Imai Tsubasa loves Spain & movie critics love Ikuta Toma

Tsubasa is taking his recent love for Spain as he is set to star in a NHK program that helps teach the Spanish language. The name of the program will be TV de Spain-go and will have a university instructor as well as two native Spanish speakers as regulars on the program to serve as teachers.

Momoedgewood Blog. (English)


In other news Ikuta Toma has won the 53rd Blue Ribbon award for Best Newcomer for his work in the films, Ningen Shikkaku (No Longer Human) and Hanamizuki.

Toma is the first from the Johnny's agency to win a Blue Ribbon award, which is given by movie critics and writers.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Momoedgewood Blog. (English)

Kimutaku's upcoming fall 2011 drama

Kimura Takuya will be starring in a new drama series on TBS this upcoming fall season. This drama will be part of TBS' celebration of its 60th anniversary so it is rumored to be the biggest budget drama the station has put into production. Filming begins in February and is said to then go on for about half a year, hence the early announcement of the series and its cast.

The drama is based on a book about a Japanese research team that was working up in Antarctica but had to leave their station there when the weather turned for the worse. They also had to leave their Huskies, which they believed had little chance of survival yet when they returned about a year later they found two of the dogs still alive.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Arashi is welcomed into the Guinness Book of World Records

It has been announced that Arashi has broken three Guinness World Records with their recent ad campaign for the Android cell phone.

The three records are:

1. Most versions of a TV commercial for the
same product broadcast within 24 hours - Free-to-air (Terrestrial TV)

2. Most versions of a TV commercial for the same
product broadcast within 8 hours - non Free-to-air

3. Most versions of a TV commercial for one
product broadcast in a single 30 minute programme

PR Times article. (Japanese)

Early and mid-March pre-orders

Well since a few different Johnny's releases were announced and put up for pre-order in the past few days I'm just going to make one post for all of them.

First up is the new NYC single that I talked about in my last post. You can check the information about it there. One interesting thing of note is that CDJapan has an option to purchase all three in one go.

Yumetamago [Regular Edition] / NYC

Yumetamago [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type-A] / NYC

Yumetamago [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Type-B] / NYC

Yumetamago [Set of A,B, and regular editions] / NYC


Next is Domoto Koichi's upcoming concert DVD release that comes out on March 9th as well. It has two versions with both the LE and RE having special contents only for that version. The LE does have three discs compared to the RE's two.

Koichi Domoto Concert Tour 2010 BPM [2DVD / Regular Edition] / Koichi Domoto

Koichi Domoto Concert Tour 2010 BPM [3DVD / Limited Edition] / Koichi Domoto


And then Tackey & Tsubasa will be releasing a mini-album on March 16th. The album is listed as untitled but will come in three versions. The first LE has a DVD with PVs of two of the songs on the mini-album while the second comes with a photo book. The RE doesn't look to come with any kind of bonus.

UNTITLED [w/ DVD, Limited Edition / Jacket A] / Tackey & Tsubasa

UNTITLED [w/ Photo Book, Limited Edition / Jacket B] / Tackey & Tsubasa

UNTITLED [Regular Edition / Jacket C] / Tackey & Tsubasa

An egg's dream

So it seems like the new NYC single rumor was a month off as there is now news that NYC will be releasing a new single to be the theme song of the upcoming Nintama Rantarou movie. This actually seems definite as the information is from an online Japanese store. From the information out it will be released March 9th and will come in 3 different versions and will be titled Yume Tamago (which can translate to Dream Egg).

Two of the versions will have a DVD each, one with the PV and making of for Yume Tamago and the other for Yuuki 100%. The third edition will have two bonus tracks. So if you're a NYC fan I hope you've been saving up your money if you want all three editions. I know my wallet is weeping as I type.

Shinseido website listings. (Japanese only)

Edit: Just checked and Johnny's net has the information up for the new single so I would expect that the usual online stores will be sending out notices soon for pre-orders.

Akanishi Jin's plans for debut single and album

I know it's late but I figured that there was enough information in the article that was worth mentioning that it should still be shared.

The information about his debut single is pretty much the same that's already been given, but if you head over to Johnny's net you can see the cover previews that are now up for it.

The news for Jin's upcoming U.S. album is that he has been working on it and will continue to do so as he aims to release it on his birthday, the 4th of July. It also mentions he may release a single for the U.S. market before the album, which IMHO seems likely as that's how artists tend to release their music, a single followed by the album.

Also of interest is that he may modify his artist name for the U.S. market. I would hope it's just going to be something simple as going from 'Akanishi Jin' to something like just 'Jin'. Kinda like how Utada Hikaru shortened her name to simply 'Utada' for her forays into the U.S. market.

And of course after the album is released he plans on touring the U.S. again and then even some Asian countries. I just hope that if he does tour the U.S. again he expands on the cities he'll perform in so more of his fans get a chance to see him.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Arashi's first single release for 2011

Arashi's first single for 2011 has been announced and it will be the theme song for Aiba Masaki's upcoming drama, Bartender. It will be released on February 23rd and is titled Lotus.

It comes in the usual Limited with DVD and Regular edition with bonus B-side.

Lotus [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / Arashi

Lotus [Regular Edition] / Arashi