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Alan sings “Nada Sou Sou”
OK, I know we don’t normally go outside of our Okinawan pop culture bubble but we had to blog about this J-pop singer that we’re totally excited about: Alan (in keeping with the Japanese infatuation with using lowercase for names, in the J-pop world her name is listed as alan). Alan is a Tibetan/Chinese singer…
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New BEGIN single, “Ichariba Ohana,” gets a release date!
The J-blues trio known as BEGIN have been pretty busy this year with TV appearances (even making an appearance on the popular music show HEY!³ last month), their nationwide “BEGIN no Ichigo Ichie Concert 2008” tour, and they already have a new single set to be released on 10/22/08. The single, called “Ichariba Ohana,” will…
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Okinawan songs on Churadio
If you’re like me, always on your Mac (or PC), you most likely have music playing in the background so why not listen to Churadio’s live stream straight from FM Chatan? They’re streaming everything from major label J-pop artist like Beni Arashiro to indies artists like Soluna and O-pop from artists like Tink Tink. Great…
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Kiroro’s Kinjo expecting again – Tokyograph
Ayano Kinjo, the keyboardist of the duo Kiroro, is pregnant with her second child. Her agency announced the news on Friday. She is currently in her third month and is scheduled to give birth in March. Like her partner Chiharu Tamashiro, Kinjo got married in 2005. She gave birth to a daughter later that year.…
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Yui Aragaki to cover Kobukuro song – Tokyograph
Actress Yui Aragaki has announced her second single. It will be a cover of Kobukuro’s ‘Akai Ito,’ a song originally created during their indie days. With this year being the 10th anniversary of their formation, Kobukuro decided to collaborate with a female artist to give the song new life. Aragaki made her singing debut last…
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Charts: Amuro #1 for third straight week – Tokyograph
Namie Amuro has firmly re-established herself as one of the top pop queens, achieving her third consecutive week at #1 on the album charts. Her ‘BEST FICTION’ collection debuted with the highest opening sales so far this year, and with another 153,000 copies sold this past week, the album has become her 5th million-seller. Her…
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SPEED gets back together – Tokyograph
The 4-member girl group SPEED will soon be reuniting again. They will officially resume activity with an appearance on NTV’s charity telethon ’24 Hour Television’ at the end of this month. The group debuted in 1996 but broke up in 2000, at the height of their popularity, in order to pursue solo careers. They had…
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GANGA ZUMBA’s 2nd album out on 8/20
Kazufumi Miyazawa’s (THE BOOM) latest project, GANGA ZUMBA, will be releasing their 2nd, self-titled album, on 8/20/08. The album will feature 13 tracks including the clip above, “Ashiato no nai michi.” The project commemorates the 100th anniversary of Japanese immigration to Brazil. Kazufumi’s (think “Shima Uta“) world-inspired pop rock for GANGA ZUMBA features Argentine-born singer…
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AKI to leave MAX!
AKI (27), the youngest and newest member of the J-pop group MAX, made her intentions known that she’ll be leaving as of this month. She did hint to the members and staff of MAX last year of leaving, rather graduating, from the group to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. AKI joined the group…
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Emi Tawata to release her 2nd mini-album – bounce.com
Emi Tawata, the Pop/Soul/R&B singer, will be releasing her second mini-album on the 23rd of this month titled “LOVE&PEACE.” The album follows her debut album “∞infinity∞” (also a mini-album) which was released on April 23rd of this year. Emi’s music can be listened to on her MySpace page. (Link: bounce.com [ニュース].)
Karakui 