The Actor Ikuta Toma will appear on the popular documentary TV program “Jounetsu Tairiku / 情熱大陸 (lit. The Passion Continent)”. Only five members of Johnny’s Jimusho, including Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (SMAP), Ninomiya Kazunari (Arashi), Yamashita Tomohisa (NEWS), Nagai Masahiro (SMAP) and Nagase Tomoya (TOKIO), have been on the same program so far.

“I have been told ‘Johnny’s is quite frumpy!’ Hearing something like this makes me feel more motivated.” said Ninomiya, who has his special view on Johnny’s Jimusho and Idol. He won’t show how hard he is working privately, and he seems handling his job as an “idol” with ease.

As for Yamashita, who is a very popular idol, “When I am asked ‘What’s your job?’ I will answer ‘I’m a student’” (*He was studying in the college at the time of filming) he said naturally, “If you want to have something, you have to give up something else. Once I start, I don’t want to lose.”, “It is quite hard that my mother was work since I was young. I thought I had to start work as soon as possible.” and “Even someone would tell me ‘you don’t have to do it’ I will do my job. Man should work, right?” He fully showed his inside masculinity,

It is Ikuta Toma’s turn this time, and his only working as an actor is quite rare for idol. Would he reveal his own “Actor Theory” and inner voice in the program? Though he is an idol of Johnny’s Jimusho, he hardly works on music programs nor variety shows, but only focuses on stage production and late-night drama which require strong performance skills. From the drama “Hanazakari no Kimitachi e/花ざかりの君たちへ～イケメン♂パラダイス～”, he plays main roles in a large quantity of dramas and is known as a young actor with actual strength.

He will also play the main character in 3 movies from “Ningen Shikkaku/人間失格(lit.No Longer Human)’ from February. The documentary will reveal his seven-month life from June last year. You can find his unknown real face and how he would approach “Hardliner / Straightness / Stoic” performance skill.

In the program, you will see he stays in the hotel room and reads the script, going nowhere else; and when you think he is trying to become slimmer for having Tofu and noodles only, he starts to exercising and push-up in order to play the character of a fisherman. “I want to meet the director’s requirement 100% with cool face.” That’s his real thoughts as an actor.

Source: MJP

Arashi’s Sakurai Sho bares (almost) all in anan magazine’s special “male body” issue. Sho is one of the most popular members of the Johnny’s boy band Arashi, a Keio graduate from a wealthy family, and now a night-time newscaster on Zero presenting serious news, including the current state and history of Japan-US relations. The husband thinks Sho aspires to become Prime Minister one day, which would be a great triumph for the boy band creator Johnny.

anan is a young Japanese woman’s version of Cosmo. The magazine focuses on sexuality, appearance, polls, and men, men, men. This must be one of their sluttiest issues ever. There are taxonomies of the 8 male body types portrayed by comics and tarentos (all variations of skinny and boyish, except the normal sized “Big Boy” and the one fatty), photos of athletes and professional wrestlers, and a pictorial about how you might imagine young men at work without their clothes.

Dear readers, do you think Sho showing his skin will help or hinder his political aspirations? And, before I get any complaints, despite the fact that Sho is made up, waxed, and air-brushed to look barely legal (or younger), he is in fact 27 years old. I think he looks a bit like a Ken doll, plastic and a bit sexless.

What do you say? Should I post more images from this pictorial?

The 2007-2008 action drama series “SP” is being turned into a manga next month. It will be drawn by Yaku Haibara, who also did the manga adaptation of the video game “Sengoku Basara 2.”

The “SP” drama starred V6’s Junichi Okada (29) as a talented member of a special police bodyguard unit. The show performed well in the ratings, leading to the broadcast of a special episode a few months later. A feature-length film has also been in the works, and it will be released in theaters this coming fall.

Kazuki Kaneshiro, the scriptwriter behind the original series, will be involved in writing the manga adaptation. Shogakukan will serialize it in Big Comic Spirits, starting with the year’s 9th issue, on sale February 1.

Source: Tokyograph

お誕生日おめでとう！

Today Sho-kun turns 28! How exciting!
I hope that he is able to keep working well all throughout this year and that he finds lots of happiness!

He doesn’t quite know it yet, but in March, when I’m in Tokyo, he’s going to be kidnapped and sent back to Florida all wrapped up pretty for my best friend! ~_^
((It will be her birthday present. As her birthday is in March, and our flawless plan is for him to marry her!))

Good luck throughout this year Sho-kun! Thanks for always making us laugh with your goofyness!

Akanishi Jin, starring in the movie “BANDAGE”, held the last one-night live as a member of the band LANDS at SHIBUYA AX Tokyo and charmed 2800 people in two lives.

They performed all 7 songs including the single “BANDAGE” released last November, with Akanishi as vocal, Kaneko Nobuaki as drummer, and director Kobayashi as keyboard.

The live started with the first album titled “Olympos” which was released under the name LANDS, and the atmosphere of the venue reached a high point. There were more than 70 thousand fans who applied for the tickets with the postcard attached in the theme song CD and the sticker of the advance ticket. Only one lucky fan out of 50 was selected and each of them was truly excited.

Akanishi acted in a very cool way from the beginning to the end in the live. However, after the live, he said: “I have participated in the whole process of the CD production from the very beginning, so I have a strong love to the songs. Now we are very proud of the band. I hope the work will be loved. Please write today’s event down as one page to your life.”

“Finally we reached the final page.” said the director Koboyashi full of emotion. The screen writer Iwai Shunji went on the stage in a hurry and expressed deep regret to the disbanding of LANDS: “If the band could continue to work for one more year, there would be much more possibility.”

“BANDAGE” is a film with the background in 1990’s with the band boom. And some young people were struggling in pains and worries for major debut of their band. The movie distributor TOHO has already decided to air the movie in South Korea and Taiwan. In addition, the movie will be adapted to drama in South Korea as well.

Akanishi: “Thank you for coming to the LANDS live event yesterday. There are a lot of people have watched film already. I hope more people know the songs and enjoy them as well. Please connect them with the movie. Recently I am not only being busy with the activities of BANDAGE, but work of You&Jin, too. Please continue to support me!”

Source: MJP

NEWS member Tegoshi Yuya attended the press conference of his starring movie “誰かが私にキスをした ～MEMOIRS OF A TEENAGE AMNESIAC～” in Tokyo.

The story is about a delicate love quadrangle among Naomi (Horikita Maki), who fell off from the stairs and lost four years memory, and other three boys (Matsuyama Kenichi, Togoshi Yuya, and Anton Viktorovich Yelchin) in an international school.

In the conference, boys were asked about “When you kissed with someone you like for the first time, are you the ‘attacking’ type or ‘take it easy’ type?” Yuya-kun answered:”First I will decide before I go out. And I probably could not hear whatever she said in the day, thinking about when to do. And in the end, maybe it would happen when we say goodbye.”

Source: MJP

Some things to do this year

U.S.A

• Travel over spring break.  I seriously wouldn’t want to stay on campus during break.  I never want to experience anything like Thanksgiving last year.  It was pretty horrible.  No food, no bus…we had absolutely nothing to do on campus.  New York or Boston sounds good.
• Travel back home with friends.  Traveling alone was not that bad but it is pretty nerve wracking when you only have 10 minutes to go to the international terminal.  A 13 hour flight alone is a killer too.  Must talk to friends about this.

JAPAN

• Work during the summer.  I seriously need money to do stuff over the summer in Japan.  Maybe the drug store?  It would be a nice experience too.
• Johnny’s Countdown Live 2010!  This is a MUST.

this list will be edited….xx

Housing decisions went out today! I’m moving into a triple with my bestie  Nice nice nice. Next semester has to be epic.  New room, new classes, new friends, new social life.  I can’t wait to get back!

I am currently addicted to Arashi.  If you don’t know them, go google them right now.  You’re missing out on some of life’s greatest sweetest artists ever.  I.will.write.about.them.some.other.time…

LANDS – Olympos

2010.01.13

Track List:

1 オリンポス
2 元気 (ska version)
3 二十歳の戦争
4 勇気
5 鼓動
6 BANDAGE
7 二十歳の戦争 -Y’s edition-
8 元気 (perfect issue)
9 サンキュー

DL part1

DL part2

Please buy the original CD to support the artist:

CD

LANDS – BANDAGE CD (Limited)

LANDS – BANDAGE CD+DVD (Limited)

SMAP – CHAN TO SHI NAI TO NE

2009.12.18

Track List:

1.CHAN TO SHI NAI TO NE!

DOWNLOAD

Please buy the original CD to support the artist!

SMAP – SEKAI NI HITOTSU DAKE NO HANA（S.O.N. version）

2009.12.18

Track List:

01. 世界に一つだけの花(JAZZ version)
02. 世界に一つだけの花(CLASSIC version)

DOWNLOAD

Please buy the original CD to support the artist!

SMAP – Sekai ni hitotsu dake no hana

Happy New Year!

For all you Johnny’s fangirls out there, here’s a link to this year’s Johnny’s Countdown performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gA6osCT6ew&feature=related

Start your year off with a nosebleed like me! =)

This year, Arashi is the MC! Aand each of the awesome smexy Jonny’s groups present their debut songs:

ｋｉｎｋｉｋｉｄｓ　（硝子の少年） [their voices are still amazing ~]

ＫＡＴ－ＴＵＮ　（ＲｅａｌＦａｃｅ） [OMG Jin's tongue click <33]

関ジャニ∞ Kanjani8 （浪花いろは節）[such a fun song!]

ＮＥＷＳ　（ＮＥＷＳニッポン）[I LOVE THEM]

Ｖ６　（ＭＵＳＩＣ ＦＯＲ ＴＨＥ ＰＥＯＰＬＥ）

タッキー＆翼 Takki & Tsubasa （卒業）

ＨａｙＳａｙＪＵＭＰ　（ＵｌｔｒａＭｕｓｉｃＰｏｗｅｒ）

ＴＯＫＩＯ　（ＬＯＶＥ ＹＯＵ ＯＮＬＹ）

嵐　Arashi （Ａ・ＲＡ・ＳＨＩ）[so nostalgic!]

Other songs that I was SO SO SO happy seeing were:

Arashi-Love So Sweet
Shuuji to Akira-Seishun Amigo [THE BEST EVER!!!]
NEWS-weeeek
V6-Ai Nanda [Junichi is still so hot <3]
Takki-Ai Kakumei

And they even did a Johnny’s medley with every group singing!

Also watch out for…

Arashi singing a Kanjani8 song
V6 singing Arashi’s One Love
NEWS singing Kinki kids’ Aisareruyori Aishitai
KAT-TUN singing NEWS’s Kibou

I loved the whole show and every song!

Which part was your favorite?

あけましておめでとうございます！ 2010 began on a cold night in Tokyo one hour ago. We visited our local shrine: no line, hot rice drink, and a tiny bonfire. The small shrine’s doors were open, revealing that our local gods live amidst folding chairs and assorted bric-a-brac.

The visit to the shrine followed many hours of Kouhaku, the annual music extravaganza on NHK, plus a Johnny’s shmorgasbord of dozens of boy bands, dizzying video displays, and stages gliding over crazed fangirls. A very traditional new year in Japan.

Below is the “blue” moon, the second full moon of the month. Best wishes for the new decade!

This seafood-themed eatery is a homage to the great seafood houses of San Francisco, with close and boisterous rooms and an emphasis on fresh shellfish taken from the Chesapeake Bay. There aren’t a lot of fancy items on the menu, since the focus is on quality ingredients not overdone by preparation. Besides being a great place to people watch, you can bring folks who aren’t enamoured with seafood – the lunchtime hot dog was recently voted best in the city.

♥ ♥ ♥ お誕生日おめでとうございます！♥ ♥ ♥

Happy Birthday to Aiba Masaki-san! Today he turns 27!

Now, I’ve mentioned before that I’m an Arashi fan… but I never mentioned who my favorite member is. Well… it’s Aiba-san~~!~ He makes me giggle and coo かわいい　with his adorable antics: playing with animals, creating nutty science experiments, and attempting to speak English.

I remember the first time I ever saw his crazy videos on youtube. He was running around in Africa trying to feed a cheetah some chicken. In his broken English, he manages to shout at the poor creature “Do you like bird?!?” hahaha — This crazy guy has mispronounced everything imaginable and yet my love for him does not diminish! (And here I am, a snobby linguist!)

Typically, I fall for the sensitive, intelligent, brooding, mysterious type. But Aiba won my heart with all his quirks and squeaking laughter. His klutziness is endearing but his serious side comes out in his friendships. He’s a darling. He’s hysterical. He’s a baka genius. I hope he enjoys his birthday and finds happiness and blessings throughout the year. ♥ ♥ ♥

And now, in tribute, the many faces of Aiba Masaki.

Gorgeous

Alright. You caught me.

I admit that I am a big fan of 嵐! So that is why this post is on here… (hey, I even mentioned that this would happen occasionally in my About section!) Anyway… the time has finally come for me to make an Arashi related post. But there is very good reason for it. Sakurai Sho, a member of Arashi, has been named on of GQ Japan’s Men of the Year for 2009! おめでとう！お疲れ様！

Now, this is of particular interest to me because, well yes, I am a big Arashi fan. However, my best friend is going to marry this man… haha. Well, at least we can dream, ne? ; )

Don't start slitting your wrists, Shige.

This week starts this month’s story of Room 0. This is going to be short, so forgive me.

Karin is a young girl with a terminal illness and Yazaki (Shige) is her doctor. With the hope of being “healed”, Karin is pretty optimistic while on the other hand Yazaki struggles with the fact that she has an illness he can’t heal and that he’s not as “perfect” as how everyone sees him to be. So after being selected to go spend a night in the infamous Room 0, Karin makes Yazaki score himself to reveal a near perfect score of 98 points. Karin then goes to take her own score which reveals….

Comapred to the last story, the pacing in this one seems to flow a lot better than the other two. Rather than simply focus on drama and conflict in the first two episodes and shove a ” This is why ” and ” Happy Ending! “, episode 1 of The Perfect Man interchanges between the past and Yazaki’s conflict seen through the eyes of his nurse and now which settles you in early rather than later.

Shige’s performance has been so far safe, but he doesn’t do much in the first episode to garner any brownie points in that department. He’s mostly smiled, say a few nice things, cry to himself, and look uncertain but nothing extraordinary. Majority of the acting is carried on by Karin and the girl who played the flute in Buzzer Beat that I totally forgot her name.

I’ve been so busy in my personal life that I totally forgot this episode aired. I’m also extremely behind on all my other dramas that I planned on watching. Room 0 seems easier to watch, only 10 minutes, compared to the others which are a full 45. Gyah.

山下智久 – Loveless

2009.11.

Track List:

DOWNLOAD

Please buy the original CD to support the artist:

CD

CD (limited)

CD+DVD