From Rekuru: One of the members of AKB48, Shinoda Mariko, will get a chance to show a different side of her because she earned her own television show on NHK called “Mariko-sama no Orikou-sama!” The show will start on April 6th, and she recently made an appearance at the press conference. She and “NHK Special” (which is a documentary show) will work together to make an educational show. More »

From Rekuru: A PV preview for AKB48 sub-unit Not Yet’s “Shumatsu Not Yet” was revealed a few days ago through a TV broadcast, but…I’m happy to announce that you no longer have to listen to announcers talking over a mere snippet of the video, as the full PV was recently unveiled. Check it out! More »

From Rekuru: In line with the celebration of release of AKB48’s first original album on April 6th, there will be a handshake and photograph event that will be held not just one, two, but three times at Chiba’s Makuhari Messe on May 1st, May 8th, and June 19th. More »

From Rekuru: Around a month ago, it was announced that AKB48 members Ohshima Yuko, Kitahara Rie, Sashihara Rino, and Yokoyama Yui would be forming a sub-unit of their very own, Not Yet. They will be releasing their debut single “Shumatsu Not Yet,” on March 16, but before that day rolls around, check out their PV preview for an early glimpse and listen! Unfortunately, the teaser was revealed via TV broadcast and the announcers are at it again, overshadowing the song with their commentary. Sigh. Let’s make the best of it! More »

From Rekuru: Girl group AKB48 is busy preparing for the release of their full original album on April 6th. A total sixteen songs will be in this upcoming album including their popular hits like “Heavy Rotation”, “Beginner”, and “Chance no Junban”. More »

From Rekuru: Not again! With the news about AKB48’s Oku Manami leaving the group, it seems that another member will withdraw from the AKB family. 10th generation research student, Kanazawa Yuuki decided to depart from the group but before that she left a message to her fans. More »

From Rekuru: It’s been officially announced via AKB48’s Official Blog that Oku Manami will graduate soon from the group. She left a message for her fans who supported her ’till the now. It read, More »

From Rekuru: AKB48 members recently made a guest appearance on “AKBINGO!” in one of their popular corners, “DANSO Koshien,” dressing up and acting like guys. More »

From Rekuru: This is just disgusting. A man was arrested in Japan on suspicion of indecent assault after inappropriately touching high school girls while posing as a scout for AKB48. Koichi Matsuo, 28, is accused of fondling an 18 year old high school girl in a bathroom in a public park. He allegedly approached the girl who was walking alone on a nearby street asking if she wanted to be a member of AKB48. She was put off by his attitude, and so he said “If you reject what I’m saying, I’ll have to be firm about it,” and took her forcefully to the bathroom. He has admitted to these accusations. More »

From Rekuru: AKB48 member Itano Tomomi’s title song for her debut single, “Dear J,” has already been released and well-received by fans, but the singer isn’t quite done yet! The single is set to drop in three different versions (Type-A, Type-B, and Type-C), each of which will feature a different follow-up song (”Tunnel,” “Stay By My Side,” and “Thank You” respectively). Previews of these songs have hit the net, so check them out! More »

From Rekuru: After standing with the popular (and enormous) Japanese girl group AKB48 for a while, Itano Tomomi seems to be doing pretty well on her own with her first solo single, “Dear J.” You’ve already heard the song and seen a preview of its PV. If that wasn’t enough to satisfy your “Dear J” cravings, the full PV has recently been released, so take some time to take a look at Itano’s flaming promotional video! More »

From Rekuru: With the upcoming release of her first solo single on January 26th, AKB48 member Tomomi Itano has finally made an official website. More »

From Rekuru: We’ve told you earlier that AKB48 will perform a three-song medley titled, “Kohaku 2010 AKB48 Kamikyoku SP“ at the NHK’s annual music show. To start things off, AKB48 performed “Beginner” and then SKE48 and NMB48 made cameo appearances for the “Heavy Rotation” and “Ponytail to Shushu” songs. More »

Kara and AKB48 have fallen victim to hilarious impersonations on Japanese TV Show, “Waratte Iitomo,” on their End of the Year Special. The parodies took place in the corner where the regulars of the show battled each other with their comedic performances. First was Sasaki Nozomi and Yanagihara Kanako, who bravely showed off her belly, and three announcers. More »

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2010 was a big year in music with artists/groups disbanding, Jin Akanishi leaving KAT-TUN, and some major records. This year definitely kept everyone entertained and with empty pockets. These five nominations all had BIG years. They sold tons of copies, and their loyal fans cheered them on. Only one prevails, and when you look at numbers and popularity, this group definitely takes the cake. Here are the nominations: More »

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From Rekuru: AKB48 member Maeda Atsuko, who is also an actress, recently snagged herself a movie role for upcoming 2011 film, ‘Moshimo Koukou Yakyu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no “Management” wo Yondara‘ or ‘Moshidora‘ for short. Maeda Atsuko’s role in the film is to play the manager named Kawashima Minami who is in charge of a lesser baseball team. More »

From Rekuru: Japanese theater/idol group AKB48’s sub-unit “Watarirouka Hashiritai” has just added two more members for their next single, the two new members are Mika Komori (16) from Team B and Misaki Iwasa (15) from Team A. More »

From Rekuru: AKB48’s recently released their 19th single, “Chance no Junban” and Oricon claimed that it sold 471,242 copies on the first day! More »

With a lot of artists in Asian entertainment, sometimes we cannot keep track of who is releasing what and when. Here’s a quick breakdown of the most anticipated releases in this week. The title of each release links to you to YesAsia for more information or for preorder, because YesAsia is of course the best and most convenient place to order Asian entertainment online. More »

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As Amazon.co.jp (that’s the Japanese branch of Amazon) nears its tenth anniversary of service, an impressive 111 artists/bands and authors have been chosen by the company to be forever immortalized in the “Artist and Author Hall of Fame.” Although the list predominantly features Japanese artists and authors, both DBSK and BoA have managed to secure spots in the hall of fame. Korea represent! More »

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