Jin Akanishi (26) has written a comment on the official Johnny’s mobile site, his first since the news of his expected removal from KAT-TUN. In his message, Akanishi formally announced that he is going solo.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada has predicted a big, bruising battle against Denmark on Thursday, demanding something special from his players to stay alive in the World Cup.
Japan need only a draw to reach the last 16 as they have a better goal difference than Denmark, although the two sides are level at three points in Group E.
The Netherlands are already assured of advancing having won both matches in the group.
Read the rest of the story: Japan coach predicts bruising match against Danes

This year is the 10th anniversary of the debut of pop star Kumi Koda (27). As a special project to celebrate the milestone, she is releasing her first “best live DVD” on July 17. She debuted in 2000 with the single “Take Back” and gained fame for her seventh single, “Real Emotion / 1000 no Kotoba”, the songs of which were used as themes for the video game Final Fantasy X-2. Her popularity grew with the release of her fourth studio album Secret (2005), her sixteenth single “Butterfly” (2005), …

Blast from the past! Pink Lady (ピンク・レディー, Pinku Redī?) was a Japanese female pop music duo of the late 1970s and early 1980s, featuring Mitsuyo Nemoto (“Mie” – pronounced “Me-ay”) and Keiko Masuda (“Kei”). In Japan, they are remembered for a run of pop-chart hits from roughly 1976 to 1979, but in the United States, they are best known for their short-lived 1980 NBC TV variety show Pink Lady, later released on DVD under the title Pink Lady and Jeff.
Pink Lady is one of only two Japanese artists to …

X JAPAN will release their first original full album in the last 14 years in English.

Of course this is also the first time for them to release an album with 6 members.

Recording started in the US in March. They seem to be working 24/7 to finish the album in time.

Boy band NEWS now has a dozen consecutive #1 singles, as their latest song “Sakura Girl” led the charts this week with 195,000 copies sold. UVERworld’s “GOLD” was #2 at 50,000, and they have a similar streak going with a dozen consecutive top ten singles.
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION’s ranked 3rd with their theme song for the “Solanin” movie, while AKB48 duo Queen & Elizabeth came in at 4th. The only other new single in the top ten was AI’s collaboration with Namie Amuro, which charted at #8.
On the album charts, aiko’s …

Singer Hatsumi Shibata, known for several hits such as “My Luxury Night” and “Yoru wa Dramatic,” died of acute myocardial infarction on Saturday morning in her Shizuoka home. She was only 57 years old.
Born in Tokyo in 1952 to a pianist father and a vocalist mother, Shibata started singing at the age of 9 at an officers club on a U.S. military base. At 11, she became a vocalist for the big band group Smiley Ohara and His Skyliners. She entered commercials four years later, and in 1974 she made …

The recipients of the 2010 Space Shower Music Video Awards were announced on Monday. This year, the biggest winner was Namie Amuro(pictured above), whose song “FAST CAR” (from the album “PAST < FUTURE”) picked up two awards: Best Video of the Year and Best Art Direction Video. Ringo Shiina also won a pair of awards: Best Artist and Best Female Video.

Best Video of the Year: “FAST CAR,” Namie Amuro

Best Artist: Ringo Shiina

Best Your Choice: “Oshakashama,” RADWIMPS

Best Director: Yuichi Kodama

Best Male Video: “Shunkan Speechless,” KREVA

Best Female Video: “Tsugou no Ii Shintai,” …

Japan’s Akira Kano on Friday captured the Alpine skiing super-G (sitting) gold at the Paralympics for his second medal of the 2010 Games.
The 24-year-old, who won the bronze in Thursday’s downhill, won in a time of 1min 19.98sec with Germany’s Martin Braxenthaler (1:20.63) taking silver and Japan’s Taiki Morii (1:20.98) the bronze.

X Japan leader Yoshiki has filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against the music production company Nexstar Corporation, seeking approximately 375 million yen in damages. However, that figure could grow by another 600 million yen.
According to the lawsuit, after X Japan reunited, they entered a contract with Nexstar Corporation in January 2008, which included the use of some recordings. That initial deal was for the sum of 600 million yen in advance royalties and contract money, which has so far been entirely unpaid.
Between 2008 and 2009, the company …