Shionoya Sayaka, notable for her participation in various vocal contests, will release her second album, “Mist-ic”, on January 25th. The singer made her debut under KING RECORDS with “Dear Heaven” in 2013 and her debut album, titled “Luna”, was released a year later.

“Mahou” and “SMILEY DAYS”, the two singles Shionoya released this year, will be included on the album along with 8 more songs, some of which have made appearance on her previous records and one of which, “BELIEVING”, will get a music video. See the tracklist and the MV for “Mahou” below.

On December 31 at 7:15 PM JST, NHK will air this year’s edition of its annual year end music show, Kohaku Uta Gassen. The show’s 67th edition will feature performances by the likes of Utada Hikaru, Arashi, Shiina Ringo, Hoshino Gen, AKB48, Seiko Matsuda, and many more. NHK has just released the list of songs that will be performed on the show. Check it out below!

Hello, Arama! Japan readers! We are excited to announce that we are having our second annual awards show! The 2016 Arama! Japan Awards will be honoring the best in music, movies, television, anime, manga, video games, and more this coming January! And the winners of these awards will be selected by you, the Arama! Japan readers!

The first step of this awards show is figuring out who will be nominated. That is where you guys come! Since you guys are picking the winners, you should also be picking who is in the running to win. We are asking that you fill out a survey, telling us your faves in various categories during the period of December 1, 2015 – November 30, 2016. Voting during this round will be open for a week starting now, with the final nominees to be announced a few days later. Voting for the final round will commence after the announcement of the final nominees. Voting in every category is not mandatory. If you don’t want to vote in a certain category, feel free to skip it.

We’ve also added 4 new categories this year: Live DVD / Blu-ray Of The Year, Best Collaboration, Cancel Of The Year, and Future Phoenix Of The Year.

The voting form is below!

On January 25, Boku no Lyric no Bouyomi will release his second album, “Noah’s Ark.” The concept of the album is to recreate the Biblical story of Noah’s Ark through today’s music.

Boku no Lyric no Bouyomi recently released the music video for “after that”, the closing track of his new album. The song is an acid jazz tune that was co-produced along with Italian producer, DJ, and guitarist Nicola Conte. This collaboration came about when Boku no Lyric no Bouyomi came across Nicola’s music on YouTube. A series of emails was exchanged and the end result is “after that.” In the music video, Boku no Lyric no Bouyomi is backed by a band that is composed of members of SANABAGUN. (Sawamura Ippei (drums), Tanimoto Taiga (saxophone), and Takahashi Hirokazu (trumpet)),  members of MOP of HEAD (George (machine) and Hitomi (bass)), and two additional wind instrumentalist (Ebihara Kyohei and Hagiwara Yu). This video’s location is an abandoned hotel in Fukushima Prefecture. Check out the video below, along with more information on Boku no Lyric no Bouyomi’s new album!

On January 25, Awesome City Club will release their new album, “Awesome City Tracks 4.” The band recently released the music video for the album’s opening track, “Konya Dake Machigai Janai Koto ni Shite Ageru.” The clip has a Chinese theme, with the members’ clothing, the video’s setting, and even the food the band is eating all having a Chinese slant. To match the fun vibe of the song, the band even performs a dance in the music video. Check it out below, along with the album’s cover!

This week’s guest was back number.

back number x Kanjani8 – Christmas Song

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, Hoshino Gen topped both Recochoku and iTunes for the ninth week in a row with “Koi.”