Archive for December, 2007

Daily Japan 2007.12.27

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Daily Japan 2007.12.24

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Well, it’s technically Christmas now, but I haven’t gone to sleep yet, so here’s my last update before I take the day off to celebrate with family.

  • Last Friday, Yui Aragaki made her debut as a singer at the Nippon Budokan, performing a special concert for a lucky group of fans. [Pics: Oricon, Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
  • LINA of MAX attended a release event for her solo photobook “LINA SINGS.” [Video: Yahoo] [Pic: Sanspo]
  • Ken Hirai held his regular “Ken’s Bar” concert on the 23rd in Sapporo. [Pics: Sanspo, Sponichi]
  • Haruka Washio was named the winner of the Miss of Miss Campus Queen Contest 2007. [Pics: Mainichi, Oricon, Sanspo, Sponichi]
  • Nao Minamisawa and AKB48 member Atsuko Maeda attended a press conference for their drama series next season, “Shiori to Shimiko no Kaiki Jikenbo.” [Pics: Mainichi]
  • Satomi Ishihara was dressed in a Santa outfit for the opening of “Cinnamon the movie.” [Pic: Sanspo]
  • The movie version of Kenji Otsuki’s “Gummi Chocolate Pine” also opened in theaters this past weekend, and stars Takuya Ishida, Mei Kurokawa, and Nao Omori attended the opening. [Pics: Mainichi]
  • Meanwhile, Kippei Shiina, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Hiroshi Abe, and Lena Tanaka were at the opening of “Moryo no Hako.” [Pics: Oricon]
  • AI was among the performers at a support event for next year’s Olympics. [Pics: Oricon]

Everyone, enjoy your holiday celebrations!

Daily Japan 2007.12.20

Friday, December 21st, 2007

And my break begins! But does that mean I’m caught up now? Of course not! And I’ve still got Christmas shopping to do…

  • Yoshino Kimura, Noriko Nakagoshi, and Mitsuki Tanimura are starring in the movie version of Kazuo Umezu’s “Orochi.” A PR event was held on the set on Wednesday. [Video: Yahoo, Sports Hochi] [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo]
  • Norika Fujiwara was out promoting “Norika Wedding Style,” a compilation album featuring music used at her wedding reception. [Video: Yahoo, Sports Hochi] [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo, Sports Hochi]
  • Co-stars Takao Osawa and Yuko Takeuchi showed up at a special Christmas screening of “Midnight Eagle.” [Video: Yahoo, Sports Hochi] [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo, Sports Hochi]
  • Kiroro announced that they are resuming activity next month. [Pics: Yahoo, Sports Hochi]
  • Mangaka Takehiko Inoue has drawn the poster for the remake of Akira Kurosawa’s “The Hidden Fortress,” which now stars Arashi member Jun Matsumoto. [Pic: Sanspo]
  • Fuji TV held a press event for “Minna no Keiba,” its new horse racing program hosted by Aki Hoshino and Shunichi Kawai. [Pics: Mainichi, Sanspo, Sponichi]
  • On Thursday, Ayaka held her first sole concert at the Nippon Budokan, performing in front of 12,000 fans. She just turned 20 on the 18th. [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo]
  • Current and former Morning Musume members Ai Takahashi, Eri Kamei, Kei Yasuda, Yuko Nakazawa, and Mari Yaguchi attended a special photo session for the “Lion King” musical. [Pics: Mainichi, Sponichi]
  • mihimaru GT and Kylie Minogue shared the stage at a press event for the documentary “White Diamond.” [Pics: Oricon]

Daily Japan 2007.12.18

Wednesday, December 19th, 2007

Now to get caught up with the past 4 days…

Now sick, more delays

Tuesday, December 18th, 2007

Well, technically I was already sick, but now I’ve caught something worse, and I really feel ill. There are several stories I wanted to write up right now, but I’m struggling even to keep from falling over. Hopefully I feel better in the morning and can catch up on some of it.

No work done on my birthday

Monday, December 17th, 2007

Well, I was planning on getting some work done today, but I spent the whole day celebrating my birthday and the birthday of my adorable one-year-old nephew. It was fun, but unfortunately for all of you, that means the news is late.

In fact, expect a lot of the news this week to be about a day or so late, since I’ve got a bunch of stuff going on and my schedule isn’t clear until Friday. I’ll do my best to keep the important stuff timely, but minor stories will likely get pushed back.

Daily Japan 2007.12.14

Saturday, December 15th, 2007

Here’s another somewhat description-light post, a trend that will likely continue until I finish turning this into its own feature on the main site.

Daily Japan 2007.12.12

Thursday, December 13th, 2007

Ack! More stuff than I have time for! Here’s the quick version:

Daily Japan 2007.12.10

Tuesday, December 11th, 2007

I’m planning to move these Daily Japan media links out of the blog and into their own section on the main site, but I won’t have time to code any of that until this weekend. So for now, I’m stuck with it here in the blog. Anyway:

  • Rina Uchiyama was given the 5th Kimono Award, which is yet another of those industry-sponsored PR awards, like Best Leathernist and Best Jeanist. [Video: Yahoo] [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo, Sponichi, Nikkan Sports, Sports Hochi]
  • Misaki Ito met with 70 lucky fans at a PR event for her book “Twinkle Girls,” which is a collection of excerpts from her blog. [Video: Yahoo] [Pics: Sanspo, Sponichi, Nikkan Sports, Sports Hochi]
  • Haruna Yabuki was at the Sofmap store in Akihabara to promote her new DVD, “Flare.” [Pics: Nikkan Sports, Sponichi]
  • Yui Aragaki served as a special host on the radio show “All Night Nippon.” [Pics: Sanspo, Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
  • Haruma Miura attended his first handshake event to promote the sale of his first photobook. Approximately a thousand fans turned up to meet him. [Pic: Nikkan Sports]
  • Takako Uehara is starring in the musical “The Wedding Singer” this February. A talk event for the production was held in Tokyo on Sunday. [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo]
  • Futsal team carezza held a release event for their new single, “Crazy For Love.” [Pics: Oricon]
  • mihimaru GT held a concert at NHK Hall on Monday. [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo, Sponichi]
  • Figure skater Shizuka Arakawa was named “Best of Ms. Cool 2007,” a prize meant for promoting the Absolut Icebar in Tokyo. [Video: Yahoo] [Pic: Sanspo]

Daily Japan 2007.12.08

Sunday, December 9th, 2007

Not much going on in the news lately, but I might as well post what’s there.