After watching this retrospective video of Morning Musume, it has me feeling very nostalgic. I kind of miss the Morning Musume of the 90s.:(

I wonder if I should start a BABYMETAL and Sekai no Owari artist thread but I don't know if there'd be enough interest from other people.

^I'll follow the Sekai no Owari thread if you create it. I started to listen to them with Anti-Hero.

I'd definitely follow any BABYMETAL thread. They're my most recent J-pop/rock obsession for the past year.

RAVE’s guitarist Mikuru has passed away.
http://i.imgur.com/ZO2nByB.jpg

The dude who's responsible for PPAP is coming to my country end of this month

Er no further comment , LOL

I think the last girl group/idol group Avex produced that I thought was good is SweetS.

Man I miss them...

They had a really interesting sound. Of course they had "idol" type songs, but they also had rather dark, mysterious, atmosphere-creating songs.

Love like candy floss is my absolute favorite. Considering their average age they were really cool.

Did you guys notice the scandal about the Japan Record Awards recently?
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/201.../#.WDFkhMsxkwh

Oh interesting

I live here and isn't even hear about it lol

Yeah, I heard about it. But I have a feeling that even AKB48 - or any artist - could do it... :no

Good to hear about JSB NOT being nominated for the JRA - but this scandal could really tarnish the reputation of the Japan Record Awards - and I could be guessing this could really put a big cloud over Japanese pop music today... :irked

(I imagine if a new award similar to the JRA would be created - but the voters wouldn't be the record industry, but expert music reviewers that would be unbiased from any record companies, and rules to prevent acts of bribery and to promote competition, such as limits an artist can earn the top prize...that isn't going to happen very much (if at all), but I have to imagine...)

This might be a reason why in recent years J-pop has been a bit boring on one of my views...

My sister & I are finally going to fulfil something in our bucket list ie. watching a BREAKERZ concert together

Hopefully both of us will be able to go for their mini live/handshake event as well . If so , I will be at a loss of words on what to say to them personally

And after being in the guys' fandom for so long & receiving a customised autograph from them , it's a real honour & it's now hands down 1 priceless possession I have

So this year's Kouhaku performers list has been released

The only thing I'm happy about it is KinKi Kids getting invited to perform for the 1st time , in 19 years & also for the senior Johnnys groups

Aside from that , meh . It's a pity SMAP are not in the list as they're disbanding soon & I'm relieved Golden Bomber is not in as they frankly do not deserve to perform on the show (I will never understand the hype/appeal about them)

To be honest, I'm surprised SMAP isn't at the list. That's the thing we're most furious about, given the fact they're disbanding. WHY?????

Also upset about Leo Ieiri not in the Kouhaku either, but we're more furious about why SMAP isn't going to be in the Kouhaku before disbanding... (>_<)

(Ironically Leo and SMAP are in the same label - Victor Entertainment.)

It's great for Utada to appear in the Kouhaku for the first time (!), but I'm not sure if it will be enough to save the Kouhaku from the recent downward trend in TV ratings... Not only that, we have to wonder ourselves:

Is Japanese pop music's relevance waning? (this was after the recent bribery allegations involving the Japan Record Awards)
http://aramajapan.com/news/music/is-...-waning/67330/

V6's Nagano got married

So happy for him & what the Johnnys did for him on Tue's Best Artist 2016 was so touching & awesome

At least Nagano didn't cried xD

Metal Resistance is at #3 at the 2016 world album charts. Congrats, BABYMETAL!

http://www.billboard.com/charts/year...6/world-albums

So, it turns out Rio Aizato, the guitarist of the Ishigaki folk duo Yanawaraba (an artist not many may have heard of these days, though may have been more known in 2006-07) is a mom already! Just gave birth to a baby boy on Monday.

Congratulations!

https://twitter.com/_yanawaraba_/sta...68213794082816
http://natalie.mu/music/news/213925
http://www.oricon.co.jp/news/2083254/full/

I've been following Yanawaraba since 2007, the first time I heard of them was on a Music Station episode with Ayu back in February (remember 'evolution' for A BEST 2?). Rio Aizato got married to a non-celebrity man back in February this year, and now, she gave birth to a baby boy back on Monday! Quite a long way since I first followed Yanawaraba back then.

Sorry for double-posting, but...

I don't feel this year's Music Station Super Live was exciting in my opinion. There wasn't really anything for me that really stood out...

In fact, I felt this year's Arima Kinen horse race (major Japanese horse race, most-bet horse race in the WHOLE WIDE WORLD, and usually happening on the Sunday after MSta Super Live) was more exciting than this year's MSSL...

The upcoming new year made me think of this.:laugh:heart

Despite the overwhelming audience vote for the white team, why did all but two of the eleven judges in this year's (67th) Kouhaku voted for the red team to win consecutively for the first time in three decades???

Thanks / no thanks to Kanjani∞ , now when I listen/watch to Kisumai's Everybody Go , I can't help but laugh cos of what Kanjani∞ did during Johnny's Countdown 2016-2017 ie. when they tried their epic fail best in rollerskating while trying to sing the song at the same time xD

That failed miserably needless to say . Just stick to playing instruments or being stupid Kanjani∞ , let Kisumai do the hard work x)