Recently, After School celebrated their third anniversary and left a sweet gift of the remake version of Mika Nakashima’s Snowflower. Although the girl group just also released their latest Japanese single, Rambling Girls/Because of You, it looks like the girls are prepping for their upcoming release. More »

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From Rekuru:

Singer Nakashima Mika has just unveiled the PV for her upcoming single, “LOVE IS ECSTASY.” More »

Many times, the Kpop world seems to like to purchase rights to songs that have already been released and are popular in other parts of the world, or sometimes the original English demos of the songs are later leaked or released. Other times, it happens to work the other way around in which popular songs become an inspiration for others and plagarism issues arise. This time we will be looking at Park Hyo Shin’s Snowflower vs. Mika Nakashima’s Yuki no Hana. More »

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From Rekuru: April 27’s a long way off–thank goodness we don’t have to wait until that far-off release date to listen to Mika Nakashima’s upcoming single, “Dear.” The song was recently broadcasted on a radio program and is now available for listening as a radio rip. Enjoy! More »

From Rekuru: Popular JPOP singer Nakashima Mika, who is celebrating her 10th anniversary of debut this year, has recently announced that she will stop all of her activities temporarily in order to focus on recovering from her ear conditions. More »

Congratulations to user Kizuninha for correctly guessing Photo Shuffle #20 with Mika Nakashima. Here’s the original image: More »

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From Rekuru: It was just announced that TOKIO’s Tomoya Nagase and Toma Ikuta (which sounds so much better as Ikuta Toma) are starring in a drama together next season. It will be a comedy titled “Unubore Deka” (Conceited Detective) about a weird detective (Nagase) who falls in love with every female suspect and thinks they love him too. More »

Manga or manhwa, if it’s lucky enough, lives on beyond the pages and onto the small or the big screen. If it’s even luckier, manga/manhwa makes it to my list of top 5 manga turned live action. More »

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Not only is Big Bang huge with the Japanese populace, but among their celebrities too! A few celebrities were spotted at Big Bang’s Electric Love Tour including Mika Nakashima, Koda Kumi, Becky, V6, Matsuura Aya, and more! More »

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So the new year comes and the Japanese know how to throw a party. It was time to go out HUGE, because it marks not only the 60th Kouhaku Uta Gassen, but it ends the decade! More »

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Mika Nakashima will again stretch her range and do a ballad for an upcoming film set to release Jan. 23rd of next year. It is titled “Always.” More »

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Looks like the Jpop artists had their hands full trying to meet this week’s debut single deadline. This week is seeing heavy competition with TVXQ. Along with them is Jpop/Jrocker Mika Nakashima. I try to keep up with Jpop artists from time to time, but due to the overwhelming “worst month of Korean celebrities,” along with the 200,000+ girl groups debuting, the blog time slots have been over taken. More »

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Mika, oh, Mika… I know you said that you were tired of the whole NANA thing. You did some Big Band sound with “Black & Blue”. Tried the Japanese Gospel fad with “All Hands Together” and “Cry No More”. A little reggae with “My Sugar Cat”. Rocked out again with NANA2 and “Hitoiro” even tho you might not have wanted to. Got romantic with “Sunao na mama”. Got a little dancey up tempo with “Life”. Crooned your way into my heart with “Sakura -Hanagasumi-” Got a little off track with “I Don’t Know”. Won me back over with “Orion”. I know Mika’s got nothing left to prove. Girl can sing. But “Overload”? Somehow this week’s new single sounds a little old and recycled. More »

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The beautiful single Yuki no Hana paints a picture of a soft, winter romance. The original writer and singer of the single is Japanese songstress Mika Nakashima. The song has inspired many artists to remake it in several languages, and each cover has found its own success.  As much as I love the original, all the versions have their own special arrangements, and it is very nice to see how each individual artist gave the song their own special touch. 

Here are just a few of the covers of Mika Nakashima’s “Yuki no Hana” (Snow Flower) More »

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It’s almost Halloween! Even though I could probably still pass for a 12 year old, I’ve already stocked up on candy and made plans for the holiday. I’m looking forward to staying in and watching the Saw series even though I know I scare easily. However, I do foresee me chickening out last minute. Ha!

Also, again for the thousandth time, it’s Breast Cancer awareness so it’s not too late to get your pink on!

To the point, here’s your weekly roundup. I definitely need to find more Cpop/Mandopop music. Any suggestions?

Enjoi! More »

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NaNa (ナナ) isn’t the usual girlie type storyline, this is mostly because the main character(s) are not fifteen year-old cutesy girls who get swept away or are given any magical objects. Instead the deeply dramatic arch is one most ordinary gals will sympathize with. Two 20 yr-old girls meet on a train, while riding they learn that they both left their small HoPunk towns to build their future in Tokyo. The irony is although these girls are total opposites they share their unknown future and first name “NaNa”.

We quickly learn that dark haired punk dressed Nana Osaki is a singer and that she is going to Tokyo to put her band, the BlackStones, back together. Nana Komatsu, the other Nana, is also going to Tokyo but to finally be with her boyfriend Shoji (aka The &!@#%&) . The two girls meet again days later and decide to become roommates at an apartment in a sub-neighborhood of Tokyo. The sign that they belong at this particular set of apartments is the number on the door 707, “NaNa” is a homophone for “seven” in Japanese. So we don’t get confused Nana Komatsu quickly gets a nickname “Hachi”, after the Famous dog statue in Japan. Most characters call her the name because of her puppy-like willing to please personality. Additionally, “Hachi” is the word for “eight” in Japanese making the names even more sensible. The girls become very close; there is even mention that their relationship is like a romantic couple without any sexual overtones. More »

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