By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
President and CEO of Starbucks Coffee Japan Co., Ltd., Takafumi Mizuguchi, announced the 2017 line of sakura themed products to mark Japan’s celebration of cherry blossom season. Products such as tumblers, mugs and Starbucks cards will be available for a limited time through Starbucks Japan stores nationwide (excluding some stores) and through online ordering.
Continue reading “Starbucks Japan Announces 2017 Lineup of Sakura Drinks and Drinkware”
By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
Japanese pop group Fairies (フェアリーズ) have released through their official YouTube channel their first music video under their latest formation. The video titled “Synchronized” is the first without member Fujita Maria and will be released as a single March 1st of this year. Fujita announced through her Ameba Blog early in January her retirement from the entertainment industry. Fujita expressed interests in studying for a career.
Fairies will be promoting “Synchronized” with an evening performance at Zepp Tokyo in Aomi, Kōtō-ku, Tokyo, Tokyo Prefecture. The performance will start at 18:30 (6:30pm) on Sunday, February 19th. Those who are unable to attend can watch the performance through the LINE LIVE app. The viewing url will be https://live.line.me/channels/21/upcoming/979450.
Continue reading “Fairies’ Release First MV ‘Synchronized’ Under New Formation”
By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
The group formed by EXILE’s Takahiro, GLAY’s Hisahi, Losalios’ TOKIE, and The Mad Capsule Market’s Motokatsu Miyagami can be seen in the upcoming release of High & Low the Live. The huge movie spectacle staged at four locations in Japan with over a million people in attendance will finally hit store shelves in DVD and Blu-Ray format.
The film that contains elements of car and bike stunts, drama, samurai warriors with swords, and musical performances. Over 450 performers were used in the making of this movie. Some of the artists who took part were EXILE, J Soul Brothers III, PKCZ, JAY’ED, E-girls, and EXILE TRIBE.
Continue reading “Wind Up Geek’s J-Music Quick Fix – February 5, 2017”
By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
Baby Star Ramen’s mascot, Bei-chan, is to be retired by the Oyatsu Company Ltd. and new mascot, Hoshio-kun will be gracing the packages of Japan’s popular snack food which has sold nationwide since 1959. Announced at a press conference, Hoshio-kun’s first commercial (CM) appearance will be with fashion model and pop singer Natsume Mito advertising Baby Star’s newest snack food, Baby Star Panmen. The commercial will be broadcast nationwide in Japan from February 6th.
Continue reading “Pop Singer Natsume Mito Appears in Baby Star CM with New Mascot”
By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
This summer, the message will even spread further about how indomitable the human spirit is to different kinds of adversity in Sunao Katabuchi’s adaptation of Fumiyo Kouno’s manga, In This Corner of the World, in theatres around North America. In this tale, the life of soon to be wed Suzu Urano is looked at. As she settles into the life in Kure City on the coast of Hiroshima Prefecture during World War II, the darker elements are always looming.
Shout! Factory, a multi-platform media company, and Animatsu Entertainment, a London-based producer, licensor and distributor of anime in the UK and Ireland, have entered into an exclusive film deal to distribute this movie in North America and abroad across various platforms. Animatsu will handle the rollout which will start in England, France, and South America.
The announcement was made today by Shout! Factory’s founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos; and Animatsu Entertainment’s Chief Operating Officer, Jerome Mazandarani.
Continue reading “In This Corner of the World Anime is Coming to North America!”
By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
One of anime’s biggest names is coming to the Seattle and will be found at Sakura-Con 2017, the Pacific Northwest’s largest anime convention. Celebrating 20 years, it is only fitting character designer, writer, and manga artist Kenichi Sonoda will be one of this year’s guests.
Sonoda’s career started in the mid-80’s at studio Artmic, where he became a character designer for some of Artmic’s best titles such as Bubblegum Crisis (where he produced the original look of the Knight Sabers team), Riding Bean, and the Gall Force series. Sonoda was also designer on long-time fan favourites Otaku no Video and the super-deformed special Scramble Wars: Tsuppashire! Genom Trophy Rally.
Continue reading “Character Designer & Manga Artist Kenichi Sonoda Announced for Sakura-Con!”
