Archive for 'J-pop' Category

Tokyo Game Show 2016

Tokyo Game Show 2016 was held Sep.15-18 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba. (http://expo.nikkeibp.co.jp/tgs/2016/)

At this TGS 2016, the number of the paticipant businesses made the record high of 617 and the event was full of lively energy and passion of the new games and visitors. And, there held the special live concert of “PSN meets Secret Artist” ,at which  EGOIST, a popular “fictitious singer” from  an anime work, sang songs.

 

Dragon Quest 30th anniversary

“Dragon Quest”, the nationwide or even worldwide famousrole playing game series is now celebrating its 30th anniversary this year.

The first game of Dragon Quest or in “Dorakue”(its Japanese abbreviation),”DQ1” was released in 1986. Since then 10 main games and some spinoff works have been released. And some cartoon ,animation, toy products also have been released and now almost every Japanese knows the game series.

“Dragon Quest Museum”, the special related exhibition to show the history and concept of Dragon Quest will be held  Jul.24- Sep.11  at Hikarie Hall in Shibuya Hikarie in Shibuya,Tokyo. (https://dqmuseum.jp/)  As a relevant event, the game’s theme music is played as a train melody at the Toyoko lines’ platforms in Shibuya station Jul.5-Sep.12.

International Tokyo Toy Show 2016

The International Tokyo Toy Show 2016 was held at Tokyo Bigsight Jun.9-12. This was the 55th of the event series.(http://www.toys.or.jp/toyshow/2016_files/company_html/name_a.html) 

The first two days were for business meetings and stage shows and the latter days were for open for public and lay visitors and shows, such as concerts and release of new information about new toy products or TV anime programs.

 

About 30 toy related businesses,such as toy manufacturers, animation studios, amusement parks, and so forth  particiated in the show preparing booths to promote their products and activities.  And totally about 160,000 people visited this event.

Rino Sashihara regaining the No.1 postion at the AKB48 general election

The 7th “general Election of AKB48” was held at “Fukuoka Yafuoku! Dome ” in Fukuoka City , Fukuoka pref. on the Jun.6th. (http://www.akb48.co.jp/)

 

Totally 272 members of  AKB48 and its sister groups(SKE48,NMB48,HKT48 and some members from JKT48,SNH48,NGT48, and Nogizaka46) ran for the election and the Selected Members for the new single CD(1st-16th), the Under Girls(17th-32nd), the Next Girls(33rd-48th),the Future Girls(49th-64th),the Upcoming Girls(65th-80th) were announed out of 272 candidate members of the groups.  Rhie election event now draws attention of not only fans of the groups but also mass nationwide and the course was broadcast live at CXTV.   Rino Sashihara, a memeber of Team H of HKT48 won the No.1  for the first time in two years and regained the “queen’s throne” of the event.  Yuki Kashiwagi, a member of Team B of AKB48 rated the second, and  Mayu Watanabe, a member of Team B of  AKB48  who was the No.1 winner of the event last year got the third and could not get the first position in a row.

The Selected members are as followes;  1: Rino Sashihara(194,049 votes,TeamH of HKT48), 2: Yuki Kashiwagi(167,183 votes,TeamB of AKB48 & NGT48), 3: Mayu Watanabe(165,789 votes, TeamB of AKB48), 4: Minami Takahashi(137,252 votes, TeamA of AKB48), 5: Jyurina Matsui(105,289 votes,TeamS of SKE48 & TeamK of AKB48), 6: Sayaka Yamamoto(97,866 votes,TeamN of NMB48 & TeamK of AKB48), 7: Sakura Miyawaki(81,422 votes, TeamKⅣof HKT48 & TeamA of AKB48), 8: Sae Miyazawa(75,495 votes, TeamSⅡ of SNH48 & Team S of SKE48), 9: Haruka Shimazaki(73,803 votes,TeamA of AKB48),  10: Yui Yokoyama(63,414 votes, TeamA of AKB48),  11: Rie Kitahara(61,566 votes, NGT48), 12: Miyuki Watanabe(55,715 votes, TeamBⅡof NMB48  & TeamB of AKB48), 13: Kaori Matsumura(53,667  votes, TeamKⅡof SKE48) , 14: Akane Takayanagi (52,609 votes, TeamKⅡ of SKE48 ) ,  15: Aya Shibata(49,199 votes, TeamE of SKE48), and 16: Tomu Muto(44,637 votes, TeamK of AKB48).

 

The first Tokyo My Matsuri at Ueno park

The first Tokyo My Matsuri was held April.25-26 at Ueno park, which is quite famous as one of the best sites to appreciate beautiful cherryblossoms in spring in Tokyo. (http://tokyo-dance.jp/yousu)

This was a dancing festival and competitions of children’ dance teams supported by educational organizations and local commericial associations. About 50 teams joined the event and two teams of “SAKADO WINDS” and “dancecompanyREIKA組” won grandprix.  I wass there on the 26th and ate some food at  stall shops in the venue, The atmosphere there was quite lively and a lot of people were enjoying the festival. The second Matsuri is going to be held in Shinjuku on Oct.3-4.

Miyu Koike’s fan event of the first visit to Meiji Shrine

A young female idol Miyu Koike, who has become popular especially due to a TV show called “God Tongue”(http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/god/), hosted a special fan- meeting event  of  the first visiting of the year to Meiji Shrine in Harajuku Tokyo on the Jan. 3rd.(http://koikemiyu.cm-ent.jp/)

She sings “Nakimushi Princess”(/Crybaby princess) that is the theme song of “Anime mashite”, a TV show of featuring anime information.(http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/anime/animemashite/index2.html) So, noe she is a popular singer and idol of subculture. This time she prayed at one of the most popular shinto shrine with a lot of  fans of hers for good luck fo the new year.

The 56 Japan Record Awards Grand Prix “R.Y.U.S.E.I” of J Soul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE(the third genereation)

The 56th Japan Record Awards ceremony was held today Dec.30th in Tokyo.(http://www.tbs.co.jp/recordaward/)  “R.Y.U.S.E.I.” of JSoul Brothers from EXILE TRIBE (/sandaime, the third generation) received the Grand prix. (http://www.jsoulb.jp/)

○The Best Rookie Singer Award/  Mariya Nishiuchi,  ○The Best Singer Award/ EXILE ATSUSHI,   ○The Special Singer Music Award/ Hiroshi Itsuki, ○The Special Film Theme Music Award/ “Anna and The Snow Queen”,  ○The Special Award/ “Youkai Watch”, ○The Best Album Award/ “TRAD” of Mariya Takeuchi, and some other wards ere given to excellent singers, composers, lyricists, and other music artists.

Visit Japan Travel Mart and JATA Toursim EXPO Japan 2014

Two huge international travel marts were held at Tokyo Bigsight in Tokyo. One was “Visit Japan Travel Mart 2014″(Sep.24-26)(http://www.vjtm.jp/) and the other was “JATA Toursim EXPO Japan2014″(Sep.25-28)(http://t-expo.jp/en/index.html).  

More than 310 foriegn buyers and about 390 Japanese sellers joined VJTM2014 and had passionate exchanges of information and ideas and hosted busines seccions.  Buyers from Asian countries were especially a lot and about the half of the Japanese sellers were municipalities or relating associations of such local governments.

On the other hand,  a lot of domestic and foreign sellers and buysers joined  JATA Tourism EXPO Japan 2014. Such participants were embassies, tourism bureaus, travel agents, food companies, municipalities, railroads, airlines, hotels. universities, guide associations and so forth.  The main targets were end users of travel services and a lot of  lay Japanese people visited there and the total number was 157,589.  Upon the opening of the event, an ward ceremony  of  good  services and efforts of related promotions was hosted and the Best Tourism Award was given to The Tourism Authority of Thailand and Embassy awards were for  Thailand and Mexico, the best transporatation award was for Japan Railways East, the domestic inbound award was for  the tourism department of Tokyo Metropolis, the publicity award was for a TV show of CXTV, and the chairperson special award was for Okinawa Convention Bureau. (http://t-expo.jp/en/program/cms.html)   I personally visited the two big events and collected a lot of interesting information and exchanged ideas with the participants, some of whom were my friends or those I sometimes work with. I enjoyed the delicious food provided by tourism- related restaurants and local specialities and impressed by the greatly enthusiastic atmosphere of energies of the expos as well.

Hagakure Ninja recruiting new Kunoichi(female Ninjas)

“Hagakure Ninja”, a performance group of ninja activities in a theme park “Ganso Ninjamura  Ureshino- onsen Hizen- yumekaido”(/元祖忍者村　嬉野温泉　肥前夢街道, The original Ninja village in Ureshino hotspring resort of a dream road)(http://www.hizenyumekaidou.info/) in Ureshino hotspring in Saga pref. begian to recruit for new staffers who are to work as its new members as “kunoichi”(female ninjas).

The application requirements  are ; female 13-29 years old (a student can keep her school life), a minor applicant needs her parents’ permit. A successful applicant will be trained to be a good kunoichi (so, no previous experiences as ninja activities are required) and will be a member of the first generation of “Hanagumi”(/華組。,flower group) which is to debut as a ninja girl idol group with “The Magic”, the theme song of  Hizen Yumekaido. The new group will perform in Urshino and other areas in Kyushu. The deadline of the application of  resume is the Oct.10th.

Nogizaka 46’s first concert tour

Nogizaka46, a popular young female idol group and “the official rival of AKB48” hosted its very first solo concert tour of  nine concerts 16-30 at five venues. The final one was held at Meiji Jingu Stadium in Tokyo(http://www.jingu-stadium.com/), which more than 30,000 people visited.

(http://www.nogizaka46.com/)

A music concert was held at the stadium for the first time in 14 years.

 

“World Cosplay Summit 2014” in Nagoya

“World Cosplay Summit 2014” is  hosted by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other bodies Jul.26-Aug.3 in Nagoya. (http://www.worldcosplaysummit.jp/en/)

This WCS is the 12nd and this time representatives join the event from  22 countries or regions. The  event includes several programs such as a coaplay parade, cosplay championship, visitations of the representatives to city offices and MFA, anime-song festival, and so forth. Six representatves of the event from China, Mexico, and Finland officially visited Seiji Kihara, the vice-minister at MOFA in Tokyo giving presentations over attaractions of cosplay. Kihawa made a speech saying, pop culture has power to bind countries together and expect the representatives to support strengthening rapport with Japan. The Chinese representative said cosplay had a role to enhance cultural exchange.

 

SIAF 2014 being held

“Sapporo International Art festival 2014” started on Jul. 19  in  Sapporo, the capital of Hokkaido, the northen part of Japan and will have been held for 72 days. (http://www.sapporo-internationalartfestival.jp/)

This time the festival has a theme of “Cities and nature”, and contemporary artists’ works are shown with events visitors can take part in. This time Ryuichi Sakamoto, a world famous Japanese composer is a guest artist and his works are provided.

Tokyo Idol Festival 2014 tickets, begun to sell

One of  a popular girls’ idols/idol groups live event, “Tokyo Idol Group 2014” is going to be held on Aug.2-3, and  two types of its tickets, one-day tickets and two-day  tickets started to sell on Jun.28.  (http://idolfes.com/2014/english/)

 

Names of idols/idol groups to perform in the event are being released bit by bit and 117 idols/groups are announced. A trait of Tokyo Idol Festival is that, unlike average idol events, the facilitators focus not only very famous ones but even on less known local idols that have aptitudes as general promotion acitivity of  all corners of the Japanese society as well.

 

“Morning Musume”‘s special train

One of the top young female idol groups, Morining Musume is going to host a concert at Kawaguchiko  Stellar Theater near Lake Kawaguchi  on the foot of Mt.Fuji on May 31st (http://www.stellartheater.jp/).  This is the final day event of the series of MM’s spring consert tour 2014 and a special train “Morning Musume ’14” featuring MM is going to be operated in commemoration of the events  between Ohtsuki station and Kawaguchiko station of Fujikyuko Railway(http://e.fujikyu-railway.jp/) only on the 31st.

The special train consists of three cars each of which will be decorated with MM’s posters and other items.And at all the 18 stations along the line, in-house announcements will be made by MM’s members, with limited number of memorial train tickets will be sold at the station.

 

The 28th Gold Disk Awards

The 28th Gold Disk Awards  winners’ names and works were announced on this Feb.27th.  These awards are given to music artists whose achievements are higher and this time the accomplishment performances  Nov.1 ,2011 – Dec.31, 2013 were  examined objects. (http://www.golddisc.jp/award/28/index.html)

The” Artist of The Year “(the Japanese Music section)(this is the grandprix of the awards) was given to AKB48, and the group has won the same  grandprix three straight years, which was the record-high of the awards’ history. And the “Artist of The Year”(the Western Music section) was given to One Direction, a popular rock’n roll band from UK. The”Best Asian Artist” was given to  TVXQ(/東方神起).  And totally, 59 artists or works  received those honorable prizes.