L’Arc~en~ciel fans, hold on to your seats because Tetsu’s getting married! Laruku bassist and founding member, Tetsu, has recently announced his marriage plans with model/actress, Sakai Ayana.

This is a translation of the announcement on his mobile site from the Laruku LJ community (I cleaned up the original translation a bit):

To everyone important to me

I have an announcement to make for everyone who supports me. I, Tetsu, and Ayana Sakai are getting married.

I’m “getting married!” I still can’t believe it myself, but I’m very happy and thankful that I got to meet someone who makes me feel this way.

I’ll work even harder to create better music for everyone, so please keep on supporting us.

Thank you in advance.

Tetsu’s sixteen years older than the 22-year-old Ayana, but you got to admit, they look good together. On behalf of Nihon Watch, best wishes to Tetsu and Ayana!

Thanks, nikki for the heads up.

Edit: Check out Ayana’s announcement in the Ayanavi blog!

Early this November, Utada.jp updated with news about Utada collaborating with American R&B crooner, Ne-Yo, for a song included in the latter’s worldwide promotional campaign. Ne-Yo has been doing collaboration of songs off his latest album, “Because of You,” from artists all over the globe. Last November 21, 2007, “Do You” feat. Utada was made available for purchase in iTunes Japan.

I love Ne-Yo, I love R&B and I love Hikki. In short, I’m digging the single a lot! Since the song’s originally Ne-Yo’s, R&B beats are predominant and it reminds me of Hikki in her early days back when she was doing this type of music. Does this mean Hikki’s going back to her roots? Hah. I could only wish.

YouTube video of the full song after the cut!

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Hi everyone! I planned on blogging about the recent releases of the week, but due to a family emergency, I haven’t had a chance to listen to any of them! So instead, I’m going to recommend a past release that I’ve really enjoyed!

YUI - CAN’T BUY MY LOVE [2nd Album]

YUI is a singer-songwriter with an appealing look and pop-rock/folk style. Her songs are a mix of pop and acoustic light rock with an occasional ballad or heavier rock song thrown in, and her voice has this wonderful tone to it that is appealing and yet slightly rough at the same time.

01. How crazy 02. Rolling star // Watch Rolling star PV@Youtube 03. It’s all right 04. I remember you // Watch I remember you PV@Youtube 05. RUIDO 06. CHE.R.RY // Watch CHE.R.RY PV@Youtube 07. Thank you My teens 08. Umbrella 09. Highway chance 10. Happy Birthday to you you 11. Winding road 12. Good-bye days // Watch Good-bye Days PV@Youtube 13. Why?

Rolling star is my main favorite song on this album, with CHE.R.RY a close second. The PV for Rolling star was awesome, full of floating electric guitars and head-banging band members in slow motion. CHE.R.RY’s appeal lies in its complex background and catchy chorus. Other good songs include Good-bye Days, the tie-in to Taiyou no Uta, and How crazy which mimics the style of Rolling star. YUI’s second album is a definite hit, and I adore the cover of the DVD version as well!

Links
Official Site
wiki.theppn Page
YUI Fanlisting
YUI Livejournal Community

Buy! YesAsia US // YesAsia Global // CD Japan

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The dolled up town is already a fantasy
Even if it’s all year round, it’s not bad
The preset you were wanting is hidden
My pulsing heart

Ah hurry, ah hurry, isn’t it Christmas Eve yet?

It’s only the middle of November, a little over a month until Christmas, and already L’Arc~en~Ciel has released a PV called ‘Hurry Xmas.’ Well, makes sense to me, who doesn’t want Christmas to come sooner?

Hurry Xmas (First Press Limited Edition Single, and Single + DVD - Japan Version) and it’s PV were both released on the 14th, this past Wednesday… just like everything else in Japan’s music industry. This single will have a Korean Version, to be released on the 19th. The CD contains five tracks: Hurry Xmas, I Wish 2007, Hurry Xmas -Silent Night Version-, Hurry Xmas (hydeless version), and I Wish 2007 (TETSU P’UNKless version). The DVD has the PVs for both Hurry Xmas and I Wish 2007.

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One confusing issue in the J-Music world is the categorization of releases. Releases dubbed a “Maxi-Single” may well seem exactly like a “Single”. One artist’s “Album” may have less songs on it than anothers “Minialbum”. Add to this the differences between First or Second pressings, Limited or Regular editions, DVD versus CD releases, or Japan versus Overseas versions, and you may wonder how anyone can choose what to buy!

This guide is written mostly from personal experience and observations, so it can’t be taken as How It Is, Always And Forever. I do hope it will help clarify for the most part what things are called what, and why. Just remember, there are always exceptions to every rule!

Some of this is basic information is from wiki.thePPN, with modifications here and there based, again, on my own experience and observations (and really, wiki, I have never seen or heard of an “album” with only 2 songs. Wait, I have… they’re called singles! ~_^)

Album vs. Mini-Album:
Full-length albums are typically 10-20 songs, depending on the track time, but can range from 5 songs to 30 or more. But the length of an album is actually more accurate than the number of songs: on an 80 minute CD, you can normally expect about an hour of listening time.

A mini-album is just like an album except smaller in size. Whereas a typical album will average around 15 tracks, a typical mini-album has 6-8 tracks. Like an album, however, Mini-albums are more often than not entirely unique songs; that is, no remixes or instrumentals.

A good example of an artist who utilizes both formats is Olivia Lufkin (OLIVIA). Some may recognize her as one of the artists connected to the Nana anime series. She has released 4 albums, each with 10-14 tracks, and 5 mini-albums, each with 5-8 tracks.

OLIVIA’s Synchronicity album versus The Cloudy Dreamer mini-album:

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It’s been almost eight months since Bou played his final performance with An Cafe, and about seven and a half since the band entered it’s ’second generation’ - filling Bou’s old spot with guitarist Takuya, and adding a keyboardist to the mix: Yuuki. Now, the group has released their second single since Bou left: Ryuusei Rocket. The first being Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without a Name~, which had the priviledge of being the second season opening theme for the anime, ‘Darker than Black.’ Ryuusei Rocket was released this past Wednesday (November 7th), featuring four tracks: Ryuusei Rocket, Koi no Dependence, Ryuusei Rocket (Instrumental), and Koi no Dependence (Instrumental). On the special edition DVD there is the Ryuusei Rocket PV. This single seems to be faring well, and Oshare Kei fans have nothing but compliments to give.
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Hello all! You can call me Rhi, and I’ll be blogging on Japanese music of all kinds in the coming posts. I felt it best to begin this first post with a brief introduction of myself and my interests, and include some resources I frequently use to navigate through the wonderful, but often times confusing, world of J-Music.

I am a grad student working on a master’s in anthropology who has been a part of the J-Music world for… oh… 4 years? 5? Something like that. Like many, my first introduction was from anime music, which grew into a healthy obsession with artists that produced anime material, which lead to a constant and weekly maturation until we get to today’s status - obsession! I listen most often to mainstream Japanese pop, rock, and urban, but will dip my toes when the mood strikes into the vast world of indies music. For Japanese music, I spend my salary, and my time, listening, learning, and dreaming. Maybe one day I’ll write a real academic paper on it, but for now, this blog and various livejournal communities gives me the creative outlet for ideas and thoughts. I hope you enjoy.

To get the ball rolling, I’d like to introduce and explore some of the great resources on Japanese music you can find but a few mouse clicks away. For oldies, newbies, or you random people who stumbled here by accident, I hope you will find something interesting and helpful among these!

•ThePPN Wiki
Only the creator’s know what ThePPN stands for, but names aside, this is one of the best resources out there on the subject. May I present Japanese Music’s very own Wikipedia project! I use this site daily, for track listings, album art, recommendations, and information. It is vast in its wisdom, constantly updated, and like the original Wikipedia, can cost you hours of fascinated link clicking.

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Each week I will be posting a list of the recommendations from the newest releases for that week. New release days are almost always Wednesday for the Major labels, so usually by Friday I’ve been able to track down and preview pretty much all of them! I will also be reviewing specific artists and older releases at different points in the month to add a little diversity, as well as the occasional themed post or special topic! Full release lists for each week will be added to the bottom of the post for reference. So without further ado,

Rhi’s Recommendations for November 07, 2007!!
noon - FOR YOU-noon’s best-
Official Site
Buy! Global Yesasia // US Yesasia

01. How long has this been going on? 02. Tea for two 03. So far away 04. Sabado em copacabana 05. On the street where you live 06. It had to be you 07. River 08. Moon river 09. 500 Miles 10. Someday my prince will come 11. Alfie 12. Hallelujah I love him so 13. It might as well be spring 14. The look of live 15. I’ll never fall in love again 16. NADA SOU SOU 17. Close to you

For Jazz fans, especially of the old style or New Orleans style jazz, this is definitely one album you wont want to miss! noon not only sings in Japanese and English, but Italian as well. This is the type of Jazz I hear in the French Quarter all the time, and boy is it a soothing listen!

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