Japonism

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.

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!

One week to go for Japonism!

By now, every Arashian would already know that their collaboration with Hotei Tomoyasu is titled “Kokoro no Sora”, and is quite unlike their typical releases. I wasn’t sure if it was entirely a good thing the first time I heard the clip (I loved the guitars, but the other stuff…) but the more I replayed the clip, the more it grew on me. Now I can’t wait to hear the full version!

The track list for the album:

Disc 1

01. Sakura
02. Kokoro no Sora
03. Kimi e no Omoi
04. Don’t you love me? (Matsumoto Jun solo)
05. miyabi-night
06. Mikazuki
07. Bolero!
08. Mr. FUNK (Aiba Masaki solo)
09. Akatsuki (Ohno Satoshi solo)
10. Aozora no Shita, Kimi no Tonari
11. Rolling days (Sakurai Sho solo)
12. In the Room
13. Masquerade
14. MUSIC (Ninomiya Kazunari solo)
15. Tsutaetai Koto
16. Japonesque

Disc 2

LIMITED ED A:
DVD Kokoro no Sora music video + making

LIMITED ED B (YOITOKO VERSION)
01. Nihon Yoitoko Makafushigi (Shonentai cover)
02. Arashi Japonism Talk

REGULAR EDITION
01. Bokura ga Tsunaideiku
02. the Deep End
03. Make a Wish
04. Furusato

Lyrics booklets: 84 pages for LE A, 32 pages for LE B, and 34 pages for RE.

So. There will be only three songs with Sho rapping. And Aiba’s solo has a rap, and it’s not written by Sho. And Nino wasn’t involved in the songwriting of his solo this time. I wonder if all the album songs will be as different from their usual as “Kokoro no Sora” is? I guess we’ll find out in a week!

Source for track list and image: J-net.

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]

嵐TV

Shukudai-kun re-watch, and other things Arashi