'Eternal' Akanishi Jin

We finally have a release date for Akanishi Jin's debut single, March 2nd. There will be technically four editions of the single but one of those editions is only available if you pre-order the single at his concerts. The other three can be pre-ordered like usual.

Of those three there are two limited editions and one regular edition. The first limited edition comes with a DVD with the PV and making of. The second limited has a special full color booklet. The regular edition of has the same tracks as the two limited, the A-side, Eternal, and a B-side, Murasaki, with karaoke tracks for both.

Eternal [Limited Edition Type A] / Jin Akanishi

Eternal [Limited Edition Type B] / Jin Akanishi

Eternal [Regular Edition] / Jin Akanishi

I'm really surprised to see Murasaki finally getting a CD release seeing as its a pretty old song, but I'm sure a lot of Jin fans are excited about it. I can only hope that this means the chances for Wonder ever getting a CD release are slightly increased now.

Kaibutsu-kun 3-D movie coming to Japan

It has been announced that the live action Kaibutsu-kun series, that stars Ohno Satoshi, shall be made into a movie that will be a continuation of the series. All the cast from the series will be returning and the announcement mentioned that there will be new characters including a new villain for the film.

The movie will be filmed in 3-D and it is reported that NTV is investing about 2 billion yen into the film. The overseas filming has already begun and the projected finish date for production will be October, but it is unknown when it will actually hit movie screens.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Tokio Marathon Runner

Kokubun Taichi has announced that he will be running in his first full marathon on February with the annual Tokyo Marathon. Running in the marathon was proposed to him by one of the shows he's a regular on, Sport!, and he agreed as a sports enthusiast.

In the article it mentions he's a regular on 10 different radio and television programs and will have to also prepare for a nationwide tour with TOKIO that starts in March.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)


I really have to respect Taichi for challenging a marathon with a busy schedule like that.

I am very happy though to hear that TOKIO will be touring this year. I got to see them live when I was in Japan in 2009 and they are amazing to see perform and they had the most varied fans when it came to age and gender. I also hope that this tour means they'll finally be releasing a new album as one is well overdue from them.

Ninomiya to attend both the Japanese and U.S. premieres of Gantz

It has been announced that the stars of the upcoming Gantz movies, which includes Ninomiya Kazunari, will be attending premiere events for both the Japanese and U.S. even though they are on the same day.

They will be attending a stage greeting event on the morning of January 20th in Tokyo then board a plane afterward to attend a stage greeting in Hollywood in the evening of the same day.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)


This is definitely something that can be done because of the international date line being in the Pacific ocean, though I can imagine that this will be tiring for the actors. That said I hope they're ready to deal with the fangirls that will be showing up now to see Ninomiya.

Kis-My-Ft2 has their first No. 1 ... sorta

I'm sorry for not updating or replying for the past few days. I've been busy this past week but I do plan on going back and responding to everyone in the next few days and to update more as there has been some news coming out now that the New Year holidays are over in Japan.

One little bit of news out is that Kis-My-Ft2 will be doing the OP song for the Misaki No. 1 drama. The song is titled No. 1~FIRE BEAT and is a modified version of their song, FIRE BEAT, especially for the drama.

TV Pia official Twitter account for Misaki No.1 (Japanese)


I'm so happy for the boys to have a song tie-in with the drama. I had been hoping they would have an insert song or something when the website for the drama listed another artist for the ED song. I kinda wish it was a new song but I like FIRE BEAT and I'm interested in hearing the changes they made to the song. And I think it could be a good B-side if Johnny's wants to give them a debut single or something soon. >.>

New Tegomass single for 2011

I guess with Yamapi busy with solo activities it would only be a matter of time before Tegomass released something so at least the offshoots of NEWS would be busy for the first half of 2011. On February 16th Tegomass will be releasing their fifth single, Aoi Bench.

The single comes in the usual two versions. They both have the title track but the limited version will have the karaoke version of the track and the DVD with PV. The regular edition instead has an acoustic version of the song as well as a B-side track.

Aoi Bench [Regular Edition] / Tegomass (Tegomasu)

Aoi Bench [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / Tegomass (Tegomasu)

News round-up

Well after the excitement of the New Year's shows things look to have settled down news-wise for most Johnny's artists. So I'm just going to do a quick round up of the little news bits that have surfaced since.

Hey! Say! JUMP had their concerts down in the Yokohama Arena after New Year's. Not much out of the ordinary for them but it is being reported that there was a mention by Johnny himself that he's thinking about having them go to Asia beginning this year.

Tokyohive article. (English)

Personally I see an Asia tour being possible but probably won't happen until the second half of the year. In March everyone but Ryutarou will be out of high school and turning 18, which will finally include Yamada and Chinen who are two members of the group that Johnny's doesn't seem like to do without for HSJ group activities. So with them with a much more flexible schedule, especially if they don't go to college, I think we can see more activity from HSJ this year and the group doing more than the usual concert schedule they've pretty much had since their debut. Also if Johnny's is gearing up to debut a new group then having HSJ move on to the international stage a bit will help give them something to hype HSJ with and their first Asia tour would be perfect for that.


Next news item is a quick update about Tackey's current butai. It gets the honor of being the first show of the year for the Imperial Garden Theater's 100th anniversary. The article also mentions that according to Tackey he chose Nakayama to be his co-star for the play, in which they play brothers.

Tokyohive article. (English)

Even though I know Tackey loves including Juniors in what he does and that I do think Nakayama is talented I do doubt that it was completely Tackey's idea for Nakayama to co-star with him. But in any case I'm glad to see Nakayama a part of this production as I think working with not only Tackey but also Nishikiori Kazukiyo (Shounentai) should be a great learning experience from two Johnny's that have been working so long in the industry.


And then the other article is just some of the rating numbers for Kouhaku have come out. The highest rated performer of the night was SMAP with 48.9% but Arashi was able to pull in little over 43% viewership for their performance and overall the ratings for the program were considered strong with a raise in ratings for the second half of the program despite a drop in the first half compared to last year.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I want to say congrats to both of those groups. In the next couple of days I'm guessing we'll get the ratings for everyone else, which I'm interested in to see how TOKIO and NYC did.