Japanese celebrity “scandals” are so stupid, it almost catches you off guard when a real one happens.
The media seems to love Johnny’s gossip, but the most biting scandal of 2008 was probably of Arashi’s Ohno smoking pot – a rumor that fizzled out when there was no proof, and all the magazine ended up proving was that Ohno actually got laid and that Johnny’s will ruthlessly cut your business down if you hurt their prized moneymakers. So far for 2009? Yawn-worthy girlfriend rumors – oh, and that Nishikido Ryo rear ended a lady on the highway. Leave it to SMAP to have an actual scandal.
While youtube-browsing, I came across a clip of Music Station that goes back through the history of Johnny’s. Apart from the fact that their gay, colorful, sparkly outfits apparently haven’t changed for more than two decades, one thing struck as odd – if this is the entire history of Johnny’s popular artists, why is it that around halfway through the video I can recognize every group and song?
Filed under: Angela Aki, Aoyama Thelma, Ayumi Hamasaki, DBSK, Ikimonogakari, Japan, Jero, Jpop, Koda Kumi, Nakashima Mika, Opinion, Otsuka Ai, Perfume, Television, WaT | Tags: Kouhaku
Kohaku’s artist lineup for this year has been released.
Newcomers on the red team (female) are Aoyama Thelma, Akimoto Junko (enka singer who I think made it big this year with her single “Ai no Mama De”), Ikimonogakari, GIRL NEXT DOOR, Perfume, and Fujioka Fujimaki and Ohashi Nozomi (the two men and the little girl who sang the theme to Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea).
Newcomers to the white team (male) are Kimaguren, Kiyama Yusaku, Jero, Shuchishin with Pabo, Tohoshinki(DBSK), Mr. Children, and Mizutani Yutaka (enka singer who made a comeback).
Overall, expected additions for the year. I’m not familiar with enka singers, but the female singers who made it big this year all made it onto the show (Perfume! Yes!). I’m surprised and pleased that Ikimonogakari are finally on. For the male artists though, I’m surprised it took this long for Mr. Children to make it on.
Full lineup is
For those of you of voting age in the United States, November 4 is upon us – no matter what happens, don’t forget to visit the polls and cast your vote!
And for everyone else, cast your vote in the 2008 NTV Best Artist!
Every year, NTV hosts a big musical gala with numerous musical guests. The catch is that YOU, the audience, get to vote for who appears! This is the one that also talllies up votes for age and gender groups that are most interested in a particular artist – a very interesting add-on to the performances.
The 2008 issue of anan is out with 2008′s rankings of the top men as voted by female readers. This is a huge yearly ranking, with women of all ages sending in their votes. And guess who won, for the fifteenth year in a row?
Don’t hold your breath now – Kimura Takuya. Is anyone surprised? And is anyone surprised he also won the other categories, like best boyfriend and most-wanted-in-bed? Just for good measure, the entire list (with changes from last year’s rankings and pictures, for your reference 
) goes:
In one of the most brilliant (and expected in a “duh I should’ve known”) promotional schemes, Otsuka Ai is releasing a line of her very own Rocket Sneakers. She has teamed up with shoe company CAUSE shoes for limited collaboration sneakers to commemorate her “Rocket Sneaker/OnexTime” single, with Otsuka participating actively in its creation.
Filed under: alan, Japan, Jpop, Otsuka Ai, Perfume, Television, Yanawaraba | Tags: Save the Future
NHK is launching its Save the Future campaign to raise awareness for global warming. For three days, June 6 to 8, there will be different types of programming on the channel all relating to the issue.
TOKIO’s Yamaguchi Tatsuya announced today at TOKIO’S Budokan concert that he has married his long-term girlfriend (former model “A-ko”) and they are expecting a child in the summer. They signed the marriage license in the morning; no wedding ceremony is scheduled.
Congrats to the two of them! It’s not really shocking news, considering that they’ve been together for eight years and have lived together for four, so it’s more like the inevitable happened – the shock is just that another Johnny’s finally got officially hitched. I guess in order to get a marriage approved by Johnny’s Entertainment (who notoriously try to keep their current artists in permanent bachelorhood) what you really need to do is to get your girlfriend knocked up. 
Jero’s debut single “Umiyuki” has made huge waves on Japanese music. Real name Jerome White Jr., quarter Japanese and from Pittsburgh, he’s the first African-American enka singer and has the highest ranking enka debut single for a solo artist who hadn’t previously been in a group (catching #4 on the Oricon charts).
Filed under: Arashi, Japan, Johnny's Entertainment, Opinion | Tags: Arashi, Oricon
If there’s one thing we all know about Japan, it’s that Japan is insane and however integrated and educated of their pop culture we are or think we are, we’re still all dumb gaijin and will never really know what they like nowadays.
Seriously.
Sure, we know that Johnny’s fangirls have cash to burn, Koda Kumi albums will always top the charts, KinKi Kids will get #1 on Oricon. These are expected. If anything changes (KinKi’s record of number 1 singles finally stops, people actually really start to dislike Koda Kumi’s music) it’d be shocking.
But did anyone anticipate that a temporary duo formed for a school drama with two Johnny’s idols that integrated Spanish into cheesy lyrics (Shuji to Akira’s “Seishun Amigo”) would become one of the country’s top singles, two years in a row? Would you have bet good money that, after years of the top yearly single being pop artists like SMAP, KAT-TUN, Hirai Ken, and Ayumi Hamasaki, that 2007′s top selling single (“Sen no Kaze ni Natte”) would be classical, from a tenor?
