This week’s guests were Kobukuro, Kame to Yamapi, AKB48, Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, and Dragon Ash.

Kobukuro – Kokoro

Kame no Yamapi – Gyakuten Revolucion / Senaka Goshi no Chance / Seishun Amigo

AKB48 – Negaigoto no Mochigusare

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku – Nanairo

Dragon Ash – Mix it Up

It’s FRIDAY so it’s Open Post time! Feel free to chat with your fellow readers about whatever you like. Enjoy!

Via his official Twitter account earlier this week, actor Mackenyu announced that he has changed his stage name and transferred to a new agency.

Mackenyu will go by the stage name Mackenyu Arata and is joining the talent agency Top Coat, which manages other top name actors such as Yoshino Kimura, Nozomi Sasaki, An, Tomoya Nakamura, Toori Matsuzaka and Masaki Suda.

Still riding the coattails of viral smasher “PPAP (Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen)“, released as a music video 9 months ago on YouTube on August 25 2016, comedian singer-songwriter Pikotaro has teamed up with Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike to promote energy conservation.

Through July 10, in this new campaign all Tokyo residents will be able to receive 1 LED light bulb when they bring two or more incandescent light bulbs to local electronic stores.

In the video parody of “PPAP“, Governor Koike dons a leopard stole similar to PikoTaro and the two cleverly play on the iconic lyrics with: “I have a light bulb / I have a light bulb / UH! / LED light bulb.“

Singer Nagisa Kuroki, who is currently pausing music activity, has announced she will hold one man live at TSUTAYA O-EAST in Tokyo on September 24th.

Kuroki suspended her activities as a singer last August, 9 months ago, due to a throat condition.

“I will recover the one year we lost with full force, waiting for the stage,” the singer proclaims

The disorder began showing signs in April of 2016, and after consulting doctors for months, it was revealed she was dealing with Laryngeal dystonia.

Shota Shimizu has announced the release of his 7th studio album “FLY”

The album has 12 tracks in total and will feature the singles “FIRE” and “My Boo”. One of the b-sides from the “My Boo” single, “Milk Tea” also made the cut on the tracklist bringing the amount of new songs to 9.

Starting on June 7th new tracks from the album will be premiering digitally counting down to the release of the album. The album tracks “Tokyo”, “Sorry Not Sorry”, and “Because of You” have been selected for the promotion. “FLY” will be released in the standard two versions, CD only and CD+DVD. The DVD contents include a music video for “Tokyo” and Shota’s “10th Memorial & BDAY Special Live”. For those in Japan, or anyone with access to a VPN/proxy can view the video for “Tokyo” on Youtube.

“FLY” will be released on June 28th, 2017. Tracklist and covers and be found below.

Kame and Yamapi competes in a series of silly games, goes karaoke, and gives tribute to “Shuji to Akira” in their newest music video for “Senaka goshi no Chance”. Who wins? Check out their PV below.

Have you checked out their latest single? “Kame to Yamapi” released their newest single last May 17. Included in the single is the song “Gyakuten Revolution”, the ‘answer song’ to “Seishun Amigo”. They will be performing the song in a special medley for Music Station on May 26.

by Miller Ross

There’s been a lot said about Steve Tanaka, the founder and factotum of the Next Music from TOKYO tour, which kicked off its 10th iteration Friday the 19th of May here in Toronto at The Rivoli. This local anaesthesiologist flies in a skillfully selected handful of up-and-coming Japanese rock acts for an epic week of Canadian club shows. He also foots the bill for the whole affair, and walks away with a sizable debt each time. Tanaka’s motivation probably lies somewhere between cementing his own position as a powerful influencer in the Japanese indie rock scene, and the joy of surfing a crowd of townies losing their minds to music they’d have otherwise never heard.

Next Music from TOKYO is Steve Tanaka’s story—and it’s an interesting one—but what compelled me most about his eye for talent was the talent itself. Speaking little to no English, each band struggled to communicate with the venue’s audio engineer during that first sound check, and even the layout of the merch table was a hotly contested topic. The tension was infectious and dripped down from the walls of The Rivoli’s ambient-lit back room like the nervous sweat on Tanaka’s brow. Despite this, each act sounded fantastic, and reassured all but one staff member that the night would be one for the history books. As if the tour’s success wasn’t inevitable after so many years of fostering an ironclad reputation, Tanaka paced the room, seemingly unaware that an exhausted, capacity crowd would be leaving with the memories of an unforgettable experience.