Utada Hikaru will start her radio program on InterFM, “KUMA POWER HOUR with Utada Hikaru“, starting in April.

It’s a regular radio show, which will air on the third Tuesday of every month for an hour, and the first episode is scheduled to be aired on April 16th starting at 10:00 pm.

In the morning on March 22nd, Utada tweeted, “This is sudden, but I will start my radio show starting in April. It’ll be the first time in 13 years for me to have a regular program. I wonder if I would do fine…” As she said, this will mark her first regular radio program since her last one “Utada Hikaru no Tres Bien・Bohemian“, which ended in September of 2000.

Utada has been on hiatus after a live concert held in December of 2010. Though she provided “Sakura Nagashi” as theme song for the film, ‘Evangelion Shin Gekijouban: Q‘ (‘EVANGELION:3.0 YOU CAN (NOT) REDO‘), back in November of last year, there is no plan for her to resume her musical activities at this moment.

Source & Image: natalie & Utada Hikaru Twitter

It’s been revealed that singer-songwriter Hoshino Gen will be making his comeback with the March 4th broadcast of J-WAVE’s ‘RADIPEDIA‘.

Hoshino received surgery for subarachnoid hemorrhage in late-December and has been continuing treatment in order to return in perfect condition. During this time, Santo “JxJx” Jun (YOUR SONG IS GOOD), ROY (THE BAWDIES), Kudo Kankuro, and Rekishi had served as navigators for ‘RADIPEDIA’.

With his appearance on March 4th, Hoshino will gradually resume his activities.

Source & Image: natalie

On February 11th, Momoiro Clover Z’s special event, titled “Momoiro Clover Z Momoclo Club xoxo ~Valentine DE NIGHT Dah~Z!“, was held at Tokyo International Forum Hall A.

This special event was a public recording live concert for their radio show “Momoiro Clover Z Momoclo Club xoxo“, which is aired every Sunday night on Nippon Broadcasting System. As it was a special event for Valentine’s day, the members said at the press conference held before the event, “We will show our cuteness, which we don’t usually show.”

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The venue was filled with feverish excitement even before the event started, and the audience cheered while a video clip for their latest single “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi yo” played before the members appeared. When the opening theme “overtune” began playing, the audience became even more feverish, and the five members appeared from the audience seats while receiving loud cheers.

During the opening MC, Yoshida Hisanori, the announcer of the Nippon Broadcasting System who’s known as “Gobo” among the members and their fans, joined the girls as the host. With Yoshida’s MC, they had a segment, “Oshiete Momoclo Sensei!”, in which the members give advice to the listeners. There was a question asking, “What kind of impressions are you good at?”, and to answer the question, member Tamai Shiori mimicked Rola. During the corner, special guest Matsumura Kunihiro, a mimic talento, made a surprise appearance. Matsumura gave a mimic lecture to the members for Beat Takeshi, Takanohana, Nishida Toshiyuki, Sakai Masato, and Nakao Akira. At the end of the corner, the members and Matsumura showed Beat Takeshi’s “Comanechi” gag together.

The next was a live segment in which Momoclo performed some unit songs and solo songs. After the performances, the members looked back on their live concert at Yokohama Arena “Momoclo Haru no Ichidaiji 2012 Yokohama Arena Masaka no 2DAYS ‘ Momoclo☆All Stars 2012′“ held last spring when they performed their unit song for the first time. While they were talking about the concert, leader Momota Kanako brought up her grudge toward Yoshida announcer. That day, Yoshida sneaked into Momoclo’s dressing room, and he took Momota’s favorite stretch mat to give to the radio listener as a present. As revenge, Momota brought Yoshida’s favorite bicycle, which Yoshida has been using since his student days, on the stage and said it would be given to a listener of “Momoclo Club xoxo” as a present. Yoshida accepted to give it away with sorrow in the end.

In the middle of the event, the members challenged a radio drama for the first time. The title was “Kanako ga Kieta Hi (lit. “The day Kanako disappeared”)” It was a youthful drama centering around Momota, who said she would refuse to appear on a radio show, since she can’t read Kanji. As the conclusion of the story, the girls performed a cover of Matsutoya Yumi’s masterpiece “Valentine’s RADIO“. They revealed that they visited Matsutoya’s live concert. According to Momoclo, when they told Matsutoya that they would cover her song, she gave advice to them saying, “The rhythm of the song is difficult, so you should just perform in high spirits.” They also included a dance which was created with inspiration from Matsutoya’s live in the choreography for the cover song.

After the drama, the Momoclo members exited the stage. Then there was a talk segment by Yoshida announcer, and after that, “Momoclo Club Noushuku-ban”, a digest of the history of the radio program, was played.

Soon after, the five members appeared again with a different costume and performed three songs: “Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi yo“, “D’ no Junjo“, and “Pinky Jones” without a break. They livened up the audience by calling out to them and ended the live with two more songs “Otome Sensou” and “Roudou Sanka.” However, the heated atmosphere of the audience did not get any cooler as they started the encore calls right away, which brought the members on the stage once again. Then the girls performed another two songs “Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dai Nana Gakusho ‘Mugen no Ai’” and “Ano Sora e Mukatte“. After that, Sasaki Ayaka said to the audience, “I think Momoclo and radio are a good match. Though it was the first time for us to hold a public recording at such a big venue like this, we were able to talk as usual, and I believe we were able to show you radio and live that are both Momoclo’s strong points. We were happy to spend an early Valentine’s day with you all!”

The members then held each other’s hands and gave a deep bow to the audience, ending their 3-hour event.

This public recording event will be aired in two parts on February 17th and 24th in the “Momoclo Club xoxo.”

<Momoiro Clover Z Momoclo Club xoxo ~Valentine DE NIGHT Dah~Z! Setlist>

01. Hashire!
02. Kuroi Shuumatsu
03. DNA Rhapsody
04. Sora no Curtain
05. Orange Note
06. Jimusho ni Motto Osare-tai/ Jimusho ni Motto Osare-tai (Ariyasu Momoka & Takagi Reni)
07. Single Bed wa Semai no desu / MomoTamai (Momota Kanako & Tamai Shiori)
08. Datte A-rin Nanda mo-n☆ / Sasaki Ayaka
09. Valentine’s RADIO (Original: Matsutoya Yumi)
10. Saraba, Itoshiki Kanashimi-tachi yo
11. D’ no Junjo
12. Pinky Jones
13. Otome Sensou
14. Roudou Sanka
＜ENCORE＞
15. Mouretsu Uchuu Koukyoukyoku Dai Nana Gakusho ‘Mugen no Ai’
16. Ano Sora e Mukatte

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Source & Image: natalie

Thanks to eyeless for the tip!

On Thursday January 3, the first 2013 broadcast of J-WAVE program “RADIPEDIA”, hosted by Hama Okamoto (of the band OKAMOTO’S), will feature his father Hamada Masatoshi (of the comedic duo Downtown.)

This is the first broadcast ever that they have done together. Since the broadcast, recorded at the end of 2012, will be aired in January, the theme is “What did everyone do for the New Year?”

The two will start the show by reminiscing on the past family New Year celebrations. The pair also talk about OKAMOTO and Downtown’s activities in the music and entertainment world, and the differences in their activities; towards the end, they reveal their bond as father and son.

At the conclusion of the broadcast, Hama Okamoto commented, “Though it was ‘an ordinary talk between parent and child,’ I would be happy if everyone could enjoy it.”  Hamada Masatoshi responded, “Hama Okamoto-san, thank you for letting me talk on your radio show,” and thanked his son.

The program begins broadcasting at midnight. Tune in to listen to their talk.

Source and Image: Natalie

BiS (l. & r.) and Dorothy Little Happy (c.)

On October 5th, it was announced that idol group BiS (Brand-new idol Society) will be hosting Tokyo FM’s ‘RADIO DRAGON ~Monthly Dragon~‘ every Tuesday starting from October 9th for a whole month.

‘RADIO DRAGON’ is a very popular segment on Tokyo FM that airs at 8:00 pm for two hours from Monday to Tuesday every week. BiS’ monthly segment is titled ‘BiS no Idol? IDOL or NOT‘. The guest list for the show includes various ‘genuine idols’ who will discuss what it means being an idol together with the ‘unorthodox idols’ BiS.

The first episode on October 6th will feature idol group Dorothy Little Happy as guests.

Source: natalie

Actor Sato Takeru, who is the leading star for upcoming movie Rurouni Kenshin, will be taking on the role of radio personality for the first time on “All Night Nippon GOLD”, a popular radio program by Nippon Broadcasting System.

Fukuyama Masaharu, who’s from the same agency as Sato, has been a radio personality on the program for many years . Sato expressed much enthusiasm for his new challenge as he remarked, “I don’t think I will be able to talk as well as my senior (Fukuyama), but I will be happy as long as I can have a fun time with everyone.”

Takei Emi, the actress playing the heroine Kamiya Kaoru in the movie, will also be appearing on the radio program. Together with Director Otomo Keishi, the three of them will talk about never-before-revealed stories and highlights from the movie. This episode is scheduled to air on August 17th, 10 PM.

Source + Image: Mantan Web

On July 22nd, Kikuchi Ami (21) of Fuji TV’s idol group Idoling!!! held a public recording session of Radio Japan’s, “Kikuchi Ami no 1ami9” program (Saturdays at 10 PM) at Tokyo Summerland in Akiruno, Tokyo.

Endo Mai (23) and other Idoling!!! members  appeared as guests; the members enthusiastically sang four of their songs including their new song, “One Up!!!,” which will be released for sale on August 8th.

During the “Talk Corner” of the program, the question “Tangibly describe your ideal type of man” was posed and Kawamura Yui (22) answered, “The perfect man.  As long as he passes my standards, he is good.,” to which Kikuchi responded in the manner of a straight comic, “Then will not be able to marry anyone.”

In the case of Tonooka Erika (21), who had male fans ask “Please marry me!!,” Kikuchi responded with, “I do not get what you are saying, it’s just weird,” to which the 500 fans in attendance laughed.  The full session will be broadcast on July 28th at 10 PM.

Source and Image: Sanspo

On July 2nd, Japanese football player Nagatomo Yuto (Inter Milan) attended the public recording ceremony of the radio program ‘MY OLYMPIC‘, a collaboration between Lotte and the commercial radio network JFN.

‘MY OLYMPIC’ will feature special coverage of the upcoming London 2012 Olympics on JFN and all their 38 associated networks. Its hosts are Nagatomo, actress Horikita Maki, figure skater and gold medalist Arakawa Shizuka, and athlete Asahara Nobuharu. The latter three also attended the PR event.

Nagatomo revealed that he was especially happy to meet Horikita again on this occasion. He already had the chance to meet her at a Lotte PR event two years ago, where he confessed to be a huge fan of the actress. Horikita was still curious about this and asked, “I’m always following your activities on TV. Two years ago, you told me you were a fan of mine. What about now?”

He bashfully answered, “I’m also following your activities on TV when I’m in Italy. I think you have a special aura. You have become even more beautiful…” When reporters suggested that he should use this radio program to become friends with her, he just grinned ear to ear.

Horikita revealed to have a keen interest in the Japanese women’s judo team at this year’s Olympics. She said, “Everyone is so strong. They should win a lot of medals.”

On the same day it was announced that Yoshida Maya (VVV-Venlo) and Tokunaga Yuhei (F.C. Tokyo) have been selected to lead the young U-23 players to success at the Olympics as the only two players (of three allowed) above the age limit. Nagatomo commented, “They are both very experienced players. I hope they can lead the young players and shake the football world.”

Sources & Pictures: Mantanweb, Walkerplus

On June 28, it was revealed that actor Ito Hideaki (36) will take on the challenge of becoming a radio personality.

He’ll begin by hosting the July 3rd show of Nippon Broadcast’s popular All Night Nippon program. His show, titled “Ito Hideaki no All Night Nippon GOLD”, begins airing at 10PM.

The program is usually broadcast from the Yurakucho studio in Tokyo, but on Ito’s particular broadcast date, the program will be broadcast from ABC radio since Ito is set to appear in Osaka at an event for the film “BRAVE HEARTS Umizaru”, (opens July 13) in which he plays the lead role, on the same day.

To support Ito on his first broadcast, his fellow “BRAVE HEARTS Umizaru” cast members Sato Ryuta (32) and Kato Ai (29) spontaneously decided to participate in the broadcast as guests. Listeners can expect the trio to reveal stories from the set, provide explanations to comments from listeners, and answer questions from listeners.

Ito enthusiastically stated, “It is a wonder how I can take on the challenge of being a radio personality for one of my favorite programs, ‘All Night Nippon’.  Because it is a live broadcast, I will use caution to avoid getting caught up in the moment.”

Source and Image: Sanspo

On the June 30th broadcast of Fairies’ own radio show “Fairies no Fly to the World”, the group revealed a short audio preview of “Sparkle”.

“Sparkle”, one of the title tracks off their fourth single “Tweet Dream/Sparkle (to be released on July 25th), is a fast, electro-pop tune that would be perfect for a night out.

Listen to this radio preview below!

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Tip: Forverstorm90