Announcements

What it says – announcements :)

5 – 1 = 0

I’m not going to write a long post, because I’ve already written a lot on my LJ. The gist of it was: just a little bit after my last post, I saw the message on the FC site, and I was heartbroken. The press conference made me feel a little bit better, and last Monday’s News Zero reassured me a lot. Yes, nothing is certain, and there’s a possibility that they won’t come back. There is also the possibility that they would, and the fact that Sho-kun said so made me believe in Arashi, because I trust Sho-kun completely.

I’m still scared and sad and a mess and I probably will be for a long time, but I trust that Arashi will be okay, and that they’ve got each other’s backs. And if they’re okay, then I’ll have to learn to be okay, too.

Originally I had my own plans for next year, but this news really hit me hard, and made me decide that if Arashi is giving their all for the next two years, then so am I. I will support them and try to love them as much as I can for the next two years.

Quick Sho-kun news!

…that was released yesterday but I was too busy at work, so I’m posting now instead XD

Sakurai Sho will be the MC for the White Team at this year’s Kouhaku Uta Gassen, which will be the 69th Kouhaku. I haven’t really been up-to-date with Arashi news the last couple of years, but based on my twitter timeline, everyone thought it would be Jun? I’d be happy with either of them as host, but I do agree with those that commented that Jun would be too busy with 5×20.

For the Red Team, the MC will be Suzu Hirose, who acted with Sho-kun in Laplace no Majou. (Which I’ve yet to see, despite the fact that it was still showing in Japan the last time I was there… T_T)

BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.

Sho-kun will also be hosting NTV Best Artist! I have to admit, as much as I love Arashi I’m not as into tv performances as most fans. But when it comes to Sho-kun hosting stuff, I definitely need to watch the whole thing. I’m pleased but also wondering at how busy he must be right now!

5×20 Goods FINALLY Announced~

This year they will be using the 5x20goods app, which looks very fun but I’m not really seeing the point of (as in, will it REALLY make things more efficient?)

Japonism Arena tour

I was lucky enough to hit the ballot for Japonism this year, for December 24th at Tokyo Dome, but because of a family emergency I couldn’t make it. My ticket didn’t go to waste, though, which I’m glad about – my friend used it instead, and wrote this lovely report about the concert! It’s nice to get to read about what I missed – reading it really cheered me up some, after such a hard week.

Today, I received an e-mail with news of an ARASHI “Japonism Show” in ARENA. Which I suppose is an arena tour, which they haven’t done in a long while. This made me cheer up a little more, because it’s a chance to see Japonism after all – even if there’s zero chance of hitting the ballot this time, so I really need to depend on resellers this time (>_<). Right now I’m thinking of aiming for either Yokohama or Shizuoka, the former because of its proximity to Tokyo (but I guess that means it might be more expensive, too) and the latter because the timing would be right for another event I was thinking of going for (plus it’s a smaller venue, which may be more fun, and I had always wanted an excuse to visit Shizuoka). Of course, all this is just wishful thinking, but right now it’s nice to have some amount of hope 🙂

The tour dates:

April 23rd | Sun Dome Fukui | 1pm, 6pm
April 24th | Sun Dome Fukui | 3pm

May 7th | Hiroshima Green Arena | 1pm, 6pm
May 8th | Hiroshima Green Arena | 3pm

July 23rd | Shizuoka Ecopa Arena | 6pm
July 24th | Shizuoka Ecopa Arena | 12pm, 5pm

July 30th | Kagoshima Arena | 1pm, 6pm
July 31st | Kagoshima Arena | 3pm

August 6th | Nagano M-Wave | 6pm
August 7th | Nagano M-Wave | 12pm

August 9th | Yokohama Arena | 12pm
August 10th | Yokohama Arena | 5pm

In other news… I haven’t really been keeping up with news, because of aforementioned family emergency. I just remember reading somewhere that Arashi will be doing something related to Star Wars for Kouhaku? Having been a Star Wars fan long before I was an Arashian, I would love to watch that! Speaking of Kouhaku, I’ll be on the road to my parents’ hometown on the 31st, so I’ll be missing it… good thing with Arashi I could be assured of finding clips online later. I just wish I could say the same about my other favourite group, BUMP OF CHICKEN :p – I have no idea where I’d be able to watch their performance.

Arashi News Round-up

Yesterday we got to see the Japonism goods for the first time! The masking tape (venue-limited item) for Nagoya is blue. And it comes in a set of two tapes! I’m all excited about it, but I didn’t really order any, because it’s too expensive with our current exchange rate (T_T). Anyway, you can check out the goods here.
Ninomiya Kazunari will be starring in Fuji TV’s New Year drama SP which will be aired on January 3rd 2016, at 9pm. The drama will be “Botchan”, based on Natsume Soseki’s novel. Since lately I’ve been feeling like reading and/or rereading Natsume Soseki, I’m looking forward to timing my Botchan read with the drama 😀
Arashi, along with TOKIO, HSJ, Ikuta Toma and Totsuka Shota, supported V6 at their 20th anniversary concert. Arashi went onstage as backup dancers during the encore, for “TAKE ME HIGHER”. Look for the news clips all over dailymotion and tudou; they’re fun to watch XD

Japonism Goods – Updated

Now with prices for all the goods. J-net also updated the selling times for Nagoya; goods will start selling on November 4th. Can’t wait to see the previews!

Japonism tour goods announced!

Venue Limited Item: Masking Tape | TBD

Kids Line
Mini Uchiwa | 400yen
Japanese Stickers | TBD

As usual, the list is out, but the prices have not yet been announced. I’m really excited about this year’s goods because I didn’t get the Waku2 masking tape when it was out and I’ve been hoping for Arashi to have masking tapes in their goods list again ever since! And not only it’s in the list, it’s the venue limited item – which means 5 different colours to choose from! I’m getting overexcited just thinking about it… of course, I will most probably not have enough money to order them all, haha.

Other goods I’m interested in: the “wa” stickers, the Japonism calendar (how overdone is overdone, I wonder?), the wrapping cloth and the envelope. These are all the sort of items I’d use normally. I think I might want the pouch and the blanket, but I’m expecting them to be over my budget. The t-shirt will probably be too tight again, so I won’t consider it. I was thinking of not getting uchiwas or penlights this time around, but the description of the penlight intrigues me. I’ll be looking forward to see the goods preview (on November 5th, before the Nagoya Dome tour, probably?).

note: by the way, leaks for the album are out. As usual, I have no idea where to find these leaks and am torn between asking around or just waiting patiently for my CDs to arrive. Right now I’m doing the latter, but it’s so hard being online when everyone’s already talking about the album!

Arashi’s new album, Japonism

Thank the gods for Facebook Messages! I never noticed any of the texts Isabelle sent me (because I don’t have my phone out) so it was only when she asked if I received them that I checked, and found out that Arashi’s new album was announced.

The album will be called Japonism, and will be released on October 21st. The concept is on seeing Japan from various angles, or “Japan = kansha” (gratitude/appreciation).

One of the main songsrecorded for the album, currently referred to as “Untitled A”, was done with Hotei Tomoyasu. Of course, it will include their recent singles, although “Ai wo Sakebe” doesn’t seem to be one of them. Which is a pity, because from what I’ve heard of it, I like it a lot! Anyway, the album songs will be using a mix of Japanese instruments and digital funk music.

What I find most frustrating is that there are TWO limited editions, and a regular edition that seems like a must-get:

Limited Edition 1: comes in a special packaging, 16 songs, video clip + making for “Untitled A”.

Limited Edition 2: Comes with the same 16 songs plus one cover of Shonentai’s “Nihon Yoi Toko Makafushigi”, and a secret talk, “Arashi Japonism Talk”.

Regular Edition: Same 16 songs, plus FOUR bonus tracks, which includes “Furusato”.

YES, “Furusato”. For the first time, we get a studio version!

I want all of these, but only pre-ordered the LEs. I can get the RE later, I guess.

[Source]

Ai wo Sakebe covers

The covers for Arashi’s new single, Ai wo Sakebe, are out. I like them! I’ve been pretty much “meh” about most of their newer (“newer” being 2011 and above) singles, but I’ve liked everything from Sakura onwards, I think. I hope I’ll enjoy the song, too 🙂

from j-net

A rainbow explosion of updates!

This isn’t supposed to be an Arashi news blog, and yet… there’s just so much to share 😀

First of all, BLAST in Miyagi goods previews are up and all over twitter. Everything looks so cute, I can’t decide on what I want the most. I know I want the spoon set, and the tote… but which T-Shirt? Do I get the socks? Do I really need another hooded towel? Answers seem to point to YES, BUY THEM ALL (>_<).

And then, of course, today’s the opening for Ohno’s FREESTYLE II exhibition at Omotesando Hills. Arashi were there, of course, and so were Shige and Okada! The goods images are up at the FREESTYLE II website.

Also. Arashi announced a new single, “Ai wo Sakebe”. The LE comes with a choreography video and the press conference for the new JAL plane. Thankfully, this time I found out about it in the morning and had time to get it before it sells out at CD Japan.

The Digitalian DVD cm is out at Johnny’s Net. It comes with a Suppin / behind-the-scenes extra. I can’t deal with all the awesome being thrown in my direction today. And the day’s only halfway over.

Speaking of the Digitalian DVD, the covers were released sometime ago but I’ve yet to post it:

from jnet

嵐TV

Shukudai-kun re-watch, and other things Arashi