This week’s guests were Ken Hirai, Nana Mizuki, and Ayaka Hirahara.

Ken Hirai – Itoshiki Hibi yo / Nonfiction

Nana Mizuki x Ayaka Hirahara – Carole King Medley (The Loco-Motion / Will You Love Me Tomorrow? / One Fine Day / It’s Too Late / (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman / You’ve Got A Friend) / Beautiful

A little while back pop-rock band BIGMAMA announced that they would be releasing a new single titled “DOPELAND” on July 19th.  “DOPELAND” has been described as a ‘spin-off’ of their recently released full album “Fabula Fibula“, based upon an illustration which was found in the booklet for the aforementioned record.

Though it will only be released in one version, this special follow-up single will come packaged with a short story penned by Yoru Sumino, known for his popular novel “Kimi no Suizou wo Tabetai”.  This story was inspired by BIGMAMA’s “Ai wa Harinezumi no You ni”, a track which serves as the closer for both “Fabula Fibula” and this new release.

Read on below to find the cover and track list for “DOPELAND”, as well as a preview of the animated music video for the single’s lead track “CRYSTAL CLEAR”.

This week’s guests were SEKAI NO OWARI, LOVE PSYCHEDELICO, lol, and A.Y.T.

SEKAI NO OWARI – RAIN

LOVE PSYCHEDELICO – Place Of Love

lol – perfect summer

A.Y.T. – Are You There?

This year’s edition of TBS’s annual mid-year music show, Ongaku no Hi, will air on July 15 at 2 PM JST and end at 5 AM JST the following day. The first set of acts was recently revealed and includes the likes of Hey! Say! JUMP, Ken Hirai, MAX, and Daichi Miura.

Starting on July 6, TBS decided to do the most and reveal more performers daily until the day before the show. Arama! Japan will be condensing these daily posts into a series of articles.

The second set of acts include names such as E-girls, DEAN FUJIOKA, and Sukima Switch, while the third set featured acts like Nana Mizuki, Beverly, and ORANGE RANGE. Today, the fourth set of acts was revealed and names on that list include Takahashi Yu, Hata Motohiro, and Akiko Wada.

Check out all three lists below!

Hey, Arama! Japan! It’s Friday, so it’s Open Post time! Feel free to chat with your fellow readers about whatever you like! Enjoy!

“Diamond is Unbreakable” is a live-action film adaptation of part four of the legendary manga series “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure” by Hirohiko Araki. With over 115 volumes released, the manga has won over the hearts of fans around the globe.
The movie follows the protagonist Josuke Higashikata and his friends who possess supernatural powers as they face off against evildoers in the fictional town of Morioh.

I had the opportunity to watch the film’s world premiere at the Neuchâtel International Fantastic Film Festival 2017.
The following review may contain mild spoilers. I am not revealing critical plot details though. I have seen the anime adaptation of the same source material, so this review stands in direct comparison to that.

News of the first live-action “Bleach” visual is still getting around, but now Warner Brothers has suddenly dropped a short video teaser!

The short 20-second trailer is mostly title graphics, but also includes footage of the film’s first officially released scene. It shows the main character Ichigo (Sota Fukushi), in a residential area using the Zanpakuto—the sword only a shinigami can use—to fight off a Hollow, a corrupt spirit with supernatural powers that devours the souls of both the living and deceased.

The film is still early in post-production so we only get a glimpse of the Hollow’s hand, as they will be completely CG.

In case you missed the first part of the interview, let me introduce you Thomas, longtime friend pursuing a modeling and creative career in Japan.

In the previous part we talked about his motivation to leave France to live in Japan, the Visual Kei scene and Japanese subcultures. This time we’ll focus on the Japanese modelling scene and the future of the music scenes in Japan.

Check it out below!