Archive for 'J-pop' Category

X Japan’s Yoshiki and Yahoo team up to auction crystal piano for quake relief

Rock band X Japan founder Yoshiki, who announced in March his plan to auction off his favorite crystal piano to raise money for Japan’s earthquake and tsunami victims, has revealed that he is working with Internet portal Yahoo to make the auction available worldwide.

Yoshiki is to auction his iconic custom-made Kawai grand piano on April 17 and Yahoo is helping the singer promote the charity event in 7 languages. Bids will be accepted in Japanese, English, Chinese, Korean, French, Italian and Russian.

“As an artist who lives abroad, it was the natural next step for me to invite bids not just from Japan, but from overseas as well,” Yoshiki told reporters. “Yahoo has been working hard to offer what support it can, which includes preparing auction pages in seven languages.”

The auction has also been granted its own banner on the Yahoo Tohoku Earthquake Charity Auction Site and provisions have been made to allow fans to bid from Facebook and Twitter. The Internet giant said that anyone of any nationality who can read the web pages is eligible to bid.

Auction proxy service J-grab, which supports English language buyers in the Japanese market, has offered to help international buyers bid on the piano by waiving handling fees and commission.

Yoshiki, who plays drums and piano and writes most of the music for X Japan, is based in Los Angeles, but was visiting Japan to attend a fashion show and write music at the time of the quake. Originally from Chiba, Yoshiki said he watched events unfold and when he saw the scale of the destruction, he decided to do what he could to help the recovery operations. “I decided the best I could do was to try and contribute something through music,” he said.

The auction will be held from April 17 to 24. Bidding will start at 1 yen. The amount international bidders pay will be calculated according to the exchange rate on the day they place their bids.

A charity concert for Japan in Hong Kong

 Jackie Chan, the great Hong Kong movie star administrated a charity concert for Japan seriously damaged by the huge earthquake, tsunami, and the nuclear plant accident.  The concert was held in Victoria Park in Hong Kong on this April 1st with more than 200 groups of musicians from all over Asia. Some of them from Japan are AKB48 members,such as Ayaka Umeda(/梅田彩佳),Ami Maeda（/前田亜美）,and Sakiko Matsui（/松井咲子）.  Other performers are such as Masatoshi Nakamura(/中村雅俊) a popular Japanese actor, and Masao Sen（/千昌夫）, a well-known enka singer who is from Rikuzen-takata City in Iwate Pref, which is one of the worst disaster-afflicted areas this time .　

Lionel Richie and Kenny G, musicians of  US sent video clips messages for Japan.

Jackie Chan made a speech saying, “We are here to tell Japanese people that  they are not alone. I believe the Japanese people will surely remain strong and positive though they will have a  long way to go to the reconctruction. Never give up, Japan ! ”  He facilitated the event at his own expenses of  HK$ 4 million(≒￥43 million).

All the performers of the event did their peromances wearing  a T-shirt which  had  a written phrase of  “Hope for Japan” 

More than 10,000 people visited the concert and donated more than HK$ 2,500 (≒￥270 million ) in total which is to sent to the afflicted areas.

L’Arc~en~Ciel to donate revenue from anniversary concerts to charity

Rock band L’Arc~en~Ciel announced that they will donate all of the revenue from their two 20th anniversary concerts to the Tohoku earthquake relief efforts.

L’Arc~en~Ciel has two scheduled concerts at Ajinomoto Stadium in Tokyo on May 28 and 29. In an announcement on their official website on Tuesday, the members and staff revealed that they will direct all of the concert revenue towards rebuilding in the earthquake-stricken areas.

The staff will also be taking extra measures to address safety and power usage concerns during the concerts.

Remake version of Masaharu Fukuyama’s best album includes BEAST, 2AM, Young Jee

Several popular Asian artists worked together on the remake version of Masaharu Fukuyama’(福山 雅治) s best album “THE BEST BANG!!” Since the project is part of his push into the rest of Asia, the album will be released in six countries overseas: Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, and Korea.

Fukuyama is a Japanese singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, actor and photographer from Nagasaki, Nagasaki Prefecture. He is one of the top male artists in Japan.

The original version of “THE BEST BANG!!,” released in Japan last November, consists of three CDs, but the “With Special Guests -Fukuyama Masaharu Remake-” version will include a fourth CD with 8 tracks. According to the singer’s website, the songs being remade and the artists involved are:

Niji (BEAST)
Hotaru (TEI)
Himawari (Lim Jeonghee)
Saiai (2AM)
milk tea (G.NA)
Gunjou -ultramarine- (Ban Kwang-Ok)
Koibito (Joohee)
Hatsukoi (Young Jee)

The album will be released on March 30, except in Korea where it will be released on April 20.

X Japan to perform at Asia Girls Explosion in Tokyo

X Japan is going to perform at the Asia Girls Explosion fashion event at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium on March 6.
It is said that their appearance will naturally include the song “Jade,” which is being released as their first U.S. single on March 15, as well as the first public performance of “Scarlet Love Song,” which is being used as the theme for the animated movie “Tezuka Osamu no Buddha -Akai Sabaku yo! Utsukushiku-”.

The band also plans to make a surprise announcement regarding their upcoming world tour. Previous reports have said that the tour should start with a South American leg this spring, covering Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Chile.

X Japan leader Yoshiki already revealed earlier this month that he will be participating in the Asia Girls Explosion event on the fashion side, collaborating with Tokyo Girls Collection producer Jay FR to introduce the special “YOSHIKIMONO” brand.

Asia Girls Explosion, which will focus on music as well, will feature a large cast of international models and present the so called “real clothes” fashion brands from outside Japan.

For the fashion show, several international guest models have been announced, including AnnaLynne McCord, Olivia Palermo, and Marilyn Manson.

Asia Girls Explosion Guest

Chiaki Kuriyama×Ringo Shiina on “Oishii Kisetsu/ Ketteiteki Sanpunkan”

Chiaki Kuriyama (栗山 千明)is going to release her new double A side single “Oishii Kisetsu/ Ketteiteki Sanpunkan” on March 2nd.

Kuriyama,born October 10, 1984,is a Japanese actress and model. She is best known in the West for her roles in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Volume I, and the Japanese film Battle Royale.

The two songs are written and produced by Ringo Shiina, and played by Tokyo Jihen, which has Shiina as the lead vocalist. This single is the final part of Kuriyama’s “Produce Single Trilogy”; she has worked with Tomoyasu Hotei for “Kanousei Girl” (released in November, 2010) and Kenichi Asai for “Cold Finger Girl” (released on January 26th, 2011).

There will be two versions of the single with different album cover and different track list.

Checkmate!- Namie Amuro collaborates with Anna Tsuchiya, After School, Tomohisa Yamashita, Kaname Kawabata

Namie Amuro(安室奈美恵)’s collaboration compilation “Checkmate!” is scheduled for release on March 23. The album includes four new songs: “Wonder Woman” with AI and Anna Tsuchiya(土屋アンナ）, “make it happen” with Korean group After School, “#1″ with Kaname Kawabata (川畑要） of CHEMISTRY, and “UNUSUAL” with Tomohisa Yamashita（山下智久）.

Namie Amuro is a famous Japanese artist who’s considered to be the ‘Queen of J-pop’. After School is the only K-pop artist listed in her album, which has generated high interest from both the Korean and Japanese media.

“Wonder Woman” is already being used in a new commercial for Coca-Cola Zero. “UNUSUAL” marks the first time that Amuro has ever collaborated with an artist associated with Johnny’s Jimusho.

Namie Amuro – Best Collaboration Album「Checkmate!」2011.3.23 on sale
＜CD＞\3,059 (tax in) AVCD-38277 ＜CD＋DVD＞\3,990 (tax in) AVCD-38276/B

＜CD songs＞
・Wonder Woman / Namie Amuro feat. AI & Anna Tsuchiya＜New＞
※TV commercial for Coca-Cola Zero
・make it happen / Namie Amuro feat. AFTERSCHOOL＜New＞
・＃1 / Namie Amuro feat. Kaname Kawabata（CHEMISTRY）＜New＞
・UNUSUAL / Namie Amuro feat. Tonohisa Yamashita ＜New＞
・BLACK OUT feat. Lil Wayne & Namie Amuro / VERBAL
・FAKE/AI feat. Namie Amuro
・ROCK U feat. Namie Amuro / ravex
・BLACK DIAMOND / DOUBLE × Namie Amuro
・Do What U Gotta Do feat. AI, Namie Amuro＆Mummy-D / ZEEBRA
・Luvotomy/m-flo loves Namie Amuro
・Do or Die feat. Namie Amuro / JHETT
・AFTER PARTY feat. Namie Amuro / ZEEBRA
・Wet’N Wild feat. SUITE CHIC / Heartsdales

Jin Akanishi x Jason Derulo for first U.S. single

Jin Akanishi held a press conference to talk about his upcoming U.S. plans, and he announced that his debut U.S. single will be a collaboration with singer-songwriter Jason Derulo, produced by J. R. Rotem.

Akanishi said that he plans to release a full album this fall, and one of the songs will be a collaboration written by Derulo. The song is still being worked on, but he indicated that it would be a pop tune.

Derulo debuted in 2009 with the hit song “Whatcha Say,” which was also produced by Rotem. Rotem also produced his later songs, such as “In My Head” and “Ridin’ Solo.”

Besides the news of his single, Akanishi announced that he will release a DVD of his current tour on May 4, titled “Yellow Gold Tour 3011.”

Jin’s first solo single titled “Eternal”, is to be released on March 2nd, 2011 under Warner Music Group Japan. His album will be released on July 4, 2011.

girugamesh, Stereopony to perform at Anime Boston convention in April

The Anime Boston,the largest anime convention in New England, was revealed that visual-kei band girugamesh and the all-girl rock band Stereopony will be performing.

Girugamesh is a Japanese visual kei rock band, formed in 2003.On January 26, 2011, Girugamesh released their album “GO” which includes their recent singles, Color and Inochi no Ki, one of the songs, Destiny, leaked out a few days before. GO will be released in Europe on Februari 2.

Stereopony is a Japanese rock band that formed in Okinawa in 2007, consisting of Aimi (lead guitar/lead vocals), Nohana (bass guitar), and Shiho (drums).Their single “Tsukiakari no Michishirube” is the opening theme to the second season of the anime series Darker than Black; it ranked #8 on Oricon.

Anime Boston is being held on April 22-24, 2011 at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

Blood Stain Child x Atelier Pierrot

Blood Stain Child is an industrial death metal band. The band’s musical style combines modern melodic death metal with electro-industrial and trance or as they call it ‘hybrid metal trance’.September 2010, the band announced new members SOPHIA (from Greece) in vocals and GAMI (from YOUTHQUAKE).Blood Stain Child collaborated with Atelier Pierrot on several projects.

 

Singer Kana Nishino achieves 25 million downloads since her debut

Kana Nishino (西野カナ）,21, who is sometimes called the “queen of chaku-uta,” has just reached an impressive milestone.
Nishino is a J-Pop singer and lyricist debuted on February 2008, with the single “I”. Since her debut, her songs have been legitimately downloaded a total of 25 million times in a variety of formats, from chaku-uta ringtones to mobile video clips to full-length songs for the PC.This means that, on average, her songs have been downloaded approximately 23,000 times each day, though the bulk of the downloads actually happened within the past year. Based on data from download service Recochoku, Nishino was the #1 artist of 2010 in the chaku-uta and chaku-uta full categories.

Nishino also recently announced that she will hold her first Nippon Budokan concert on September 8, as the final show of her 16-city tour that starts on July 29.

Arashi members drawn in manga form in newspaper

The Asahi Shimbun newspaper ( February 3 issue) of featured a special collaboration between Arashi(嵐) and a few manga artists, titled “ARASHI meets MANGA.” Arashi is a Japanese idol group formed under the Japanese talent agency Johnny & Associates.The 8-page feature included illustrations of Arashi’s five members, drawn by the artists who did the original works behind some of the dramas and films that they have starred in. Each of the members also gave their thoughts on those works.

Taiyo Matsumoto (“Tekkon Kinkreet”) – Kazunari Ninomiya (二宮和也）

Chica Umino (“Honey and Clover”) – Sho Sakurai（櫻井翔）

Yoko Kamio (“Hana Yori Dango”) – Jun Matsumoto（松本潤）

Kenji Nagatomo (“Bartender”) – Masaki Aiba（相葉雅紀）

Fujiko Fujio A (“Kaibutsu-kun”) – Satoshi Ohno（大野智）

Kagerou’s Daisuke to release posthumous album Shikkoku no Hikari in April

Daisuke to Kuro no Injatachi（大佑と黒の隠者たち）, the solo project of the late vocalist Daisuke Oshida (押田大佑), is getting its first album released thanks to the collaboration of several artists. The album is titled “Shikkoku no Hikari” and is scheduled to go on sale on April 20.

Daisuke has been in the Japanese music scene for well over a decade, starting in bands such as Le’cheri and Fatima to which he was a drummer. In 1999, he moved onto becoming the vocalist of the well-known band Kagerou, which was active up to 2007 and made an impact on the Visual Kei scene. Directly following Kagerou, the Studs were formed. In 2010, Daisuke took part in another project titled Daisuke to Kuro no Injyatatchi. Daisuke to Kuro no Injyatatchi had its first release on Jun 2nd, 2010, titled “Honrou”.But shortly after its first single, he suddenly passed away on July 15 at the age of 31.

Before his death, Daisuke had begun work on “Shikkoku no Hikari (漆黒の光)” as a mini-album. Several artists who were close to him later resumed production on the project, resulting in the finished album. The participants include his fellow Kagerou members Shizumi, kazu, and Yuana; ex-the studs bandmate aie; MUCC member Tatsuro; MERRY members Gara, Yuu, and Kenichi; kannivalism; 12012; and boogieman.

“Shikkoku no Hikari” has a total of 12 tracks listed. The limited CD+DVD edition will come with video clips for two of the songs.

Yellow Magic Orchestra, Cibo Matto to perform at Big in Japan

A U.S. radio station KCRW has revealed some details about its 2011 World Festival, which it holds every year at the Hollywood Bowl in partnership with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. This year’s festival includes a “Big in Japan” night on June 26, featuring Yellow Magic Orchestra and Cibo Matto.

Described as a “gathering of the biggest names in Japanese pop music,” the event brings Yellow Magic Orchestra together for their first performance in Los Angeles since 1979. The event is also a reunion for Cibo Matto, who formally disbanded in 2001.

Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO) is a Japanese electropop band formed in 1978, known for pioneering the electropop music genre. The principal members are Haruomi Hosono (bass), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums and vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards).

Cibo Matto was a New York City-based band formed by two Japanese women, Yuka Honda and Miho Hatori, in 1994. The lyrics in their songs are primarily concerned with food and their sound has been described as a combination of “Jazz, Hip-Hop, Brazilian music, African Drumming, and Disco samples.

The event’s description says that additional artists will be announced, and the show will include “traditional kabuki dance and experimental contemporary visuals.”

The 10-member idol unit PASSPO to release a debut single Shoujo Hikou

The 10-member idol unit PASSPO☆(ぱすぽ☆) held an event on January 30 to commemorate their upcoming major label debut. The cabin attendant-themed group will release a single called “Shoujo Hikou” on April 6 under the Universal J record label.

The group started in January 2009 and has so far released four singles and one album. Their travel theme extends to their live events, and they have introduced a passport system through which fans can earn “mileage points” for participating in events.

They will also do a world tour later this year that includes the U.S. and some Asian countries.

Leader Ai Negishi (根岸愛),18, remarked that they hope to one day share the same stage as Korean group Shoujo Jidai, who are also signed with Universal.