New movies include Hanamizuki starring Aragaki Yui, Ikuta Toma, and Mukai Osamu. The A-Team and Gekijouban.
"preliminary returns at major theater chains indicate that Hanamizuki is number 1 at the Box Office," cinematoday.jp has confirmed that Hanamizuki is number 1 at the Box Office — Aug 21-22."
[01] Hanamizuki
[02] The Borrow Arreitty
[03] Toy Story 3
[04] The A Team
[05] Gekijouban Metal Fight Beyblade Vs Taiyou
[06] The Karate Kid
[07] Kamen Rider W
[08] Inception
[09] Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl
[10] Bayside Shakdown 3
Mika Nakashima - Ichiban Kirei na Watashi wo *"Ichiban Kirei na Watashi wo" is Nakashima Mika's thirty-second single. The title track was used as the insert song for the drama Unubore Deka.
“Hanamizuki” makes No.1 debut on Japanese movie charts
In the first two days of release, Tohma Ikuta’s (25) latest movie “ハナミズキ (Hanamizuki)” was seen by more than 300,000 people across 310 cinemas in Japan, netting close to 400 million yen at the box office, reports Cinema Today.
It has been reported the movie’s success is thanks to the film’s origin and its actors. The movie had been based on Yo Hitoto’s hit song of the same name, which is still a popular song sung at karaoke in Japan. The movie’s two lead actors Ikuta and Yui Aragaki (22) had spent most of July and August promoting the film, meaning that barely a day went by without seeing one or the other on TV or in the newspaper. On top of this, their co-star Osamu Mukai’s (28) rising popularity from his current drama “ゲゲゲの女房 (Gegege no Nyobo)” is also suspected to have influenced ticket sales.
With no major movies set for release this week, “Hanamizuki” has a good chance of staying at its No.1 spot for a second week in a row.
As expected, idol group AKB48 was #1 on the sales charts this past week. Their new single "Heavy Rotation" sold a total of 527,000 copies, setting a personal record for first-week sales. Their last single, "Ponytail to Chouchou," sold an initial 513,000 copies. With these two releases, AKB48 is now just the third female artist to sell half a million copies with consecutive singles, joining Hikaru Utada and Ayumi Hamasaki.
It was also announced on Wednesday that "Heavy Rotation" topped the weekly Recochoku charts in five categories: chaku-uta, chaku-uta full, video clip, chakushin movie, and chakushin melody.
The rest of the top ten singles included new songs by Acid Black Cherry and AAA (#2 and #3, respectively), as well as Shoko Nakagawa, Choshinsung, and Kishida Kyoudan in the bottom three spots.
On the album rankings, B'z member Koshi Inaba took the top spot with "Hadou," his first solo album in six years. It sold 127,000 copies in its first week.
Iron Maiden's latest album was #5. A "Katekyo Hitman Reborn!" character album ranked #7, and Hanako Oku barely made the list at #10.
Rock band LUNA SEA appears ready to make a big announcement at the end of this month. Their official website was updated on Wednesday, indicating that they will hold an urgent press conference in Hong Kong on August 31.
LUNA SEA formed in 1989 and became one of the biggest rock bands of the '90s, before officially breaking up in December 2000. They reunited a couple times in recent years for one-time events, but their announcement (accompanied by the word "REBOOT") suggests that they may be getting back together for good.
The event will take place on August 31 at 3:00pm in Hong Kong (4:00pm in Japan), and it will be broadcast worldwide through Ustream (on both LUNA SEA's MySpace page and Sync Music Japan's page).
Yu Sakai makes US Debut! Live EP set to be released in Japan and the US!! His first solo tour begins in September!
August 23, 2010 by J!-ENT
Equipped with a uniquely translucent and “tear-inducing silky” voice, combined with a wide range of musical influences including soul, R & B, jazz, gospel, and rock which guide his pop music, Yu Sakai has been known for his masterful sound production since his debut.
In October 2009, his debut single Story historically set the most records on FM power play, and his second single Manazashi Daydream was featured as the opening theme of the final episode of the hit TV animation series “Nodame Cantabile”. Additionally, his new single Train was the theme song of the film “Permanent Nobara,” featuring Kanno Miho’s first role in 8 years, and his highly anticipated first album Yes!!, released in June was welcomed with huge sales.
Yu Sakai’s May performance in the Apple Store Ginza launched “Live from Tokyo,” which will be exclusively released on the Japan/US iTunes stores as an EP! “Live from Tokyo” is part of iTunes’s original music series where live sessions are recorded at the Apple stores in London, New York, Tokyo, Montreal Sydney, Munich and various cities and Yu Sakai was also nominated to be featured in the highly regarded “iTunes Japan Sound of 2010”.
Yu Sakai collaborates with the iTunes Store that supports the work of countless talents. At 20, Yu Sakai decided to become a musician and at 22, he moved to LA and taught himself the piano. His sense of rhythm and groove deviates from his Japanese roots, and his first digital release in the US mirrors the catchphrase of his album, “this pop music is a worldwide standard!!” The live EP features performances of his original hit songs Ushimitsubito and Train and his very popular covers of Sade’s Kiss of Life and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.
On September 9th, Yu Sakai will launch his solo tour “Yu Sakai Tour 2010 Yes!!” in Nagoya. With a dynamic live show, it would be a shame to miss him and his “tear-inducing silky voice” and his unique sense of rhythm and groove.
The performers have been announced for this Sunday’s episode of NHK’s music program, “MUSIC JAPAN“.  This week they will feature Kobukuro, Salyu, SCANDAL, bump.y, and BIG BANG on the show.
Pop singer Salyu released her new single, “LIFE“, yesterday, and she is prepared to show it off for the audience.  It was produced by Kobayashi Takeshi, who has worked in the past with Salyu, as well as with Mr. Children, Hitoto Yo, and Remioroman.  The song gives off a great summer vibe through its use of horn arrangements, so fans should definitely look forward to it.
This episode of MUSIC JAPAN will also feature the debut performance of bump.y’s song, “voice“.  They are sure to grab attention with their clear vocals and cute dances, so check them out!
Premium Visual-kei Musicians Participating in piko's Debut Single 2010-08-26
release / AN CAFE / La'cryma Christi / Ayabie
With a wide voice range, piko has become a grand topic on the Japanese digital video site "NicoNico Douga" and will be making his major debut with his "unique" voice on October 13th. Videos related to piko have been played more than 25 million times and he has become a hopeful artists as such.
For his major debut, a number of premium Visual-kei artists have taken over responsibility for the melody! These are the members:
However, the support members are not only adding to the title song "Story", but have been performing in the other songs as well. Called "Ryoseirui" (referring to the talent to be able to sing with a voice of either a man of a women), piko and his unique voice, plus the line up for the melody, what kind of magic reactions will result?
Please look forward to this as well!
Nishikawa Takanori is Visiting his Home Grounds for Inazuma Rock Fes 2010
On August 11th, two years after the release of "resonance", T.M.Revolution's new single "Naked arms / SWORD SUMMIT" eventually dropped in stores. That day already, the first press limited edition of the record became extremely scarce, which is noteworthy for one release in two years. Within the ORICON raking, too, he surpassed the fourth rank of the previous record, entering the Top 3.
Moreover, On September 18th and 19th, over two days time, T.M.Revolution will be taking part in the "Inazuma Rock Fes 2010", a large scale rock festival in his home prefecture Shiga. For this event, Nishikawa will also visit the Governor of the prefecture - Kada Yukiko.
The governor said to Nishikawa: "We came to abbreviate the festival to 'Ina-Fes'. I will cheer at the opening of the event." And Nishikawa answered with a smile: "That's the work of a governor!"
At this year's "Inazuma Rock Fes 2010", T.M.Revolution and of course abingdon boys school will be taking part along with sads, BREAKERZ, TETSUYA and Ohguro Maki, who will be pausing activities from the end of October. The event will certainly be a two-day premium happening!
Inazuma Rock Fes 2010
Place: Shiga Prefecture, Kasatsu-city, Karasuma Peninsula Lawn
Date: 2010/09/18 ~ 19 (Sat~Sun)
OPEN: 12:00 START: 14:00 CLOSE: 20:00
* The festival will be conducted in spite of rain (stopped for storm)
Haruna Ai reached her goal of Nippon Budokan on time!
This year’s 24-Hour Television has just ended moments ago, and the runner for this year, Haruna Ai, reached to the goal at Nippon Budokan with time to spare! Before she got started, Ai asked Nagase Tomoya (TOKIO) to give her a hug as a reward if she could reach the goal without quitting, and Tomoya stayed true to his word as he gave her a big embrace at the finish.
Although Ai’s make-up completely melted away, she had no time or strength left to even think about her appearance. By the end, the condition of her knees was quite poor, but she kept running, and endured a hard marathon of 85 km.
Very well done, Haruna Ai!
The total amount of money raised was almost ¥280,000,000.