Young singer Aoyama Teruma (21) has recorded the theme song for the Japanese release of the movie "Hachiko: A Dog's Story." "Wasurenai yo" will be heard at theaters across the country from June 13. Directed by the renowned Lasse Hallstrom and starring Richard Gere and Joan Allen, the movie is a Hollywood adaptation of one of the most famous stories in contemporary Japan. It tells of a professor who brings his Akita dog with him when he moves to prewar Tokyo. The strong bond between the two continues even after death, with the faithful dog waiting for the return of his master outside Shibuya station every evening for ten years. Today a famous statue stands in that same spot and it has become a popular meeting place. The story has been adapted several times for both the big and small screen in Japan, and the new movie will be released here as "Hachi, Yakusoku no Inu."

Management for Tomizawa Takeshi (35) yesterday announced that the comedian got hitched back in April. They described his new bride as a 30-year old ippanjin native of Tokyo. Tomizawa is the boke half of manzai duo Sandwichman, who made their big breakthrough when they won a comedy Grand Prix event in 2007. His comic partner Date Mikio (34) recently announced that he is engaged to marry freelance TV announcer Kumagai Maiko (38) in July.

Katori Shingo Off to Broadway

SMAP member Katori Shingo (32, photo left) is to make his return to the stage - on Broadway no less. Well, actually off Broadway, but the local media has been reporting it as the first time for an original Japanese stage production to play New York's famous theater district. Katori will star in the musical comedy "Talk Like Singing," written and produced by the prolific Mitani Koki (47, photo right). The supporting cast includes Kabira Jay (46), whose mother is American, and Horiuchi Keiko (38), a veteran of such musicals as "Cats" and "West Side Story." The musical director is Konishi Yasuharu (50), a former member of the J-pop pioneers Pizzicato Five, who wrote and produced Katori's million-selling single "Shingo Mama no Oha Rock" in 2000. The production is scheduled for 13 shows, November 12-22 at the 850-seat Skirball Center, New York University. Japanese audiences will have to wait until next year to see the show at home. Katori last acted on stage 12 years ago, but in the meantime he has appeared in a slew of big-budget movies and TV dramas as the five members of SMAP have ascended into the ranks of Japan's most marketable celebrities. He has worked with Mitani several times before, including the NHK taiga drama "Shinsengumi."

Glay Rock the Boat

J-rock band Glay performed a last-minute free concert for thousands of fans in Yokohama yesterday. With the temperature rising to a balmy 27 degrees, 15,000 fans gathered at Nipponmaru Memorial Park and enjoyed the strange juxtaposition of a rock band and an old sailing ship. The port of Yokohama is currently celebrating the 150th anniversary of its opening, and it's 15 years since Glay debuted. Those numbers probably have as much to do with the reported head count as accuracy. Glay are also scheduled to play two shows at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama in mid-August, with a combined audience of 150,000. Yesterday's show, the band's first free live concert in five years, was only announced at 8am. They performed five songs, including "I Am XXX" from their new album, "The Great Vacation Vol.1" to be released on Wednesday. The Nipponmaru, launched in 1930, was used as a training vessel until its retirement in 1984.

Fuji TV announcer Shimada Ayaka (35) is engaged to marry a publishing entrepreneur this summer. The couple are said to have met in 2007 and are planning a wedding in July. Shimada majored in Russian at Jochi (Sophia) University and joined the Fuji network in 1998. She is a presenter on the "FNN Speak" afternoon news show. Kondo Masazumi Robert (44) was born in San Francisco and raised in the U.K. and Japan. He obtained an MBA from Cornell University and worked briefly for the The Industrial Bank of Japan before forming his own company, Resonance, in 1998. The company published the car & bike magazine "ahead."

B'z Dive Back into Action

Japan's rock supergroup B'z (profile) have been named to the lineup for this year's 10th SummerSonic festival. The 3-day event is scheduled for August 7-9, with over 100 local and international artists performing at two venues in Tokyo (actually Chiba) and Osaka Prefectures. The lineup had until this week included a "special guest from Japan" and that turns out to be B'z. The duo will take the stage before headliners Linkin Park in Tokyo on August 8 and Osaka on August 9. B'z performed at the event for the first time in 2007, but the festival will be their first, and probably only, live appearance this year after they toured last year to celebrate their 20th anniversary. They usually sell out their shows very quickly, so the there will undoubtedly be increased demand for the remaining SummerSonic tickets. B'z are scheduled to release the new single "Dive" on August 5, though it's already airing in the current TV commercial for the Suzuki Swift car. Other major acts in the SummerSonic lineup include: My Chemical Romance, Nine Inch Nails, Hoobastank, Beyonce and Ne-Yo; local names like Dragon Ash and Boom Boom Satellites; blasts from the past include Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, The Specials and Sonic Youth.

Nezumi Sempai Bows Out

Singer Nezumi Sempai (36) has decided that one year in the limelight is about all he can take. He held a press conference yesterday and told reporters that he plans to retire from showbiz by the end of the year. "Show business is tough, a lot tougher than I imagined," he said. "And I really haven't made that much money from it." With his distinctive punch perm hair and sunglasses that make him look like a typical yakuza, he had a breakthrough last year when his debut single "Roppongi, Giroppon" topped the enka carts and sold over 100,000 copies. But he has failed to follow up on that success and has become the epitome of the "ippatsuya" or one-hit wonder. Before last year's success he went through about a dozen career changes, including acting in and directing porn movies. But now that he has a young daughter, he said "I won't be going back to that. From tomorrow, I'm going to go to Hello Work," referring to the nationwide employment service centers. Before he bows out, he does have one more single on the way. "Okane" (Money) is scheduled for release on June 16 and he will perform a one-night-only concert in Tokyo on June 21.

Stay Away From the Gun!

Just how strict is Japan when it comes to firearms? Talento Harada Noburo (57) recently found out, and he and TV producers are currently the subject of a police investigation. Their crime? Allowing Harada to simply hold a hunting rifle during a live broadcast on a local TV network show without having first obtained official permission. Harada was visiting a hunting club in the town of Yogocho for the January 17 edition of the "Tokimeki Saga's" show when one of the members handed him the rifle. Harada is not a registered gun owner and the law states that permission must first be obtained from the prefectural public safety commission. In accordance with the Swords and Firearms Control Law, Saga prefectural police are investigating he incident, produced by the local Biwako Housou. Police have questioned Harada and carried out a search of the company's premises and are thought likely to file charges. Biwako spokesman Ito Akihiko said, "We were unaware that we were breaking the law. We are cooperating fully with the investigation." Harada, on his second marriage to a former Nikkatsu porn actress, is a former member of the folk duo Anonenone. Top J-pop producer Komuro Tetsuya, who himself recently endured a serious run in with the criminal justice system, was once a backing musician for the duo.

Arashi Storm Oricon Charts Yet Again

The success of Arashi's latest single shows that they are the hottest Johnny's Jimusho act these days. It's no surprise that their 26th single, "Ashita no Kioku/Crazy Moon-Kimi Wa Muteki," entered the Oricon chart at No.1, the group's 15th consecutive chart topper since February 2004. But it has also sold over half a million copies in its first week, as did their previous release "Believe/Kumori Nochi Kaisei" in March. The last artist to manage those numbers twice in a row was the hugely popular Southern All Stars vocalist Kuwata Keisuke in 2001. Arashi debuted in 1999 and their popularity has been broadened by their appearances on variety shows, dramas and major movies.

It was announced yesterday that SMAP's Katori Shingo (32) is to take on an iconic manga role. He has been named to play the lead in the first ever TV drama adaptation of the manga "Kochira Katsushikaku Kamearikoenmae Hasshutsujo," commonly known as KochiKame. The manga has sold over 130 million copies since it first appeared in the Shuukan Shonen Jump magazine in 1976. Set in a downtown police station, it revolves around the bumbling adventures of chief patrol officer Ryotsu Kankichi, a man strong enough to survive falls from Tokyo Tower and a speeding shinkansen (bullet train)! The drama will air on TBS on Saturday nights from August, taking over the same time slot currently occupied by fellow SMAP member Kimura Takuya in "Mr. Brain."

X Japan, Koda Kumi In Concert

What do J-pop and J-rock have in common? The answer seems to be wedding dresses...Rock band X Japan finally gave their Taiwanese fans what they'd been waiting for on Saturday night, playing their long overdue first concert on the island. The Taipei show was rescheduled twice, last August and again in February due to the health problems of drummer and band leader Yoshiki. He showed his appreciation to the legions of faithful X fans by wearing a wedding dress on stage, something he hasn't done since 1991. The band then launched into their anthem "X," with the 20,000 fans joining them in the X Jump that has been said to cause a mini earth tremor. The ¥350-million show also featured a drum performance from Yoshiki on a moving platform 20m high, and a 12m-high YoshiKitty, an inflatable collaboration with the iconic Hello Kitty character. Once again, the late guitarist Hide appeared throughout the show on the 1200-inch wide screen. Newly added guitarist Sugizo performed overseas with the band for the first time.

Yesterday, Yoshiki announced that the band have received an offer to perform on the opening night of next year's World Expo in Shanghai. The expo will be the biggest ever, with 230 countries and regions expected to participate and the target for the number of visitors set at 70 million (the current record is the 64 million who attended the 1970 Osaka World Expo). Plans are also progressing for a show at the 80,000-seat Olympic "Bird's Nest" stadium in Beijing, which is said to be awaiting the final stamp of approval. Yoshiki also said that he expects shows in France and the U.S. to be finalized this month.



J-pop diva Koda Kumi (26) pulled out all the stops for 15,000 fans at her concert last night at the National Yoyogi Gymnasium in Tokyo. She went through nine costume changes that had a combined cost of ¥80 million. As well as her usual sexy outfits, she wore a white wedding dress and a towering "illumination dress." In homage to enka singer Kobayashi Sachiko, who wears a hugely extravagant dress every New Year's Eve for the "Kohaku Uta Gassen" show, it was 12 meters high and featured 10,000 lights. Amongst the 24-song set, Koda performed songs from her upcoming maxi single "3 Splash," due for release on July 8. She was joined on stage for one night only by U.S. hip hop group the Black Eyed Peas. Koda and vocalist Fergie collaborated last summer on the single "That Aint Cool."

ELT Ichirô Itô has found his singer!

A few weeks ago, guitarist Ichirô Itô (Every Little Thing) announced his first solo project, along with the organisation of a big audition to find a singer to sing his new songs. The winner has been revealed as well as several guests who will take part in the album.

On August 5, Ichirô Itô's first "solo" mini-album will be out. It has no title yet. Among the guests who will sing on the album's songs, there will be AYUSE KOZUE and Kyougo Kawaguchi.

The album will also mark the debut of a young female singer, HEIDI (21), who won the audition's final. She sang Time goes by ELT and won the contest ahead of the 5 other finalists and around 900 contestants.

Joe Inoue gets to the next level

That is what the Japanese American singer's website announced when describing his new single.

Even if he is not one of the most popular singers in Japan, Joe Inoue has managed to get noticed when, at the end of 2008, he released CLOSER, which was the theme song of the anime Naruto at that moment.

Two months after the release of his debut album, a new single apparently in a new music style has been announced. The singer has been singing pop/rock songs so far, but he should release an electro track for the first time. Entitled GO★ and available on July 22, the single was produced by Mine-Chang, who works on BENNIE K, DOUBLE and SEAMO's songs, among others.

m.o.v.e cover... KOKIA and sing Evangelion!

With t-kimura not being part of the group's public activities anymore, m.o.v.e have started a new era. But the path they seem to take is unfortunately not very flattering....

Probably too old to succeed in another new project, Yuri and motsu are both indulging all of avex's whims to keep m.o.v.e alive...

Thus one of the most creative groups ever in Japan is going to release an album made up of... covers of anime theme songs.

There will be Tamashii no Rufuran (Yoko Takahashi for Evangelion), Tatta hitotsu no omoi (KOKIA for GUNSLINGER GIRL), Sousei no Aquarion (AKINO for Sousei no AQUARION), the legendary Ai, oboeteimasu ka of Macross, and a self-cover of Gravity, among other songs.

The album will be out on August 19 2009 in two editions, CD-only and CD+DVD with the video of the Live TRANSFORM 2009 concert which was recorded on April 4, and is the last live with t-kimura.

ikimono-gakari reenlist and SEAMO enlists for Naruto

It is the first time that SEAMO sings for Naruto, whereas ikimono-gakari are regular partners of the licence.

SEAMO will release his first single of 2009 on August 5. It is a double A-side entitled MY ANWER / Fukeiki nante buttobase!!. MY ANSWER will be used as the ending song of the anime Naruto and is said to be a message song, while Fukeiki nante buttobase!! will be used to promote the Xbox. The single will also contain a B-side entitled Go!! which is the theme song of a baseball TV programme on CBC. It is available in two editions, CD-only and CD+DVD with the music video of MY ANSWER.

As for ikimono-gakari, they will sing the new opening song of Naruto Shippuden. The song is entitled Hotaru no hikari and will be out as a single on July 15.

Hitomi Yaida is pregnant!

Yaiko will soon become a mother! She already announced it will not change anything in her career.

Continuation of the J-pop mums series: after YUKI's childbirth, and hitomi naked and pregnant, Hitomi Yaida (30) announced that she is pregnant (there are no pictures yet, you have to wait 6 months). It will be Yaiko's first child, and while looking after her health, the singer intends to write and compose during that period to "prepare for next year".

DOUBLE releases her first single of the year

After getting out while the going was good with her best albums for her 10th anniversary in 2008, DOUBLE returns with previously unreleased songs.

DOUBLE's new single, entitled Let it go, will be out on July 22nd.

The A-side is said to be an RnB song with meaningful lyrics. It will be used as the opening song for the TV programme Ryuha-R (which is specialized on hip-hop and RnB) from July on.

Motohiro Hata's sports single

After releasing singles after singles, Motohiro Hata finally gave himself a rest. But it did not last long, since his official site has announced the release of his 8th single.

Motohiro Hata will release a still-untitled new single on August 12. He wrote the song especially for the 2009-ABC Natsu no Koukou Yakyuu (the inter high school baseball summer tournament): it is the first time Motohiro has ever written a song on request, even if he already got involved in the same event last year when he sang on the theme song performed by Fukumimi of which he is part.

CIRCLES, a previously unreleased song, will be the B-side. It was already presented a few weeks ago as the theme song of the Space Shower TV's 20th anniversary. The CD will also include live songs from his acoustic tour GREEN MIND 2009. The DVD of the CD+DVD version will contain videos from the Motohiro Hata in Kouchi CAMP.

Finally, the singer's very first live DVD will be out in September. It was recorded at the Budoukan on March 6 2009.

hitomi poses naked and pregnant on her new album cover

It has been almost six months since hitomi gave birth to her baby, but as her new album was postponed, it is an "old" photo taken when she was pregnant which will be the cover. .

hitomi's new album, entitled LOVE LIFE2, will be out on June 24. For LOVE LIFE in 2000, she was already topless in profile, with her hair hiding her breasts. For her new album, she has used a similar concept, but this time, she is completely naked, and still in profile. The photo was taken in December, during her last month of pregnancy.

Meisa Kuroki's debut single

The young actress is about to release her very first single and is determined to brighten up your summer!

Today Meisa Kuroki, an actress who gets more and more popular in Japan lately, announced the release of her debut single, barely a few weeks after her debut album hellcat.

SHOCK-unmei- is slated for a July 22 release, and is said to be an up-tempo pop and sexy summer single. The limited edition of the single will contain a DVD with the music video of the A-side.

YUKI gave birth to her 3rd child

The former JUDY AND MARY singer is already the mother of a boy born in 2006, while her first child born in 2003 died aged 2. YUKI has been married to YO-KING (Magokoro Brothers) for 9 years now.

A message published on YUKI's official site announced her 3rd child was born. It is a boy. Both the mother and her son are well.

YUKI wants to devote herself to her family in the months to come, but she added she also intends to continue her music career at a quiet rate on the long run.

Sowelu signs with avex

The singer was among the artists whose contract with Sony was not renewed.

Masato "Max" Matsuura, the president of avex trax, confirmed Sowelu signed a contract with avex in an entry on his blog a few hours ago.

The contract takes effect on June 1st.

Yui Aragaki's second album: Hug

A year and a half after her first album, actress and singer Yui Aragaki is finally about to release her second one.

Hug will be Yui Aragaki's second album, but the first to include single songs. Make My Day, the first of them, was released last summer and was quite successful.

Three editions will be available, two of which are limited editions coming with a different photobook. The first limited edition will come with an extra CD containing a cappella versions of about 10 songs (also called "naked voice"), while the second limited edition will come with a DVD containing all Gakky's music videos and a documentary video about the making of the album.

There will be 13 tracks in all, among which there are Maky My Day, Akai Ito, piece and Utsushi E, that is to say there are 9 previously unreleased songs, the titles of which are still unknown. The album will be out on June 17th.

RYTHEM's new single featuring Tokita from Sukima Switch

This summer, the duo will release their 16th single which is a prominent collaboration, like their previous single..

After Love Call feat. Kimaguren, RYTHEM's new single is entitled Gyutto shite feat. Shintarou Tokita (from Sukima Switch) and will be out on July 29th. The A-side was written and composed by the three artists, and its theme is a love with no turning back. Gyutto shite's B-side is entitled TOMATO, and is precisely used as the theme song for a tomato sauce CM.