Japanese band Monkey Majik  is well respected in Japan and the group  has collaborated on singles with Jpop artists M-flo, SEAMO 高田 尚輝, and the Yoshida Brothers 吉田兄弟. In July 2007 they released their fourth full-length album “Sora wa maru de” 空はまるで, (roughly translated into “the sky is so” ) in which the title song “Sora wa maru de” became the first song in Japanese history to reach #1 on USEN Request Chart before being released.  It eventually reached number 3 on the Oricon charts.

Check out this relaxing tune and video

Monkey Majik Sora Wa Maru de music video

Pretty 23 year old Japanese fashion model Saki Namba (Saki Nanba) 難波 さき  is an exclusive model for Happie NUTS magazine.  The 23 year old from Hyogo who likes singing karaoke, playing video games and watching DVDs recently featured in the new music video Tokyo Tower 東京タワー by Jpop singer  GOKIGEN SOUND ごきげんさん.

GOKIGEN SOUND music video Tokyo Tower

Like many other fashion models she wants to have a singing career of her own and has sung on a couple of tracks for “gyaru” related compilation albums such as  Campus Summit.  Read more about Saki Namba at her blog here.  Read more...

Who’s on top of the Jpop charts during this first month of 2010?  Here we have Japan’s top 30 singles from CDTV for the week of January 17th week with diva Ayumi Hamasaki occupying number 1 with “You were… / BALLAD”.  Kana Nishino’s Dear…/Maybe drops to 25 while 9mm Parabellum Bullet’s “Inochi no Zenmai” rises to number 5.

Top Jpop singles  Read more...

Pretty 22 year old  Japanese gyaru and lingerie fashion model Mari Komatsuzaki (Mari Komatuzaki) 小松崎 真理 recently did a sexy gravure photo shoot for this month’s Sabra Net Strictly.

Mari who is from Tochigi prefecture is best known as fashion model for teen magazine EGG,  a lingerie model for Japanese lingerie maker La Miu and one of the top 10 contestants for their likeness  to appear as hostesses in the next PlayStation 3 Ryu ga Gotoku (aka Yakuza) game.

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Japanese hip hop masters  m-flo エムフロウ consist of producer and DJ Taku Takahashi and emcee Verbal.  These guys are have some great records and everyone in the hip hop and Jpop scene in Japan wants to collaborate with them.

One of their early and best collaborations was  miss you which was released on October 22nd, 2003.  It was their 15th single and 2nd collaboration.  It debuted at #8 on the Oricon Jpop Weekly Charts, selling 19,899 copies in its first week alone.  The collaboration featured Hawaiian born Melody and Ryohei Yamamoto.  The song has a great catchy rhythm and a fun music video too.  Read more...

Writer and director Noboru Iguchi has had some gore classics including The Machine Girl and Robo Geisha.  If you liked this type of entertaiment then watch  his new (toned down) TV series The Ancient Dogoo Girl 古代少女ドグちゃん (Kodai Shoujo Dogu-chan) which started in October last year and which airs  on MBS every Wednesday late night.

The show stars the lovely 18 year old idol Erika Yazawa 谷澤恵里香 (of Jpop group Idoling) and is directed by Noboru Iguchi (The Machine Girl), Takashi Shimizu (Ju-on) and Ryuta Miyake (Ju-on: Shiroi Rojo) while visual effects master Tsuyoshi Kazuno (Robo Geishia) handles the visuals.  Read more...

According to Kumi Koda’s official website her new Jpop album “Universe” (her 8th album) will be released in early Feb together with her 3rd best compilation album “Best ~third universe”.  Both albums will be released together in celebration of her 10th anniversary (has it really been 10 years already?).

Koda Kumi Videos

Yume No uta 夢のうた Dream Song from the Best album

Lick Me from Universe album

As we near the end of the year, here’s a look at the Jpop charts to see who’s on top.

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Jpop singer songwriter Shikao Suga スガ シカオ, 菅 止戈男 has been making hits since 1997. His 8th album last year was Fukaholic and his 26th single Hajimari no Hi feat. Mummy-D はじまりの日 feat.Mummy-D was officially a few weeks ago on Nov 25th.

the song will be used for the new anime Tegami Bachi (Letter Bee)

Shikao Suga Hajimari no Hi feat. Mummy-D music video

Sayuri Anzu 杏さゆり is a hot 26 year old Japanese gravure idol and Jpop singer from Kanagawa, Japan.  Sayuri  debuted in the year 2000 and has appeared 8 photo albums and in 11 idol DVDs (the last one “Evolution” in 2007).

Sayuri also relased 8 music albums and one popular single 100 Magic words which was used for NHK television show “100go de Start! Eikaiwa.

Sayuri has also appeared on numerous TV shows and this year had a role on Fuji TV’s Tales of the Unusual 世にも奇妙な物語.

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