid”,”The Lion King”, as well as music from the TV movies “Descendants” and “Descendants 2”.

Executive producer Ortega comments:

“I think [t]his album is an album for anyone who really enjoys great music, great songs, great lyrics, great artists; and the finest artists have come together from all over Japan to perform together on this very special and unique Disney album.”

“Thank You Disney” will be released October 25, 2017.

Check out the full album details below!

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.

It’s been a year since the closing ceremony of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. One of the highlights of the event was the handover ceremony, organized by a team of eight which included Shiina Ringo. To mark the occasion, The Asahi Shimbun has published a translated interview with Ringo on their site.

This week’s guests were KinKi Kids, Hamaguchi Masaru, and Miyazawa Emma. KAnjani8 also performed their new single.

Kanjani8 – Kiseki no Hito

MANON is a half Japanese half French model who is currently pursuing a career in music. She is signed under the agency ASOBISYSTEM, whose best known acts include capsule, Nakata Yasutaka, and Kyary Pamyu Pamyu.  MANON has appeared in various popular magazines including GINZA, NYLON, FRUiTs, and Zipper. Her first song “xxFANCYPOOLxx” was released on July 6th, 2017.

“WAVY PINEAPPLE DAYS” was written and produced by YUPPA (HNC) who is also responsible for the production and lyrics for MANON’s first two singles. The song is simple in production, and the MV follows suit as well. Seemingly filmed on a mobile phone, MANON walks around Harajuku eating a popsicle while showing off her various fashions. MANON is currently in the process of getting her music onto platforms like iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify. Her music career seems to be a personal project of sorts right now too, considering on ASOBISYSTEM’s website she’s only listed under “model” and not both “model” and “artist”.

The MVs for both “WAVY PINEAPPLE DAYS” and her debut song “xxFANCYPOOLxx” can be seen below.

Check out the latest in the ratings chart below. Due to the broadcast of 24-Hour TV, the latest episode of NTV’s “Uchi no Otto wa Shigoto ga Dekinai” did not air.