Johnny's net opens sections for their solo talents

Johnny's net recently updated and now several of their solo talents that they manage have their own sections on the website. These include ex-members of old Johnny's groups such as Uchiumi Kohji, Sato Atsuhiro and Okamoto Kenichi. And it looks like Ikuta Toma has gotten some kind of promotion as he also has his own page even though he's usually called a Junior still. And the last solo page of course goes to Akanishi Jin, which pretty much finalizes his departure from KAT-TUN.

I think personally I am most excited that Toma has his own page. I feel he deserves it as he's probably as well known if not even more well known than some of the Johnny's that have had music debuts and this looks like Johnny's is acknowledging that. It also gives hope that perhaps for other Juniors that don't debut there is still a way to gain success for them if they stick around. Of course it depends on whether or not Johnny's will give them chance to pursue acting over back dancing but after the success of Toma I feel they're probably more open to that these days.

Kanjani8 return to the Kyocera Dome for Countdown 2010-2011

It has been announced that Kanjani8 will again be holding their own Countdown concert in Osaka's Kyocera Dome this year for the Countdown 2010-2011. It will be at the tail end of their up coming national tour which begins at the end of October and will have them at the Tokyo Dome in early December.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

From this news I'm honestly expecting to hear news about a new album from K8 for their national tour. They do have enough singles for one and it seems like Johnny's is aiming to have just about every debuted group to release an album this year.

Ueda injured during concert and KAT-TUN's 5 year anniversary plans announced

At the first concert in Taipei Ueda Tatsuya dislocated a toe when he failed to land on target after taking a jump off a 3 meter stage. He ended up being rushed to the hospital after he made it backstage and has promised to perform at the concert the following day and his solo concert over the weekend back in Japan.

This doesn't seem to be the news that Johnny's really wanted to have come out with the concert as plans for the concert tour next year, that will mark the group's 5th anniversary since debut. Like the current tour it will have two different legs. The first will be in Japan but Johnny's are looking at holding the concerts in industrial complexes instead of the usual concert venues. The second is an international tour with the locations of Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, China and Hawaii.

Tokyo Graph article. (English)

I have to say I feel really bad for Ueda as dislocating a toe must be rather painful and having to dance on it the day after, even if he takes it easy, is bound to hurt as well. But I guess after getting lucky after Kitayama from Kis-My-Ft2 fell off a stage at a concert earlier in the tour they had already used up their luck with him coming out of that uninjured.

And for the other news I have to say I'm a bit excited about this upcoming tour. Even if they aren't my favorite group I do like them enough to see about putting some money aside to see them in Hawaii. A part of that is honestly because I want to support Johnny's attempts at coming to the U.S. and it looks like they plan on using KAT-TUN and Akanishi Jin as the artists that will be their barometer of success in the States.

Tackey & Tsubasa officially return

Johnny's net has updated recently and has the concert information for the Tackey & Tsubasa concert tour Tackey had mentioned during his solo concert tour. The tour for the duo will begin in October and go through early November and they will be visiting three cities, Nagoya, Kobe and Yokohama.

So with this there is an official source for the return of Tackey & Tsubasa as a duo. I would venture that we will soon get information about the single that has also been talked about. With the concert dates it'll probably be released around that time to go with them and since Arashi has already announced a single for October it means there is a high chance it will be sometime in October as Johnny's tends to announce releases in chronological order, though every once in a while there's an exception.

Arashi's Dear Snow for October

Arashi doesn't seem to ready to slow down one bit and have a new single coming out 0n October 6th titled Dear Snow. The title song is the theme song for the film Ooku, which Ninomiya Kazunari has a starring role in, and is listed as being a ballad.

This single follows the usual release pattern for the group and will have two editions, one limited and the other regular. The limited will have the standard DVD with PV and making of while the regular edition will have a bonus track as well as karaoke tracks for both songs which will not be included in the limited edition.

Dear Snow [Regular Edition] / Arashi

Dear Snow [w/ DVD, Limited Edition] / Arashi

Sakurai Sho interviews Mikhail Gorbachev

Even though Tokio will be hosting this year's Nippon TV's 24hr TV program they will not be the only Johnny's featured.

Sakurai Sho recently has been doing interviews in the areas of the former U.S.S.R. for a segment on the program highlighting the poverty that can be seen all around the world. While in Russia he got the chance to interview and speak with Mikhail Gorbachev, former U.S.S.R. leader and a Nobel Prize winner. The interview will be shown during the NTV 24hr TV program on August 29th.

Momoedgewood blog entry. (English)

I have to say it's amazing to see someone from Johnny's connected to such a historical figure. And I really think that this is yet another way for Arashi to be able to set themselves above their peers and become another legendary boy band like SMAP.

A little bit of this and that.

I admit I was getting worried about what to post today as I really couldn't find anything to write about yesterday and felt too tired to write anything that required anything more than basic thought. But thankfully there are some little Johnny's related news that came out today.

First off it's been reported by the fan club members of You & J (the official Johnny's fan club for groups NEWS, Kanjani8 & KAT-TUN) that Akanishi Jin is now listed as a solo artist for the fan club. To me this makes sense as I'm sure there are many KAT-TUN fans that are also Jin fans so they can still ballot for tickets for his solo stuff without having to pay fees for another fan club.

you_and_jin LJ entry. (English)


To celebrate their 200th episode the show, Music Lovers, will be having a special Arashi episode. The episode will have special performances of album tracks from Arashi's latest album. And to even go further to make this episode and the performances more unique the audience will be male-only. The episode will air on August 22nd.

Tokyo Hive article. (English)