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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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Misako Koja’s latest album, “Miguru Inochi,” to be released on 10/25/08
Misako Koja’s “Miguru Inochi” will be her first new album in eight years following the fantastic “Amakakiru Hashi” released in 2000. With a total of 12 tracks, “Miguru Inochi” also includes an album versions of the powerful “Kuroi Ame (Black Rain)” and the beautiful “Kuganingwa” (one of my personal favorites of Misako’s). According to her…
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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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Tamagusuku Ryu Senjukai Frances Nakachi Ryubu Dojo to celebrate 10th anniversary on 11/16/2008
I had a chance to chat with Frances Nakachi-sensei, director of the Tamagusku Ryu Senjukai Frances Nakachi Ryubu Dojo, this weekend at the Okinawan Festival and found out that her dance troupe will be celebrating their 10th anniversary with a performance at the Hawaii Theatre on November 16, 2008 (Sunday) at 2 PM. More information…
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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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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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Live blogging at the Okinawan Festival
Not sure if I’ll even have time to do this (I’m one of the performers for the festival), but I’m hoping that this’ll be the first year that I’ll be live-blogging from the HUOA Okinawan Festival. The festival, the 26th, will be held at Kapiolani Park (Honolulu, Hawaii) from Saturday 8/30 to Sunday 8/31. More…
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Airi Taira to be Kanna in “20th Century Boys”
Director Yukihiko Tsutsumi’s ’20th Century Boys’ movie trilogy has officially revealed its heroine. Toho announced on Sunday that the role of Kanna, the niece of the protagonist Kenji (Toshiaki Karasawa), will be played by 23-year-old actress Airi Taira, who was selected by audition from a pool of around 3,000 hopefuls. Although Kanna’s part in the…
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