Channel-Ai Community Blog - JPop reviews, articles

Tegomass, L-R: Tegoshi Yuya, Masuda Takahisa

Artist: Tegomass Product Code: JECN-120/122 Release Date: 2006.12.20 Highest Ranking: #1 Label: Johnny’s Entertainment Limited Edition: Photo booklet, DVD

Johnny’s Entertainment had always had many of its popular singles written by Swedish songwriters. After Seishun Amigo by Shuuji to Akira became a major success in Japan and also a minor hit in Sweden, the company decided to promote itself more overseas. Tegomass was formed to promote Johnny’s Entertainment internationally. In November of 2006, they held a press conference for both reporters and fans, and released a single, Miso Soup, written by Swedish songwriters and sung completely in English. The single debuted at a surprisingly high #12 on the Swedish charts and enjoyed a bit of overseas publicity.

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Ayumi Hamasaki and Tomoya Nagase

J-Pop Queen Ayumi Hamasaki and TOKIO vocalist and actor, Tomoya Nagase have announced the end of their relationship on the 13th July, 2007. This abrupt news has shocked all of their fans worldwide, since there were reports and rumors mentioning how they were planning to get married by the end of the year.

The couple have been together for seven years and have constantly been subject to rumors published on tabloids, with regards to their relationship. Due to both being famous, the spotlight was always focused on what their next step would be.

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Fujii Takashi’s profile picture

Title: Ai mo Kawarazu Artist: Fujii Takashi Release date: 2000.11.01 Product Code: ARCJ-152 Label: Antenos Record

Fujii Takashi is a celebrated icon who has spent years in Japan’s entertainment industry brandishing new acts, running gags and even making appearances in hit movies. While there is a certain light constantly shining down on his successful, comedic acting career, his tail occupation as a singer isn’t as well-known. It certainly gave a shock to Japan when Fujii made his debut as a singer in early 2000 with the single [Nanda Kanda], which was considerably successful in its own part. Later that same year, he would once again step down from his television performances to invest time releasing his second single [Ai mo Kawarazu].

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Neva Eva promo photo

Artist: Hitomi Shimatani Product Code: AVCD-31233/4 Release Date: 2007.06.06 Debut Ranking: #16 First Press: Offshot Clip Label: avex trax

Hitomi’s 2007 has certainly been yet another hectic year. With two singles and one album under her belt, Hitomi would immediately start working on a summer single. Apparently sales do not equate to Hitomi’s energy since she has been very busy and rather positive, despite the fact that sales kept sliding miserably. In any way, summer was sounding rather promising with yet another change of style. With her stunning looks and her bright personality, Hitomi would yet release another exotic single for 2007.

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Promotional photograph shot in France

Artist: Erika Sawajiri Product Code: SRCL-6590/SRCL-6588 Release Date: 2007.07.04 Highest Rank: #1 First Press: 12 page booklet and bonus DVD Label: Sony Music

Erika Sawajiri has definitely become a prominent celebrity in Japan throughout these past couple of years. Her acting career has pushed her in the spotlight, especially due to the choice of parts she was set to star in. Consequently Erika became a household name, through “1 Litre of Tears” and “Taiyou no Uta”. Last year, during the airing of Taiyou no Uta, Erika would release a single as the fictional character, Kaoru Amane. To everybody’s surprise, this single would become the highest selling singles in the female category and sell almost 500,000 copies.

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