Recently Visual Kei singer and actor GACKT uploaded a picture of himself to his instagram. In usual GACKT fashion the VK icon is showing off his body, however, in this new photo he’s lowered his pants to show of a little more!

Currently the photo has amassed 33.3k likes, but it wouldn’t be complete without people offering their unsolicited opinions on his body and dragging his dear old friend Ayumi Hamasaki in the process.

Is GACKT just being body positive? Will Ayumi Hamasaki ever catch a break? Check out some of the netizen comments below and let us know what you think!

A few weeks ago we reported that singer/songwriter ent (Straightener’s Atsushi Horie) would be releasing his new album “ELEMENT” on January 11th.  Now that the album’s release date has finally arrived, the music video for its second lead track “Autumn Nightmare” has been published to ent’s official Youtube channel.

This Misato Kato-directed PV is based on a daydream that Horie had while walking the city streets and stars both My Hair is Bad frontman Tomohito Shiki and model Makoto Tanaka.  Shiki plays the role of “the man able to cut anything”, while Tanaka is “the woman able to shield herself from anything”.

You’ll find the full version of this rather creative music video just beneath the cut.

2017 marks the 20th anniversary of one of the longest idol groups in Japan, Morning Musume. ’17. To celebrate, the group recently announced a promotional tie-in with the miso paste company Marukome.

With this collaboration, Marukome will start selling limited edition miso soups at local convenience stores by the end of March. Each cup will contain a different set of members wearing the iconic “Morning Coffee” outfits on the label. Each girl also represents a different ingredient: Mizuki with tofu, Masaki with okra, Haruna Ogata with tororo kelp, Haruna Iikubo with egg, Erina with spinach, Ayumi with green onions, Maria with ofu, Akane with deep-fried tofu, Sakura with wakame, Haruka with pumpkin, and Miki with deep-fried eggplant. The newest 13th generation members are also featured as Kaede represents minced meat and Reina is with enoki. These ingredients will be included in the limited edition soups.

Watch the updated version of their debut song “Morning Coffee”, renamed as “Morning Miso Shiro” (translated as “miso soup”) for the promotional tie-up, below the cut.

Hello, Arama! Japan readers and welcome to this week’s installment of #1 Song Review! Last week saw Hoshino Gen defeat QUARTET NIGHT. Gen is back again this week, facing off against a newcomer. Find out what various staff members thought of the songs that topped the physical and digital charts this week and share your thoughts on them too!

Izumi Macra has two releases coming out on January 25. The first is titled “Yuki to Suna.” This release features all new material that’s been produced by the likes of OMSB of SIMI LAB and TPSOUND of City Your City.

The second is titled “TOKYO GIRLS LIFE” and is a collaboration with Tokyo Girls Collection. This release was originally only sold at the Tokyo Girls Collection show in Kitakyushu on October 9 of last year, but is now getting a nationwide release. The album features four representative songs of Macra along with three covers. These covers are of songs by MONGOL800, Fishmans, and Gesu no Kiwami Otome.

Check out more information on these releases below!

On January 11, X4 will release their first release of 2017, the digital single “i want you back.” This song is the first of three consecutive monthly releases X4 has on the way. They’ll release another digital single on February 1, and then on March 1. Both of these releases are currently untitled.

X4 has now released the music video for “i want you back.” The clip was shot in Hokkaido and shows the island’s current snowy state, adding to the overall winter feel of the video. Check it out below, along with the digital single’s cover!

It was announced today on their website that SEKAI NO OWARI’s pianist, Saori gets married! In addition, the leader, Nakajin, has announced his engagement.

It’s been announced that Suiyoubi no Campanella will perform the closing theme for J-MELO from April to July of this year. J-MELO is NHK’s English-language Japanese music show. The show debuted in 2005 and is shown around the world on NHK World. Suiyoubi no Campanella is asking fans to submit their ideas for the song’s creation.