If 2016 was the year in which Utada Hikaru came back from her hiatus and reestablished herself in the music industry, 2017 seems to be the year in which she will consolidate it! In the past hours, two announcements were released filling up the agenda of all fans, so keep an eye out on what is coming pretty soon! Firstly, she will be featured in THE BACK HORN‘s newest single, “Anata ga Matteru”. Secondly, a new Music Video is coming in a matter of hours! Check info about these two announcements just after the jump!

Last summer, The 9th CD Shop Awards 2017 has released its nominee list for the first half of 2016. The nominee list for the second half of the year has now been released! Eleven albums were selected that were released between July 1 and December 31. The albums were chosen by CD shop staff across Japan to highlight releases that caught their discerning ears. The 21 albums nominated for 2016 will then be narrowed down to a list of 10 final nominees before the winner is chosen in March. Check out the albums nominated for the second half of 2016 below!

Nishino Kana debuted on February 20, 2008 with the single “I.” The single debuted at #155 on Oricon, charting for one week and selling 500 copies. The past few years have seen Kana rise to become the preeminent female soloist of her generation, a time which has not been particularly kind to female soloists, once a top staple of the industry.

To kick off her 10th anniversary celebration, Kana has announced a new tour, set in venues that very few female soloists have performed in for the past few years: domes.

This week’s guests were BOYS AND MEN, Kyary Pamyu Pamyu, and THE RAMPAGE.

BOYS AND MEN – GO!! Yo Samurai Juku GO!!

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – Harajuku Iyahoi

THE RAMPAGE – Lightning

The 40th Japan Academy Prize Association for excellence in film announced its winners and nominees for the Grand Prizes. All nominees for the top prize receive “Awards of Excellence”. The Grand Prize will be presented in a ceremony on March 3 in Tokyo.

Ando Sakura (Best Actress winner last year) and Nishida Toshiyuki (Vice Chairman of the committee and host for the last 4 years) will serve as moderators for the event. Movies are eligible if they opened in Japan between December 16, 2015 to December 15, 2016.

Arama, who’s your bet?

It’s that time of the season again! Check out the list of Winter Jdramas 2017 below!

This season’s lineup include dramas of Kimura Takuya and Kusanagi Tsuyoshi, their first drama work after SMAP disbanded last Dec 31. Get some real life mix in drama where actors play as themselves in TV Tokyo’s Byplayers and Yamada Takayuki no Cannes Eigasai. This new season also signals the start of the new taiga drama Onna Joshu Naotora starring Shibasaki Kou.

This will also be the last season for NTV’s signature Saturday 9pm drama (Gokusen, Nobuta Wo Produce, Kindaichi, The Queen’s Classroom). Variety show Arashi ni Shiyagare will be moved to 9pm while drama timeslot will change to 10pm. The network’s Saturday golden timeslot will follow their current ratings winner Sunday lineup with 3 variety shows in a row.

What should you watch? Give us your first impressions of the dramas this season!

Batten ShowJo Tai return with another energetic single for fans to enjoy in ‘Special‘. Showing off their chocolate making skills in the video, the girls’ excitement is quite contagious and makes the PV an enjoyable viewing experience.  The group was able to improve upon the ska sound that their first two singles employed with assistance from 4106xxx (bassist from Scafull King and BRAZILIANSIZE), Nari (saxophonist from ScaFull King, WUJA BIN BIN, and Heavenly Boys) MASUO (drummer from BACK DROP BOMB) and KOHKI ( guitarist from BRAHMAN and OVERGROUND ACOUSTIC UNDERGROUND).  The PV for the single shows these three at work writing and recording the instrumental used in the song. Stick around to the end of the PV to see the behind the scenes work that went into the coupling song, ‘Kotoba Tennis‘, by rock group FREDRICK.

On January 11, Mai Kuraki released her 43rd single, “YESTERDAY LOVE”. As in case of Kuraki’s legendary signature song, “secret of my heart”, the track serves as the current ending theme of the anime “Detective Conan“, replacing her own 2016’s cut “SAWAGE☆LIFE“. The release strategy for the single was to make it a DVD / Blu-Ray release only. As a result, the single did not make the Oricon Singles Chart, but it did break the top 10 of the Overall Weekly Blu-Ray chart and the top 3 of the one for music, thus practically securing her unbreakable top 10 streak and further strengthening her record for the most consecutive top 10 single hits for a female solo artist. While there is some room for debate, given the nature of the release, Kuraki’s persistence is admirable. Congratulations!

Meanwhile, Kuraki has announced her 12th studio album, titled “Smile”, which is due February 15. It’s her first original studio album since 2012’s “OVER THE RAINBOW”, making the gap between the album releases her biggest yet, even if her 15th anniversary best album is counted. Both “YESTERDAY LOVE and “SAWAGE☆LIFE” are featured on the upcoming album along with another cut from 2016, “Serendipity”. Have a look at the full tracklist and more detailed description of the album by Mai herself after the jump.