Thursday, March 31, 2011

Covers on iTunes, updated list

Here is the updated list of covers which have been already released through iTunes.

The price is 0.99$ for each song.

dearest. (cover of Aya Matsuura) by:
Ai Takahashi NEW!!

Akai Nikkichou (cover of Akagumi 4) by:
Airi Suzuki NEW!!
Ai Takahashi NEW!!
Risako Sugaya NEW!!

Manatsu no Kousen (cover of Morning Musume。) by:
Eri Kamei
Reina Tanaka
Risa Niigaki
Chisato Okai

Furusato (cover the Morning Musume。) by:
Chisato Okai NEW!!
Ai Takahashi NEW!!
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Airi Suzuki
Miyabi Natsuyaki

Koi wo Shichaimashita! (cover of Tanpopo) by:
Miyabi Natsuyaki NEW!!
Momoko Tsugunaga NEW!!
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Ai Takahashi

Seinaru Kane Ga Hibiku Yoru (cover of Tanpopo) by:
Eri Kamei
Reina Tanaka
Risa Niigaki
Momoko Tsugunaga
Maimi Yajima
Airi Suzuki

Egao ni Namida〜THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS〜 (cover of Aya Matsuura) by:
Risako Sugaya NEW!!
Momoko Tsugunaga NEW!!
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Chisato Okai
Reina Tanaka
Maimi Yajima

Love Namida Iro (cover of Aya Matsuura) by:
Risako Sugaya NEW!!
Miyabi Natsuyaki NEW!!
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Chisato Okai
Ai Takahashi

Koi no Hana (cover of Natsumi Abe) by:
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Reina Tanaka

Onegai Miwaku no Target (cover of Melon Kinenbi) by:
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Reina Tanaka

Kousui (cover of Melon Kinenbi) by:
Maimi Yajima NEW!!
Momoko Tsugunaga NEW!!
Eri Kamei
Risa Niigaki
Reina Tanaka

Romantique Ukare Mode (cover of Miki Fujimoto) by:
Chisato Okai

PS: the links are for the American iTunes Store, so you can change for the iTunes of your country!

You Kikkawa: Last Kikka Channel

Here is the last Kikka Channel after the disasters, difficult to resume because there are many emotions inside this video as you may imagine.

The debut of You was fixed on March, 30th, so the first question is more like how does she feel knowing it had been postponed.
The young singer says she tried her best for this special day but after what happened...
Anyway her new official debut day is now on May, 11th and she wants to try once again her best for the people.

The second question is about what happened on March, 11th, so what are her feelings about this special day (earthquakes and tsunami).
She was in Nagoya (west of Tōkyō, so a bit far away from earthquakes and tsunami) on this day and there was an event on the following day and she felt sorry about cancelling it. After this she says she is from Ibaraki (area close to Tōhoku region, which includes Fukushima and Sendai) and when she came back over there, she has been really shocked seeing and listening to the aftershock of her family and friends after this disaster.

The last question is about singing.
She did not have enough time until now to think about the real meaning of singing. She can not say strong things but she wants to provide as much as possible happiness and good spirit, because somehow this is the role of the singer.

Then there are some messages from the staff about the postponed release and what happened.
So let's all support as much as possible You Kikkawa for her official beginning!!!!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

New song available of iTunes of Aya Matsuura: Futari Ōsaka

Aya Matsuura will be part of a new Japanese drama Sakura to Satsuki, launched on April 1st (official website).
The theme song of this drama Futari Ōsaka has just been released on iTunes and you can download it here for 0,99$.
Aya Matsuura
PS: the link is for the American iTunes Store, so you can change for the iTunes of your country!

Hello! Project's releases postponed

Here are the new CD and DVD which has been postponed due to the last disasters in Japan:
  • Morning Musume。 - Maji desu ka suka! - originally fixed on March, 23th, finally released on April 6th - single
  • Morning Musume。 - Morning Musume。 Concert Tour 2010 Autumn ~Rival Survival~ - originally fixed on March, 30th, finally released on April 13th - blu-ray
  • Berryz Kobo - untitled yet - originally fixed on May, 4th, finally released on June, 8th - single
  • Berryz Kobo - untitled yet - originally fixed on May, 18th, finally released on June, 22th - single V
  • Berryz Kobo - Berryz Kobo Concert Tour 2010 Autumn Winter ~Berry Kou Fest!~ - originally fixed on April, 13th, finally released on May, 11th - blu-ray
  • ℃-ute - Chou Wonderful!⑥ - originally fixed on March, 23th, finally released on April, 6th - album
  • Various Artists - Hello! Project 2011 WINTER~Kangei Shinsen Matsuri~ A Gana Live - originally fixed on March, 30th, finally released on April, 27th - DVD
  • Various Artists - Hello! Project 2011 WINTER~Kangei Shinsen Matsuri~ B Kkuri Live - originally fixed on April, 13th, finally released on April, 27th - DVD

Morning Musume。 new MV Maji desu ka suka!

The official YouTube channel of the Morning Musume。 has uploaded the last MV of the single "Maji desu ka suka!".
The new issue of this release is on April, 6th.

This is the first single with all the new members ;)

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Feedbacks from artists about the situation in Japan

The Up-Front artists let a message after the disasters in Japan: http://www.up-front-agency.co.jp/message.php (in Japanese only sorry).

Then, Tsunku♂ let a message on his blog here, and you can download for free the song "Love is here~Kibou no Hikari~" he wrote about the disaster (there are links in mp3 and WAV of the song, karaoke and vocal only, and also the lyrics file).
You can also see a video message and Tsunku♂ singing this song :


Many charity events have been and will be organized to help Japanese people.

You Kikkawa: Kikka Channel 6

And here is the comeback of the Kikka Channel !!

This time the video introduced the filming of the You Kikkawa's PV. This PV has been filmed on February in Tōkyō.

You comes to the studio and introduces her dress. The cameraman asks her what is the main point of her style. For her, the suits of playing cards and the type of the dress, which reminds of an umbrella, are the "kawaii" parts of her dress.
She announces she is quite nervous being alone on the filming stage but she will try her best.
Following this we can hear the staff giving advices on the PV.

During a break You has fun with a mirror and wishes to be filmed.
And after the last shooting the young girl says she is tired, it was her first time doing this but she enjoyed it. The following step is the release of the single!

To finish with this video, we can see You working for the CM of the release and watching the PV. She even says she finds her cute and feel embarrassed ;)


PS: I need to add her next single release has been postponed on May, 11th.

The blog is back!!

Hello everyone,

First, I would like to say sorry for this late post.
As you can easily imagine, many things happened here and we were really busy with many other things.
Of course the situation is still not the best in Japan, but the Up Front artists and staff are ok.
We will try our best for all of you!

So let's pray for all the others who have suffered from all those disasters.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Takui Nakajima: profile and videos

Profile:
Takui begins his solo carrier in 1999. His debuts had an impact with his raw and hard rock melodies.

In 2006, he changes his artist name for his real name, Takui Nakajima. He is involved into musical writing as well as singing with a real pop sense growing. He is also taking care of the mix for the different instruments with a real variety in the writing. In 2009 Takui releases in best album BEST YOURS to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his solo carrier.

In 2010, he releases his first single since more than 3 years, Ashita he no Kaidan. This song represents for him the trace of the way he has followed until today, with all the difficulties he had in his life written in the lyrics.
The day of the release of this single is the same as his bet with himself of singing 177 songs in 24 hours on Ustream, on which he plays on guitar too.

Following this Takui took part of the musical show RENT while still writing songs to improve.
In January 2011, the young man had a concerts' tour in Japan and his last single Yurari Yurara has been released on March 2nd and is the ending theme of the anime Saikyou Bushou-den Sangoku Engi.

Takui Nakajima

To discover more about Takui Nakajima, here are some videos:

Yurari Yurara

Preview of Live Real Hot Rocks

Ashita he no Kaidan

Preview of his Live DVD 120% TAKUI NAKAJIMA~3Jikan Issho ni Utaemasu Ka!?~at SHIBUYA-AX 2010.8.1


Official Site
Official MySpace
Official Ustream

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Hanabatakebokujō and the whey pigs

Hanabatakebokujō is taking care of a pig farm (breeding them for consumption meat). Those pigs are called "whey pigs".

Whey pigs

To begin with, Hanabatakebokujō had the chance to start the pig farming because of the milk.

In fact when they began to produce milk, there was some remaining liquid, this is why it came to their mind to find a solution to use it for something.

The whey is like the liquid above in the yogurt you can buy in supermarkets.
The portion of the raw cheese to make cheese is just 10%, the 90% remaining becomes whey. However the remaining whey still contains nutrition ellements, so it does not have to be thrown away.

Parma Ham (Prosciutto) is a famous ham in Italy and the traditional way to make it is to make the pigs drink whey. Knowing this, the company president Yoshitake Tanaka naturally studied a solution for the farm.

Yoshitake Tanaka and the whey pigs

And in 2008 spring, Hanabatakebokujō began to take care of a pig farm. To make those pigs drink whey, you have to act cool and in a tender way for this animal.

Then for the cooking, they use a charcoal fire to grill it passionately. You can eat after the famous whey butadon (rice cover with pork and vegetables). The result is salty and sweet, really GOOD!

The efforts of Hanabatakebokujō to raise well the whey pigs deserve you to try to eat these dish!!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

T-Pistonz+KMC: profile and PVs

After introducing Takao Horiuchi to present you other artists, now is the turn for T-Pistonz+KMC.


Profile:
The T-Pistonz and the rapper KMC have formed together T-Pistonz+KMC.
As soon as you will see them on stage, you will immediately dance and jump. You will be mesmerized by their melodies!!

This is a dream come true for children and adults, a present of love for all the public!! They grab the whole world's attention!!

T-Pistonz+KMC
7 members are part of this unit:
- Ton Niiso, lead vocal, birthday : May, 2th, blood group: A,
- KMC, rapper, birthday : June, 11th, blood group: O,
- In Chikiita, dancer, birthday : October, 25th, blood group: B,
- Ebiriina, dancer, birthday : March, 16th, blood group: O,
- Shuu Mai Mai, dancer, birthday : October, 30th, blood group: B,
- Brother A King, guitarist, birthday : January, 18th, blood group: O,
- Hiroshi Dot, side vocal, birthday : May, 17th, blood group: A.


And to provide you a better idea of their music, here are several PVs!!

Bokura no Goal!

Good Kitaa!

Katte Nakou Zee!

Tsunaga Riiyo

Maji de Kansha!

Tachiagariiyo

Riiyo ~Seishun no Inazuma Eleven~

Official site
Official blog

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

You Kikkawa: Kikka Channel 5

New Kikka Channel!!

This time we can see You Kikkawa after the recording of her single Kikkake wa YOU!
She meets the Passpo, a unit of the same company and You discovers some of the members have the same age as her (18 years old) and each has her own special shoes lace color.
After a small talk with them, she leaves the room while saying they are funny.
She says while meeting them, she had the same feeling while beeing in the Hello! Project Egg but now she has a solo carrier. But she begins to sense strongly what it means being a solo artist...

Then we see You during the photo-session for the single's jacket. And because the recording is over, she feels more relaxed.
She has to salute her senpai (her senior): Aya Matsuura!! As soon as they introduce themselves, Aya says she feels the idol on her. You answers she will try her best. A staff asks Aya to give an advice to her kouhai (junior) but the senpai answers she is a solo artist so there should not be any problem, she will feel at ease.

Just after in the elevator, You says Aya is great and cute and it was her first time talking with her, even if she met her before.
And on February 13th, You had an pre-debut event (but if you're following the blog, you already knew about it ;)). Singing as a solo artist is happiness for her now!
So after her efforts in the hard moments, she can feel pleasure now and began promotion for her debut.

This is the end of the video with a spoiler about the next Kikka Channel \o/

Monday, March 7, 2011

℃-ute opened their official Facebook fanpage !

After HANGRY&ANGRY, ℃-ute just opened their official Facebook fanpage here.

Show them your support while becoming a fan ;)

Friday, March 4, 2011

New single for S/mileage: Koi ni Booing Buu!

Just after releasing some weeks ago Shortcut, the S/mileage will release a new single on April, 27th.

The name is Koi Ni Booing Buu! and there will be 4 limited versions:
- limited A, B, C with a DVD and a ticket to have the possibility to go to a handshake and a mini-live event (each 1680 yens),

- limited D with the ticket to have the possibility to go to a handshake event and a mini-live, without the DVD (1050 yens).
The regular version (1050 yens) includes a different B-side.
S/mileage
PS: of course you have to be in Japan for the mini-live and handshake event on May, 5th ;)

Thursday, March 3, 2011

New covers from H!P

New cover songs have been released on iTunes, here are the links:

Onegai Miwaku no Target (cover of Melon Kinenbi) by:
Reina Tanaka

Kousui (cover of Melon Kinenbi) by:
Reina Tanaka

Love Namida Iro (cover of Aya Matsuura) by:
Ai Takahashi

Egao ni Namida〜THANK YOU! DEAR MY FRIENDS〜 (cover of Aya Matsuura) by:
Maimi Yajima

Furusato (cover of Morning Musume。) by:
Miyabi Natsuyaki


PS: the links are for the American iTunes Store, so you can change for the iTunes of your country!

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

You Kikkawa: Preview of her next PV Kikkake wa YOU!

It is already possible to see the preview of the next PV of You Kikkawa here:


So what are your feelings about it? ;)

Hanabatakebokujō and the shops

The ranch of Hanabatakebokujō is in Hokkaidō but there are several shops all over Japan.

At the New Chitose Airport of Hokkaidō, there are two shops of Hanabatakebokujō (2nd and 3rd Japanese floors).
Shop in the airport

So if you are hungry, what do you think about eating a pizza of Hanabatakebokujō? They use 100% of raw wheat flour from Hokkaidō.
To cook the pizza in the authentic style, the pizza oven is made of stone.

Pizza oven

But the ingredients are quite simple : lots of hand-made cheeses (caciocavallo) or cream of caramels with nuts above. So we can recommand this pizza for lunch, with the nice aroma it will be perfect!

Pizza with caciocavallo
Pizza with caramel cream and nuts

It is of course also possible to buy takeaway original and soft ice creams. So do not hesitate to take a look if you have the opportunity. All the staff is waiting for you!

For the other shops like Roppongi, Karuizawa, please take a look on the following link:
http://www.hanabatakebokujo.com/retail/

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

You Kikkawa: Kikka Channel 4

This is the time for a new Kikka channel ;)

So after the rude words of the musical director Michitomo, You Kikkawa is back to the recording.
She enters the recording studio with a cheerful face, totally different from the previous time. She begins to sing and the musical director asks her again to change somehow her way of singing, giving once again more emotions, even if it is quite better compare to the previous time when he get angry...

Then during a small break, You says she is really hungry and asks if it is soon time to eat: she wants to eat cabbage.

Back to the recording, Michitomo asks her an important question: how can she explain the feelings and resume this song except the singing part?
As soon as she heard this question, the facial expression of the young girl changes, what his the real meaning of the words behind the song?

You answers it is a song about an unrequited first love, so this is not easy, etc. but when the other girls in the same situation will hear it, it will become a supporting song for them. Michitomo just said "indeed!!" and she has to add those feelings while singing now to give this nice energy.
You tries again to sing and it becomes really great!! She finally reached what the strict musical director was expecting from her.

She finally gives her feelings about the recording of the day. It was really different and she understood the song, etc.
She wants the people to listen to this supporting song from now.

Then we see You in an elevator, and something raised her! This is the end of the video, with the mini-live tour dates...