BTS is a K-pop band that took the world by storm and registered an enviable commercial success in Asia. The band, founded in 2010, went international in 2016 and has won several awards to date. But it is in Japan where the group registered a run-away success, and this is by no means a coincidence. Japan is one of the largest consumers of K-pop, with plenty of CDs and merch flowing from Korean artists made to be sold exclusively in the country. BTS is one K-pop group that’s enjoying massive popularity in Japan currently. One of their most recent releases, “Butter” debuted as No. 1 on the Oricon ..read more

What is City Pop? City pop is a music genre that was popular in most Japanese cities in the ’70s and ’80s. City Pop sounds like a merging of soft-rock, boogie, and funk. Initially, the music was considered the music for the Japanese upper-middle class. Still, the sound of City pop was later accepted as the region’s music for the urban across all social levels. The music is certainly alive today, even after so many decades of Japanese musical transformations. If the recent interest that people show for the genre is anything to go by, the music is slowly taking back its place among the urbanite ..read more

Buying a CD of your favorite artist’s latest single may be a thing of the past in many countries, but that’s certainly not the case in Japan where CD sales still make up over a third of all music sales. Outside of Japan, many music collectors are fans of Japanese CDs due to their higher quality masters, Japan-exclusive bonus tracks and general collectibility. If you are a fan of city pop or other Japanese music, then you may also want to dive into Japanese CD collecting. However, when you can’t speak Japanese, the world of Japanese CDs can seem a little daunting. Well, you don’t need to fear a ..read more

SixTONES and Snow Man are the first idol groups under Johnny & Associates to debut in the Reiwa era, ushering in a new generation of Japanese entertainment. Whether you’re a long-time Johnny’s fan or a complete newbie to the genre, get ready to celebrate a new era of idols with SixTONES and Snow Man! SixTONES (ストーンズ) SixTONES (pronounced “stones”) are a six-member idol group under the Japanese entertainment company Johnny & Associates. The group first started activities in 2015 as a subunit of Johnny’s Jr., the Johnny & Associates pre-debut trainee group. SixTONES graduated from th ..read more

AKB48’s latest DVD “Manatsu no Dome Tour – Madamada, Yaranakya Ikenai Koto ga Aru” (We still have many things to do) was released on December 18th, 2013. The whole AKB family consisting of AKB48, SKE48, NMB48 and HKT48 participated in this summer event that took place in Tokyo, Nagoya, Sapporo, Fukuoka and Osaka from July 20th to August 25th 2013. This tour has been a hot topic since three popular AKB48 members – Itano Tomomi, Shinoda Mariko and Akimoto Sayaka – graduated from the group during the tour. The graduation ceremony documentaries were produced by three different music video directo ..read more

Popular girl group AKB48 created a new internet phenomenon with their hit single “Koisuru Fortune cookie” (Fortune Cookie in Love) which was released in August 2013. The song sold over one million copies on its release day. In Japan, children and adults, company employees, officials from local governments, taxi drivers and people from other professions dance to the pop song and upload their videos to Youtube where their popularity spreads like a wildfire. One video for example was made by Inagawa-city located in Hyogo Prefecture. In order to make their town more popular and attract tourists ..read more

Mayu Watanabe (渡辺麻友) also known by her nickname Mayuyu, was born on March 26th, 1994 in Saitama Prefecture. She is a member of the Japanese idol girl group AKB48 (currently Team A). Furthermore she is a member of the AKB48 subgroups NO NAME, Watarirouka Hashiritai and Team Dragon. She is one of the most popular members of AKB48. Six years ago, in 2006, Mayuyu became a member of AKB48. She was chosen out of 13,000 applicants. The AKB48 single “Bingo!” (4th major single) was the first song where Mayuyu was placed in the main line-up. Mayuyu is very popular among AKB48 fans and in 2010 and 2011 ..read more

The sister groups of AKB48 are SKE48, HKT48 and NMB48 and they have their own theater photos which are worth talking about because of the modifications that were done. The distribution of HKT48 and some photos of SKE48, however, remains the same as the one for AKB48 since it has proven to work well. The SKE48 Random Theater Photos Released bi-monthly, the SKE48 theater photos offer one set of random pictures just like the ones of AKB48 and the second set is based on orders. The SKE48 Random Photoset comes in packets of 5 and is sold for 1,000 yen. Each set has 3 pictures and they follow a simi ..read more

The theater photos of the AKB48 are series of collectible photograph sets that are most likely to take over the B.L.T. regular series. They were launched in 2009 by the AKS and were originally considered as an alternative source of photographs to B.L.T. Now it might be the most popular with the B.L.T. agreement not being renewed. The AKB48 Monthly Theater Pictures If you happen to be in the area of Akihabara, drop by the Don Quixote building or the home theater of AKB48. On the 5th floor, you will find the AKB48 shop where the theater photos are sold and new ones are released every 26th of eac ..read more

As part of the second portion of our AKB48 photo guide, we focus on the special photos done by B.L.T. These are limited edition photographs and hard to find. They are also difficult to price since they have become coveted collector’s items for all AKB48 fans. The U-17 Batch This is the set of rare Under 17 or U-17 B.L.T. pictures that feature members who fall under this age category. In the B.L.T. magazines which were published every quarter, the issues have the good quality photos on the front and back pages. These issues never hit the stands since they were only available for online sales. T ..read more