Arashi’s latest double A-side single “Ashita no Kioku/Crazy Moon ~Kimi wa Muteki~” was released earlier this week. “Ashita no Kioku” is the theme for Sakurai Sho’s drama “The Quiz Show” while “Crazy Moon ~Kimi wa Muteki~” is a CM song for Kose. The single is released in three versions – two limited with DVDs, and one regular with karaoke tracks – and no b-sides are included.

I was on vacation so I’m a little late with my write-up; by now, if you cared about Arashi you’ve probably heard the songs already. If you didn’t, maybe you should, because this single is amazing.

“Ashita no Kioku” is a gorgeous midtempo ballad backed with dramatic strings and piano and has a great hook. Arashi songs have this tendency to have unforgettable moments in its music, and this is no difference: tell me you’re not hooked when the dramatic music led off into the chorus at “meguri meguru” – yeah, now you’re singing it too, right?

The PV will be boring if you’re a casual listener, but it’s a fan’s dream. A washed out pastel palette with five minutes full of just gorgeous casual shots of the boys. Yes, the taking pictures and sticking up photographs of clocks does tie in for the theme of time and memories and stuff – but let’s face it, if you managed to sit through more than one minute of this video, you’re watching this because everyone looks so good in this scheme.

Still amazing but on a completely different front, “Crazy Moon ~Kimi wa Muteki~” is an energetic and infective dance number. It blends heavy synth with electric guitar and a killer hook. From the very start, the song bursts with energy and simple but catchy melodies that get stuck in your head.

And with the PV, Arashi proves they’re one of the JE bands who can actually dance – or at least be able to hire good choreographers. The entire video is a flowing intertwined dance routine that is engaging to watch the entire time – it’s probably one of the best Johnny’s dance choreography I’ve seen in awhile. Visually, the boys look terrific dressed in monochrome and red in an open and empty stadium – slick, stylish, and just really cool.

I kind of hate that with every Arashi release I sing high praises, making me sound terribly biased – but what can I do when everything they release lately is just good? With strings of hits already, you’d think Arashi would mess up soon, but if it’s ever happening, it’s not with this single. Terrific music, terrific visuals, and altogether yet another amazing release from the group.

I think Johnny’s always have the best debut songs and everyone else needs to take a note with their new artists. A Johnny’s group’s discography might not always be good as a whole, but their debut songs are generally epic – cheesy, exciting, infective, which, when all put together, mean totally awesome.Unlike many other artists, who try to gain momentum with their later releases, JE debut songs always have a strong impact and often stay as one of the group’s most popular songs throughout their career.

Here’s a ranking of the best 10!… or, since I’m only considering the still active groups (aka nothing BS: Before SMAP) the best and worst. (…what, my title isn’t that deceiving.)

10. SMAP – Can’t Stop!! -LOVING-

By putting SMAP in last place, I know I’m coming off as a total SMAP hater (I’m not really, honest) – but even the biggest SMAP fans can’t help but admit the group’s early musical releases aren’t exactly… good. Debut songs are supposed to be embarrassing and overdone in Johnny’s universe, but the song is such terrible bubblegum idol pop that it’s no wonder they didn’t get popular when they first debuted, and no wonder the group doesn’t sing this song EVER.
Can’t Stop!! -LOVING’- Live

9. V6 – Music for the People

Firstly, isn’t it odd when the song comes out around when half the members had barely broken voices, but still sound deeper and huskier than they do ten years later? Hard techno, deep voices – the song is actually really catchy, but sounds much better when they sing it years later without all the seriousness – yeah, V6 sounding really serious while singing a ridiculous song is probably what puts it in this spot. (This is where every song on the list becomes good, and the rankings are, to be honest, pretty arbitrary.)
Music for the People PV || Music for the People live, 2006

8. Tackey & Tsubasa – True Heart

Okay, so technically this was on a debut album – but let’s not be technical, okay? The song should otherwise be a bad song – cheesy lyrics, boring instrumentals, mediocre vocals – but the simple tune wedges into your head in your head, and before you know it, you’re singing along to “I feeeel… I dooo” in all of this debut song’s melodramatic glory.
True Heart PV || True Heart live at Hatachi concert (hilarious!)

7. Hey!Say!JUMP – Ultra Music Power

“Ultra Music Power” is catchy, catchy, catchy. I know, some of you aren’t fans of this group because it’s like watching a group of middle school (primary, if you stare too long at Morimoto or Chinen) boys try to be sexy, but it’s just hard to not sing along. Musically, it’s somewhat standard, and the longevity of this song might be limited by how long Chinen can keep his voice from breaking, but this is just catchy to death.
Ultra Music Power PV || Ultra Music Power live

6. Kanjani8 – Naniwa Iroha Bushi

I wouldn’t say “Naniwa Iroha Bushi” is a song most people listen to often anymore unless they’re big Kanjani8 fans, but there’s no way you could get this out of your head when you first hear it. The mix of semi-rap parts and enka (both good (from Subaru) and bad (from everyone else, sadly)) so unique and unforgettable.
Naniwa Iroha Bushi PV || Naniwa Iroha Bushi rock version live

5. NEWS – NEWS Nippon

The song had fast paced pop portions, ballad portions, and rap portions – it’s like they tried to fit every genre into this song. Actually, each portion is charming and catchy in its own way, but the pop chorus is what sticks with you for days. You’ll never forget their name (I am 100% in support of sneakily placing your group name into the song MULTIPLE times) and never forget the chorus either.
NEWS Nippon PV || NEWS Nippon live 2004 || NEWS Nippon live, 2007

4. KinKi Kids – Garasu no Shounen

Put together two boys with the same last name, have them sing about glass boys (yeah, everyone first snickers at the song title) in a catchy tune against a really dramatic backing track – and you’ve got a hit that no one forgets. Even as KinKi Kids become KinKi Men, this is still one of their title songs that represents the duo – which says something about its awesome staying power.
Garasu no Shounen PV || Garasu no Shounen live, 1997 || Garasu no Shounen live, 2007

3. Real Face – KAT-TUN

It’s not often you debut with a catchy single that sells a million plus copies. That’s “Real Face” for you. No matter how much good singing, rock, tough rapping, beat-boxing, or obscene sound effects KAT-TUN tries to throw in the future, nothing can exceed this song because it has all of the aforementioned and does each aspect to perfection. Not only does the song have terrific composition and production, it’s iconic and established KAT-TUN as Japan’s hip-thrusting, tough-looking slutty idols wth just one song.
Real Face PV || Real Face live

2. TOKIO – Love You Only

“Love You Only” is an amazingly sweet and fun song and, quite honestly, is one of the best songs the group has ever had. TOKIO obviously agrees with me, because they even re-recorded this song in their more modern rock style at their tenth anniversary. Aside from the normal cheese factors of being a Johnny’s song and singing about love as if the entire group were middle schoolers, the song is actually pretty good just as a song. Plus, who can forget the short-shorts Nagase wore that are almost synonymous with this song? Whether it’s because you love Nagase’s legs or is just traumatised by them, the answer would be no one.
Love You Only live, 1994 || Love You Only PV || Love You Only, 2004 ver PV

1. Arashi – A.RA.SHI

It’s one thing to have your fans love your debut song ten years after your debut – it’s another to have everyone still love this song everywhere. “A.RA.SHI” is catchy, employs rap, ballad, and tempo changes, and name drops the group the most out of any debut song on here. You know it’s a good song when it’s still performed on national television even a decade after its debut and, not only does it manage to not sound too dated, people still love it despite your popular image and sound being completely different now. Ten years later, people can still associate the “arashi, arashi for dream” dance motion with the song. Now that’s a debut song done right!
A.RA.SHI PV || A.RA.SHI live, 1999 || A.RA.SHI live, 2008

On just it’s first day of release, Arashi’s “Believe/Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” single sold 214,618 copies.

No, I did not type that wrong.

200,000+ copies. In a day. And only from the record stores that submit their sales daily. It’s currently the fourth best selling single of 2009 with just one day of sales.

And it’s a fairly reasonable 3 version release too – just a double A-side with great songs, great PVs, and smart tie-ins.

I knew Arashi is still extremely popular in Japan – but I could never have predicted sales of this level!

This single looks like it has the ability to overtake the tremendous success “truth/Kaze no Mukou e”. For the third year in a row, Arashi looks to have an amazingly successful year.

UPDATE: “Believe/Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” easily became the number one single with just two days of sales. Its first week sales were an astonishing 502,000 copies – easily placing it as the number one single of 2009 as well as the highest first week sales of the year.

Arashi’s first single of 2009, “Believe/Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” will be a double A-side single to be released March 4th. “Believe” is the theme to the live action Yatterman starring Sakurai Sho. “Kumori Nochi, Kaisei”, technically by “Yano Kenta starring Ohno Satoshi,” is sung by Ohno for his drama Uta no Onii-chan.

This single will come in three editions: two limited editions for each main song, and a regular edition.

I think if we’re talking about big hit material, “Believe” is it. High tension, catchy, paired with a really kickass PV. The song itself is a fast, high-energy song blending piano and orchestra with synth bass. It bears a lot of similarities to their big hit in 2008, “truth” – except “Believe” is a lot more positive sounding, even though it still has a serious mood. It switches between a fairly mellow bridges to bursts of energy in the chorus. I love the moments where they employ syncopated singing into the bridge, then switch to machine-gun rapid pace in the chorus – and melody of the driving chorus is just unreasonably catchy. There’s even a nice rap portion – when was the last time Sho had his rap featured so much? The vocals are even all surprisingly well-done – even in the solo parts in the middle of the song (which all of them get this time!) they all sound great.

The music video itself is, to sum it up in one word, gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous: everything is in black, white, and grey, giving it a sophisticated view. There’s some emphasis on a tree, which I don’t understand, but is probably related to Yatterman in some way. And the dance sequence is pretty awesome too. I realize my words about this is sounding like fangirl squealing – but it’s really pretty great.

There’s also a as-of-yet unreleased animated version of “Believe”, where the five members are made into anime Yatterman characters, saving the world. There’s been a few previews, and it looks to be pretty awesome.

“Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” is a much more laid back but just as positive sounding. It’s used as the theme for a drama about a children’s television show, so it has a simple and infective melody. At the same time, there’s a depth in the use of both ragtime piano, big band, and synth to create a smooth accompaniment. Ohno’s vocals are good, as you would expect from the best vocalist in Arashi after all.

The video for “Kumori Nochi, Kaisei” is also set in monochrome – but I was amazed by how it blended childish and sophisticated aspects. There’s cute prop cutouts and exaggerated comic actions; at the same time, it blends a mature color scheme and a fluid hip-hop dance sequence. It’s able to both relate to the children’s show the song is for, as well as to Arashi’s core audience – in all, the music video is a work of brilliance.

I think both songs on this double A-side are hits! Like last year’s “Truth/Kaze no Mukou e“, the two songs are incredibly different but both are excellent. With the same double-A side, three version format, Arashi is definitely trying to recreate their explosive success with this single. Can they do it? Well, I’m never going to try to predict Japanese tastes ever again – but I’m going to say they have a good shot at it.

It’s that time of year again! For those who are new to this: Johnny’s releases calendars for their artists every year, but according to the school year: that is, from April of this year to March of the next. All calendars are around 2000 yen and go on sale late February or early March. (Only Arashi and groups that debuted afterwards have calendars – so for big fans of V6, Kinki, or SMAP, sorry.)

You can watch the news clip to see everything, but if you are lazy/your internet is slow/youtube takes down the file, I’ve summarized everything below with available online purchase links. (Remember: Yesasia jacks up the prices, but calendar shipping is pricy – around $20USD to get to North America. Play around with it to see which is cheapest for you.)

Arashi: A thick 125-page planner-calendar plus a large 7-page poster wall calendar filled with gorgeous, sexy member photos shot by Mika Ninagawa. Oh, and holographic stickers as an extra.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

Tackey & Tsubasa: A 32 page wall-calendar plus an extra Love Q&A book, which is kind of like a text-y photobook.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

NEWS: A pink binder that can have pages removed to fold out into strip calendars – with about 3 standard paper sheets’ of a photo folding out under a calendar. Also comes with a large poster.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

Kanjani8: A school planner-calendar, plus some extra hot-spring themed member-special goodies and postcard, since the photos were taken at a hot spring.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

KAT-TUN: A weekly frame calendar: has a CD-sized frame that you change a weekly photo+calendar into. Everything comes in a nice box case.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

Hey!Say!JUMP: A 15-page desk calendar, the kind on a cardboard stand that you flip. Also comes with a “secret card” set, which you can take as a set of nice photo postcards.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

Johnny’s Jr: A huuuuge wall poster-sized calendar.
CDJAPAN/YESASIA/HMV

If you have no strong bias for a Johnny’s group but want a Johnny’s school calendar, I would reccommend you to GET THE ARASHI ONE. They’re one of the most popular groups in Japan right now and it’s their ten year anniversary – when else is JE going to spend this much effort designing a calendar again? The calendars are generally pretty nice this year but Arashi really just outdoes it, and if anything, that wall-poster (see right) is well worth it.

Because this is the new years countdown I really care about.

Arashi were the hosts again this year, and the Tokyo Dome stage used NEWS’ layout since they had dome concerts at the same time. Different was this this year the broadcast was split – KinKi Kids were broadcast from Osaka Dome, and Tackey and Kazukiyo Nishikiori (of Shounentai) were broadcast from the stage of the upcoming Tackey stage show.

The full setlist of songs performed was this:

Step and Go – Arashi
DON’T U EVER STOP – KAT-TUN
LIPS – KAT-TUN
Taiyou no Namida – NEWS
Summer Time – NEWS
Happy Birthday – NEWS
Wahaha – Kanjani8
Musekinin Hero – Kanjani8
Mayonaka no Shadow Boy – Hey!Say!JUMP
One Love – Arashi
Happy Happy Greeting – KinKi Kids + all
Garasu no Shounen – KinKi Kids + all
Aisareru Yori Aishitai – KinKi Kids
Yakusoku – KinKi Kids
DAYBREAK (Otokogumi) – Uchi Hiroki
Aoi Inazuma (SMAP) – Uchi Hiroki
A.RA.SHI – Arashi
Kansha Kangeki Ame Arashi – Arashi
Sakura Sake – Arashi
Love so Sweet – Arashi + all
Happiness – Arashi + all
truth – Arashi
Beautiful days – Arashi
Mezamero! Yasei (Matchy with QUESTION?) – Imai Tsubasa
Made in Japan – V6 + all
LIGHT IN YOUR HEART – V6
Sorafune – TOKIO
Amagasa – TOKIO
Ai Kakumei – Takizawa Hideaki
Daite Senorita – Yamapi + all
Sushi Kuine (Shibugakitai) – all
LOVE YOU ONLY (TOKIO) – all
Kamen Budoukai (Shounentai) – Tackey + Kazukiyo Nishikiori
Real Face (KAT-TUN) – all
weeeek (NEWS) – all
Sukiyanen Osaka (Kanjani8) – all
Seishun Amigo – Shuji to Akira + all
Ai Nanda (V6) – all
Midnight Shuffle (Masahiko Kondo) – all
Hatsuta – all

All indicates one of those huge everyone-join-in singfests.

I always love Countdown – seeing all the Johnny’s groups together being total dorks is something that only happens at Countdown now. Also, it’s just pure energy – they’re mostly lipsyncing but you can hear some real vocals too, there’s so many people the sound people always mess up and mute or amplify the wrong mikes so sometimes you hear some really offtune parts, everyone is jumping around and hugging or mauling their friends from other groups – just pure fun.

Overall, this year was pretty good – which doesn’t really say much because I always think it’s pretty good. I don’t like having everyone be split up though – no Tackey + everyone else love! – so I’m hoping everyone reconvenes at Tokyo Dome next year. I think the show is lacking a bit in more intergroup songs, but it’s understandable since Arashi sang a lot by themselves for their anniversary.

So definitely notable this year was the Arashi 10-year anniversary. It’s pretty awesome to be in the business for 10 years and have that year be the biggest year in your entire career. Arashi is arguably the hottest thing in Japan right now, and it’s great to see them get the loudest screams (fangirls went crazy when truth came on). Arashi also did a good job hosting this year – not as loud and nervous as last year.

I am sad at the lack of camera time for my favorites though – throughout the whole show I only saw fleeting glimpses of my beloved NEWS members. ):

So props for Tackey for being so cheery even when he’s in an empty auditorium. Also, look at the Dome stage! Hooray to NEWS for being the ones to host the dome over the new years.

Of course, you can’t do countdown without some celebration of Koichi’s birthday (January 1st.) While there’s no Nagase mauling Koichi this year, Tsuyoshi gives us a nice photo of young dorky Koichi.

Uchi Hiroki gets stage time without NEWS or Kanjani8 – indication of his career direction, I guess? Also, epic Arashi medley – when you can trump all your young and shiny peers and get the loudest cheers singing your old songs while wearing shiny gold sequined outfits – you’ve made it.

Speaking of epic, Tsubasa contributes with his epically ugly hair.

V6 still are perkier than their younger kouhai. Also, TOKIO still rocks – Subaru and Jin, two of the company’s best singers, sang the intro to “Sorafune” and couldn’t hold a candle to Nagase.

Tackey shows us how epically dramatic “Ai Kakumei” is. As if the emo spoken word at the beginning wasn’t enough, he also throws in jets of water and flying and a thousand gaudy fluffy juniors.

Yamapi and Jin slap each others’ butts during “Daite Senorita.” This is true friendship.

In order to get over child labor laws that don’t let the underaged members of Hey!Say!JUMP perform after midnight or something, they just show them on camera. As audience. Don’t worry, it’s only another five years before all the jailbait can appear on stage! …it’s going to be sad when everyone gets old and only one or two of them still get stuck offstage.

It is confirmed that everyone sucks at dancing “Seishun Amigo.” Okada and Nagase are terrible, Nino is pretty bad, and Ryo still sucks even though he did this at last year’s Countdown too. Even Yamapi and Kame are pretty lackluster at it, but Yamapi is forgiven because he looks really good. Hah. Also, in an odd decision, everyone sings “Midnight Shuffle,” not a happy or danceable song, while all squeezed on a rotating idol cake stand.

2009 is the year of the ox. Four people fit into this cycle – Yamapi, Koki and Taguchi from KAT-TUN, and Ohkura from Kanjani8. Cow = “ushi,” four = “shi”, so management decides to name them the “Ushishi4.” The next day, Yamapi complained during the NEWS concert about how stupid this name is, and I agree.

Matsujun is manhandled by TOKIO. Just goes to show you can be the most popular member in the most popular group and Nagase will still grope you mercilessly on national television.

And just some more caps filled with good looking boys to round out this recap.

“Beautiful Days” is Arashi’s next single, to be released on November 5th. The title song is the theme song to the drama Ryusei no Kizuna, which stars member Ninomiya Kazunari.

You’d think with three insanely successful singles this year (it looks like Arashi is in a good position to take the distinction of the top selling single of 2008) they’d take a break – but nope, now it’s Nino’s turn to have a drama, and a song contributed to his activity.

And I am just madly in love “Beautiful Days.” (The current video posted is a short edit version, but the full version of the song is here.) It starts off with a gorgeous synth piano and turns into a sweet midtempo backed by orchestra and light strains of synth. The song is catchy, sweet, and full of nostalgia – think a more ballady “Love so Sweet,” and that’s this. Since this is a promotional song for Nino, he’s featured more prominently in the song and PV – which is a good thing, because Nino’s voice is probably second best in Arashi, to Ohno’s. (And, I mean, I love Nino to death, so I don’t mind seeing him front and center on the PVs and covers either!)

And the PV – the set is just gorgeous. They don’t do much besides standing around singing, and having some simple CG-ed words/tears/wings pop out at at places in the full PV – but the room with the numerous lights hanging that represent a starry sky? Paired with the drama Ryusei no Kizuna, where a main focus is around shooting stars, it’s a perfect match. Everything is so simple but beautiful, matching perfectly with the song. (And especially for people like me who watch and love the drama -  since they play this song at portions in the drama where I am either chuckling at the sweetness or crying for the characters, the song becomes ten times more meaningful automatically.)

“Beautiful Days” is yet another terrific single from Arashi. These boys have some geniuses picking their songs and directing their PVs – because honestly, to me at least, they just seem to be doing everything right these days.

Arashi’s next single is a double A-side, “Truth/Kaze no Mukou e.” “Truth” is the theme song to member Ohno Satoshi’s summer drama Maou, while “Kaze no Mukou e” is the theme song to the NTV broadcast of the Beijing 2008 Olympics. The single will come in three versions – two limited, each focusing on one of the A-sides with one PV, and a regular version with a B-side song. Despite Ohno’s recent scandal, it seems to in the end have no effect on his activities, and the single is going ahead as planned.

I need to move to Japan. A place where a terrific boyband acts and sings for a drama and the Olympics broadcast at the same time? Now those are olympic broadcasts with style.

“Truth” is Fantastic. Amazing. I’m of the group that usually consider Arashi to be so much better when they’re doing happy rainbow-inspired songs against angsty ones, but although “Truth” is very different from their recent pop songs, it’s really good! There’s so much urgency and power to the vocals – and since this is Ohno’s drama, we actually have Ohno’s vocals leading. I love the double-layering of the vocals in the chorus, and that they paired up orchestra with a heavy synth beat. It’s driving, intense, and damn catchy.

The PV is gorgeous, with its color motif, lighting, and frames. The dance in the PV isn’t very sharp – and I can’t fully believe them pulling off the serious angsty look thing – but the visuals are stunning to look at. There are actually a lot of women in a Johnny’s video, would ya look at that, although they’re an orchestra of props. The orchestra, chandelier, and lily make flash by beautifully and help create a tie in to the Maou drama. And, well, the boys all look amazing in here.

RE Cover

The PV for “Kaze no Mukou e” isn’t up yet, but here’s a song preview. It’s a laid-back, acoustic, cheerful song, something that’d be more expected for Arashi. The song sounds really simple, with a looping chorus, but it’s catchy! I like the piano, guitar, and brass they use here – a complete opposite of the synth and orchestra in “Truth.” Also, there’s a nice portion of Sho rapping in there – haven’t heard that featured in awhile, and glad to hear it back.

The “Kaze no Mukou e” video isn’t as epic as “Truth” (which is probably where all their video budget went) but it’s lighting and simplicity does match the song. They’re all rocking out to the song as the set spins – simple but just fun. It’s great to see Nino and his guitar featured. Except for Matsujun who looks like he’s literally draped in a flag, the boys all look great in here too.

I give up trying to judge Arashi; I was obviously wrong in being critical of “Step and Go” (which the performances later brought me into loving ) and they just put out songs that I love not only because it’s Arashi singing, but also because it’s actually interesting, catchy, enjoyable music. This single nicely balances two songs on complete opposite sides of the pop spectrum. Now the only problem I’ll have with Arashi is deciding which version of their single I want to buy more.

When my roommate said to me that Ohno Satoshi of Arashi had a marijuana and threesome rumor, I laughed, because come on, that just sounds unbelievably ridiculous.

And it still sounds unbelievably ridiculous. From what I can gather from the little bits of information over at the Arashi community at Vox, there’s information of Ohno having participated in a threesome and that he was caught at a club smoking pot – which is bad, not only because Ohno is in a drama and the group that will be promoting the Olympics on NTV, but because pot is really, really illegal in Japan, and so the police will be investigating into this.

I think gossip mags in Japan are a load of shit. A lot of the time the stuff they report stuff that’s not true, and the photos they post half the time are pretty dumb too (A posed in a picture with B – they must be having a dirty sex relationship, oh nooo.) But that’s not to say the gossip mags don’t get it right sometimes either – with disastrous results. Just from grainy photos, lot of H!P girls have been ousted for smoking or having boyfriends, a lot of Johnny’s have gotten kicked out (nameless juniors, Uchi and Kusano from NEWS).

Johnny’s has a lot of girlfriend scandals – none of which I care much about. Yamapi dating Abiru Yuu? Why not? Koki’s a gangsta who bangs porn stars – sure. Takaki Yuya took purikura with Kato Rubi from 9nine – oohh nooo. Years back, Aiba Masaki’s ex leaked photos of the two of them – I actually thought those were pretty cute photos. SMAP’s Nakai is dating Koda Kumi – yeah, okay, not like either of them are getting younger.

But rumors of real illegal activity is serious business. I believe there was a Johnny’s Juniors drinking scandal a long time back – who knows now, because those juniors disappeared from the company. Uchi Hiroki got caught drunk and got suspended; Kusano Hironori got caught drinking something out of a can and got suspended. Akasaka Akira of old school Johnny’s Hikaru Genji got caught with some meth – and, well, this wasn’t a gossip mag thing, but he got caught by the police, and immediately fired even though he was a long-time Johnny’s.

Now, I don’t think these photos say anything about pot – they don’t even say that Ohno banged those two ladies, because I don’t know about everyone else, but I imagine threesomes to be without clothing. And honestly, I doubt the pot rumor will amount to anything – even if Ohno does smoke the chronic, I’m sure he’d have had time to get rid of his stash by now and purged his system. Heck, even if Ohno farms marijuana in his apartment I’m sure the jimusho would find some way to cover it up.

Now, I’m not saying that smoking marijuana or marijuana growing is a-okay just because it’s a Johnny doing it – but before I see accusations, I’d like to see even a little proof. They don’t even have photos of Ohno with any smoke anywhere. Are they judging his “drug use” from the words of one woman? His weight? (He’s busy, and he’s always been skinny.) His expression? (Watch any Arashi show – he is always spaced out.) His actions? (That a almost-30 man is touching some scantily dressed women?) Now that Ohno is getting some attention of his own, it’s time for him to get picked on – and I suppose that just some girlfriend or sex rumors isn’t enough to sell the magazines anymore, so there’s drug rumors now?

Who are these people at the magazine posting these trashy stories, and who are those grody bitches who sell the photos and stories to the magazines? Get a life.

Excite article
Translation by VampyRep at vox

Edit July 29;

According to Fybabe’s Boys blog that has kindly translated numerous articles, Ohno has admitted to having a threesome but denied the marijuana rumor. Activities for Ohno and Arashi will be going on as usual.

And – this is the best part – here is where JE demonstrates its yakuza qualities. They immediately went to calm and quiet the media, and supposedly cut deals with the publishing company Kodansha that includes the gossip magazine and several other high power publications, including their very profitable yearly calendar deal with Johnny’s. All this, and blend in rumors of this happening because a person in charge of publications died recently, allegations of photoshop, and the fact that this whole thing is blown up pretty crazy makes the whole thing pretty funny to me.

If JE is really blacklisting Kodansha… I bet the higher-ups are furious with the gossip magazine because, hello, really really popular and profitable business deal shattered. They don’t do all the JE calendars, but it’s already a multi-billion yen industry. Just selling calendars to fangirls. Kodansha is a big company, but this has to be at least somewhat painful for them.

I’m glad Johnny’s seems to be completely backing Ohno. Yay for Arashi. I hope the scandal effectively ends here and the whole thing blows over soon.

Edit July 30; Support Ohno?

So the Oricon half year charts are finally out. Out of the top 100 singles, the Johnny’s releases are:

2. KAT-TUN – DON’T U EVER STOP – 433,168
3. KAT-TUN – LIPS – 421,902
5. Arashi – Step and Go – 374,449
7. NEWS – Taiyou no Namida – 291,447
10. NEWS – SUMMER TIME – 251,056
11. Kanjani8 – Wahaha – 228,563
13. Hey! Say! JUMP – Dreams come true – 220,072
16. SMAP – Dangan Fighter – 173,586
18. SMAP – Sonomama / White Message – 158,837
20. V6 – way of life – 143,599
22. Maizu Tsukasa (Domoto Koichi) – No more – 127,905
32. 244 ENDLI-x – Kurikaesu Haru – 94,044
33. V6 – Chou – 89,871
49. Tackey & Tsubasa – Koi Uta/PROGRESS – 68,973
54. MATCHY with QUESTION? – Mezamero Yasei – 59,035
59. KAT-TUN – Keep the Faith -55,580
66. 20th Century (V6) – Ore ja Nakya, Kimi ja Nakya – 50,011
67. Hey!Say! JUMP – Ultra Music Power – 49,732
82. NEWS – weeeek – 42,405

19 entries on the top 100; 20% of the charts, and 44% of the top 25. Very nice. I think everything released this year is on the list, not surprisingly. More un-surprises? KAT-TUN is still the best selling JE group, Arashi is doing very well, as is NEWS, Kanjani8 is a little behind, SMAP is still loved, Japanese love little children aka Hey!Say!JUMP, Koichi sells more than Tsuyoshi despite having more mediocre music, and a bunch of Tackey and Tsubasa’s fans have jumped ship. You know, same old same old. A lot of last year’s releases have done extremely well.

As for the top ten though, it looks like KAT-TUN and Arashi will be the only ones on it for sure; NEWS’ “Taiyou no Namida” might make the cut. Their “Summer Time” will, inevitably, get pushed off the top ten by GReeeeN’s “Kiseki” though. As for the top spot, if JE wants a top yearly hit it’d have to put out something really good, because I don’t see “DON’T U EVER STOP” getting enough sales to beat out “Soba ni Iru ne.”

Overall, JE sales still aren’t as great as they were two years ago – remember the great year of Seishun Amigo, Real Face, and Daite Senorita being a power trio at the top of the charts? But JE still has the Japanese fangirls (and the fangirls’ money) wrapped around its well manicured in a manly way finger. And I am glad to have contributed to their pot of gold v.