NEWSWORTHY
Throngs of fans packed Tokyo Dome on Tuesday and Wednesday to watch K-pop group BTS perform songs from across its five-year career. The crowd cheered, bought merchandise and the two days offered the seven-member group some respite from a week of scandal. Things kicked off ...
The queen of kawaii: Kyary Pamyu Pamyu reflects on her reign
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu's trip to the Museum of Death in Hollywood proved to be a 2018 highlight for the 25-year-old J-pop star. "I thought it would be about murder and crime, but it was actually about everything related to death," she tells The Japan Times. ...
Beverly Caimen: 'Music is universal and goes beyond languages'
When Beverly Caimen moved from the Philippines to Japan in 2016 she was a relative unknown who could barely speak the language. Several months later, however, an unexpected encounter with actor Shun Oguri drastically changed her life. That meeting led to him introducing Beverly, as ...
Seiko Oomori: J-pop's reigning rule-breaker
Pop music often opts for positivity rather than confronting the uncomfortable, but Seiko Oomori has never really adhered to J-pop norms. "The bad things that happen to you can also be attractive, almost kawaii," she says from one of the upper floors at the headquarters ...
Fans across the country flocked to events paying tribute to pop diva Namie Amuro on the day she chose to step out of the spotlight.
Pop star Namie Amuro bows out with final performance in Okinawa
Pop star Namie Amuro delivered her final stage performance Sunday as fans from Japan and elsewhere in Asia flocked to Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to bid her farewell. Amuro — who has achieved milestones in Japan's pop music scene since the 1990s as a singer, dancer ...
Namie Amuro: Celebrating J-pop's first queen
For millions of Japanese music fans in the 1990s, Namie Amuro wasn't just the Heisei Era's defining pop star, she was someone they grew up with. This relationship is clear in the year-long documentary series, "Finally," which has been streaming on Hulu since the 40-year-old ...
Revisit the biggest albums of Namie Amuro's career
From 'Sweet 19 Blues' to '_genic,' Namie Amuro covered a lot of musical ground.
Summer Sonic's helter-skelter lineup provides a lot of chances for younger Japanese acts
When it comes to music festivals in Japan, Fuji Rock is the pretty one, Rock in Japan is the domestic one and Summer Sonic is the crowd pleaser. Past headliners have included acts as diverse as Metallica, Beyonce, Green Day and Stevie Wonder. In 2018, ...
Five Okinawa women in their 40s, who practiced singing and dancing as teens at the same school as pop diva Namie Amuro, have recently relaunched their music careers after a lengthy break with a goal of achieving fame. The members of aptly named Dream 39 ...
Atsuko Maeda, 27, a pop cultural icon and original member of the all-girl group AKB48, has married actor Ryo Katsuji, 31, an official of his management company said on Tuesday. "We will continue to support each other and sincerely engage in each and every project ...
Da Pump scores an unexpected summer hit with 'U.S.A.'
The highly coveted song of the summer needs to cut across demographics and unite one nation under a beat. Think Len's "Steal My Sunshine" in 1999, Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" in 2013 or Luis Fonsi's "Despacito" in 2017. Who'd have thought that, in 2018 ...
