Asami Konno, TV personality and former Morning Musume member, has announced happy news to her fans via her instagram. Just a few hours ago Asami uploaded two photos to the site of her and Tokyo Yakult Swallows pitcher Toshihiro Sugiura to announced that the two are now husband and wife!
Both from the northern island of Hokkaido, Asami and Toshihiro decided to complete the registry in the groom’s hometown of Obihiro on January 1st. Asami also posted a note for thanks to her father-in-law for taking pictures of the two in the snow and cold.
Usually known for their upbeat numbers, the sisters of CHARAN-PO-RANTAN slow it down in their song ‘Kanashimi‘. With the song’s title meaning sadness, you can hear and see the weight of it in the reflective mood of it’s PV. Travelling through the city and country side by bus, lead singer Momo looks very forlorn well delivering her lines; while we can hear Koharu providing her usual accordion accompaniment to the song. CHARAN-PO-RATAN received some with the arrangement of the song; a combined effort of Koharu and the touring members of the band Mr.Children. Not everyone likes sad songs, but ‘Kanashimi‘ is one you’ll want to check out.
ONE OK ROCK just released both a Japanese version and English version of the track “We Are” from their upcoming album Ambitions. The Japanese version of the album will be released on January 11 2017, while the English album will be released two days after on January 13.
Check out both music videos below!
“This year, I want to go on Music Station!”
“I want a major hit this year!”
These are the wishes made by Sato Mieko, a singer-songwriter who recently promoted her newly released Triple A-side “Mou Chotto / Kimi wa Mahoutsukai / Kaze ni Natta Anata e” at a free mini-live in front of Nagoya’s Parco on January 7th.
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.
This week’s guest was Takahashi Yu.
Takahashi Yu x Kanjani8 – Zou
Just as we were getting over the 2016 craze that was ‘Pen-Pineapple-Apple-Pen’, funny man Piko-Taro has decidedly not to let us out of his clutches. The comedy personality uploaded new song ‘I Like OJ‘ to his official youtube and it’s trying to make itself an earworm you cannot forget. With the very simplistic lyrics and an energetic chorus (and dance) it seems like Piko-Taro is trying to make 2017 the year of Orange Juice (and maybe score a spokesman deal with Tropicana, but I digress). Why not get yourself a glass of the orange stuff that you can enjoy while watching the ‘I Like OJ‘ video that’s just behind the cut?
It’s been rocky 10 years for Thelma Aoyama. She debuted in September 2007 with “One Day” that barely charted at #98. A year later, together with SoulJa, she landed a monster hit, the song that defined the year of 2008, “Soba ni Iru”. The song’s success won her a Kohaku performance and kept her afloat for a couple of years until she completely fell into oblivion with the rest of the urban wave. Her intensive studies at Sophia University did not help the case either. The last that was seen of Thelma was her “no entrance fee” Christmas performance at Sunshine City in Ikebukoro which gathered so many people for her standards that she allegedly said that “she had expected only two people to come”.
Despite Thelma’s lack of selling power and the fact that most of her releases went unnoticed by general audience, she is still willing to commemorate her years of endeavors as an rnb diva by releasing a series of singles in 2017, starting with “My Only Lover”. In order to promote it she teamed up with the French company “Guerlain” that happens to celebrate the 30th year of its renowned powder, “Meteorites”. The single is scheduled to be released though LINE and Recochoku on January 18 and it will become available on other platforms on February 2. See the single cover and the promo video below.
