Originally featured in J!-ENT Feb. 2013: In Japan, AKB48 member Yuki “Yukirin” Kashiwagi is one of the more popular and highly ranked members of the group. A member of AKB48 and the side-group French Kiss, Kashiwagi has had solo songs featured on the French Kiss Read More …
The album I am featuring in today’s “Discovering Japanese Music” is My Little Lover’s second album, “PRESENTS”. My Little Lover is a group that began back in 1995 with vocalist Akko, guitarist Kenji Fuji and producer/songwriter Takeshi Kobayashi (best known for producing hits for The Read More …
My review was featured on J!-ENT (2007): With the sad and depressing news of the death of Sakai Izumi, lead singer of the popular band ZARD, I pulled this album out and just listened to it over and over. With the October 2006 release of Read More …
I can easily remember when I first heard of Every Little Thing (ELT), then a trio which featured vocalist Kaori Mochida, guitarist Ichiro Ito and keyboardist Mitsuru Igarashi. The song was “Feel My Heart” and discovered the group while watching CDTV (a top 40 video Read More …
AKB48, the idol group that took Japan by storm and has been one of the few music groups in Japan that continuously reaches over a million in sales thanks to their dedicated fanbase. Back in 2011, AKB48 released their 23rd CD single “Kaze wa Fuiteiru” Read More …
Sometimes you just want to go back to your music collection and find music you just are in the mood for. And you know that you start to feel old when artists you enjoyed immensely start to receive the cover treatment. But fortunately, in this Read More …
Perfume is a group which consists of members Ayano Omoto, Yuka Kashino and Ayaka Nishiwaki from Hiroshima, Japan debuted back in 2001 and is produced by Capsule and Meg producer Yasutaka Nakata. Featured in an Apple iTunes commercial worldwide to their music being featured in Read More …
For decades, the boy band SMAP had entertained audiences. Gracing magazine covers, TV commercials, having multiple television shows featuring a member or all members, they were Japan’s most popular group until friction developed and the group calling it quits on December 31, 2016. But still, Read More …
I remember when I was sent a tape by a friend featuring the CD single for “Cross Road” and I was instantly hooked. I just remember watching their brief music video clips on various Japanese music shows and just felt that the music was well-sung, Read More …
Nogizaka46 began year 2013 with their fifth CD single “Kimi no Na wa Kibo” (which translates to “Your Name is Hope”), one of their most popular singles to this day. Nogizaka46, the idol pop group was created by Onyanko Club and AKB48 creator Yasushi Akimoto. Read More …