Kato Shigeru gets to be a playboy.

Kato Shigeaki will be part of the regular cast of an upcoming summer drama series, Hanawake no Yon-shimai. The series focuses on four sisters and their love lives with Shige's character, a playboy photographer, being connected to the four in various ways.

The series will begin in July and air on TBS at 9PM on Sundays.

Tokyograph article. (English)

It looks like Shige is getting pushed as an actor more and more these days. Not that I'll complain as I'm just happy that the agency is giving him things to do despite how NEWS schedule seems to be these days.

KAT-TUN cancels/postpones 2011 concerts

It has been announced that all 2011 concerts that KAT-TUN had planned for 2011 have either been canceled or postponed until 2012. With the changes that had to be made to other events, such as the delay of the baseball season, the venues, like the domes, are no longer free on the dates for the planned concerts. There was also concern about using the Higashi-ougishima Higashi park in Yokohama as it is an emergency evacuation area.

To make up for the concerts there are plans being made for a possible fan meeting event for the group.

Momoedgewood journal. (English)

It doesn't look like this year is a very good year for KAT-TUN. Hopefully the next year will be better for the group.

Nishikido Ryo in upcoming drama

It looks like Ryo isn't going to have much of a break once his current drama wraps up as it has been announced that he will be in an upcoming summer drama. It's titled, Zenkai Girl, and will star actress Aragaki Yui and Ryo will play her romantic interest. It will air on Fuji TV on Mondays at 9PM and will begin airing in July.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Goro in upcoming drama, Shigeoka joins variety program

A couple of news bits to report today.

First off Inagaki Goro has been cast in an upcoming drama series. He will play the love interest of one of the stars of the drama, Bull Doctor. The drama will air on NTV beginning in July.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Also Shigeoka Daiki will be joining fellow Kansai Juniors, Hamada Takahiro and Muro Tatsuki on the Kansai variety program, Ahoyanen! Sukiyanen!. The three will dress up as ninja for a corner every Friday of the show called, AhoSuki.

Johnny's net. (Japanese)

SMAP to meet with China Premier Wen & try another go at performing in China

It was announced that during his visit to Japan for the East Asian Summit China Premier Wen Jiabao will meet with SMAP.

It was also mentioned that SMAP will be trying again to perform a concert a concert in China. They've tried to do so twice already but had to cancel both times for various reasons. This time the concert will be a part of a anniversary for the normalization of relations between Japan and China 40 years ago next year.

The Straits Times article. (English)

Hopefully the third time will be the charm for SMAP, as this seems like something they really want to do.

Arashi's new tour announced, charity events, text book release

Arashi has announced their upcoming tour dates. They also mentioned that because of the Tohoku quake they have decided what would have been their Tokyo Dome concerts will now be charity events to help raise money for the relief effort.

They also announced that they will be releasing a special version of the text book, Nippon no Arashi, that was only available to students in schools for the public to buy.

Also in the article they had some information for their upcoming album. Matsumoto Jun has said that the album is a reflection of how they feel about how the future will turn out post-earthquake.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Endless Shock to expand to Fukuoka

Domoto Koichi's annual butai, Endless Shock will be performed outside of Tokyo for the first time this year. The show will kick off in January in Fukuoka before moving back to it's usual stage in Tokyo.

Koichi plans to make up for the last run of the butai being cut short because of the Tohoko earthquake by making this run go for 4 consecutive months.


Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Yaotome, Tamamori & Fujigaya to star in drama this summer

This summer the Korean drama, You're Beautiful, is being remade into a Japanese drama that will be Ikeman Desu Ne. The main male leads are all Johnny's, Yaotome Hikaru, Tamamori Yuta and Fujigaya Taisuke and they will play members of an idol band with the lead actress Takimoto Miori.

The drama will air on TBS at the beginning of July and Kis-My-Ft2's debut single song will be the theme song of the drama.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I'm so excited about this news for a few reasons. The first is actually the fact that finally someone from Hey! Say! JUMP is in a drama, and I'm really glad that it's Hikaru as I like him as an actor. The next is seeing Kis-My-Ft2 continuing on with getting drama roles as it's probably one of the easier ways to get the general public interested in them. And of course the fact that their debut single has a drama tie-in as that should help with sales. Not to mention it also seems to confirm that there's a good chance that it will be released in July now if that's when the drama starts.

I can't wait for July now.

Okada Junichi and Kazama Shunsuke in new Ghlibi film

The upcoming Ghlibi film, Kokurikozaka Kara, will have Okada Junichi voice the main male character of the movie, Kazama Shun. The film is based off a shoujo manga and is set to be released in theaters in Japan July 16th.

Kazama Shunsuke is also listed as being a part of the movie's cast.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Hey! Say! JUMP single Over up for pre-order

Hey! Say! JUMP's upcoming single, Over, is now up for pre-ordering at the usually online stores.

Even though there are two editions the regular edition comes with a First Press version. According to CDJapan the First Press release will have a special clear film jacket (which is probably a slip cover with something, like a picture or text, on it) and a picture disc (which I'm assuming means that the disc will have a picture on it). Other than that everything else has already been announced about the release on the official sites.

Over [Regular Edition] / Hey! Say! JUMP

Over [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / Hey! Say! JUMP

Over [Set of limited and regular editions] / Hey! Say! JUMP

And I will confess every time even the smallest amount of news about this new release comes out I get really excited. I really miss HSJ actively releasing music and I can't help but hope they can stay active as a group for the rest of the year at least.

Kanjani8's 3rd consecutive single up for pre-order & Kis-My-ft2 debut update

The third and final single for Kanjani8's three months of consecutive releases, 365 Nichi Kazoku, is up for pre-order now. It comes in two editions with the usual DVD for the PV coming with the LE and the RE having bonus B-sides.

365 Nichi Kazoku [Regular Edition] / KANJANI8

365 Nichi Kazoku [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / KANJANI8


Also in recent news there has been an update announced about Kis-My-Ft2's debut single. In the announcement Johnny's official confirmed that it will be a summer release that should coincide with the tour. Also it was mentioned that part of the reason for the delay was that they decided to choose a new song for the debut. This new song was chosen as it was an encouraging song which was thought to be more appropriate after the Tohoku earthquake.

Momoedgewood blog entry. (English)

Arashi & Kinki Kids new releases

New release announcements have come out for two different groups, Kinki Kids and Arashi.

For Kinki Kids they will be releasing a new single called Time. It will come in two editions, a LE with a bonus DVD with music video and making of and a RE that will come with two B-tracks not on the LE.

Time [Regular Edition] / KinKi Kids

Time [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / KinKi Kids

Arashi has announced two new releases a concert DVD, ARASHI 10-11 TOUR "Scene" - Kimi to Miteiru Fukei - DOME+, and a new album, Beautiful World. The DVD will come in two editions but like their last album the new one only has one edition, but it does have a first press version.

ARASHI 10-11 TOUR "Scene" - Kimi to Miteiru Fukei - DOME+ [Regular Edition] / Arashi

ARASHI 10-11 TOUR "Scene" - Kimi to Miteiru Fukei - DOME+ [Limited Edition] / Arashi

Beautiful World / Arashi

So it looks to be a great time to be an Arashi fan.

I only hope that June still has another single announcement that still has to be made. The Hey! Say! JUMP information hasn't been added to Johnny's net's New Release page and there's the week of June 22nd that is still free for a Johnny's artist to release a single.

New Hey! Say! JUMP single

I know I'm a bit late reporting this but mid-terms kinda got in the way.

But it was announced at one of Hey! Say! JUMP's concerts that they will be releasing their 7th single, Over, on June 29th. On Johnny's net they have some information about the single under Hey! Say! JUMP's section of the page. From that we know that the tracks of the CD will be be A-side Over, with the B-sides being Ai-ing -Aishiteru-, SCREW (Hey! Say! BEST song) and You got more (Hey! Say! 7 song).

Personally I'm guessing the CD isn't up on the new release page or for pre-order yet is because there are other releases for June that haven't been announced yet that Johnny's wants to put up first. I'm hoping one of of those releases would be Kis-My-Ft2's debut single as I would like to finally have a release date for that, not to mention to finally have it in my hands.

Higashiyama to be a father.

It has been announced that Higashiyama Noriyuki, who got married last year, will possibly become a father this year. A due date was not announced but it was mentioned that at earliest the baby will be born at the end of the year.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

Congrats to Higashiyama and his wife.

Akanishi Jin to release Eternal digitally for charity

It has been announced that Akanishi Jin's debut song Eternal will be getting a digital release this Mother's Day (May 8th). This will be a new version of the song.

The song will be used as part of the Marching J charity project where every sale donating 100 yen to the relief effort.

natalie (Japanese)

Ikuta Toma to star in Bokura ga Ita films

It has been announced that Ikuta Toma will be starring in the Bokura ga Ita movie adaptions. The two films are adaptions of the shoujo manga series by the same name.

The filming for the films will begin in July and both will be released in 2012, with the second film being released into theaters only a month after the first.

Tokyograph article. (English)

Marching J baseball match

As it was announced earlier the next Marching J event will be a baseball game at the Tokyo Dome. It will on May 29th and while it will mainly be the Juniors there's quite a few of the debuted Johnny's participating as well.

List of participates:

V6: Sakamoto Masayuki & Nagano Hiroshi
KinKi Kids: Domoto Koichi
Tackey & Tsubasa: Takizawa Hideaki & Imai Tsubasa
NEWS: Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa & Tegoshi Yuya
KAT-TUN: Kamenashi Kazuya, Taguchi Junnosuke, Tanaka Koki, Ueda Tatsuya & Nakamaru Yuichi
Juniors: Kis-My-Ft2, A.B.C-Z, B.I.Shadow, Morimoto Shintaro, Hip Hop JUMP, Sanada Yuma, Nozawa Yuki & other Johnny’s Jr.
Kansai Juniors: Uchi Hiroki, Nakayama Yuma, B.A.D., Shigeoka Daiki & other Kansai Johnny’s Jr.