His previous novel sold 120,000 copies, and it was turned into a manga as well. Kato said about his second novel, “I would give 120 points for it. I hope that readers will be able to see my growth in the second novel.”

Just like his previous novel, “Senkou Scramble” is also set in the entertainment industry, and it depicts the life of a center member of a popular female idol group and a paparazzi. Kato says “It’s just a fiction. I write it all using my imagination.” He also said that he would like to continue writing at a one book per a year pace until he gets his own corner at book stores.

Source: Sanspo

It was announced on the official website of upcoming drama “Hana no Zubora-Meshi” that NEWS‘ new song titled “Pokopon Pekorya” has been chosen as its theme song.  The song is newly written just for the drama by the same people who were also in charge of NEWS’ previous single “Chankapana.”

No other details including the release date have been revealed at this moment, but it is said to be a pop and light song that will stay in your head.

As reported earlier, “Hana no Zubora-Meshi” is a drama adaptation of popular manga that is written by Kusumi Masayuki and illustrated by Mizusawa Etsuko.  It will star Kurashina Kana, and NEWS member Kato Shigeaki will also make an appearance.  The drama will start airing on October 23rd.

Source: “Hana no Zubora-Meshi” official site

After last year’s withdrawal of Yamashita Tomohisa (27) and Nishikido Ryo (27), newly formed group NEWS restarted their activities with the single “Chankapana“.

Sales of “Chankapana” started on July 18th and sold 245,000 copies in its first week, ranking first in Oricon’s 7/30 singles ranking. “Chankapana” sold 95,000 more copies in its first week than their previous single “Fighting Man“, which was released before NEWS lost Yamashita and Nishikido. It is also the first time in 3 years for the group to achieve over 200,000 in sales in the first week since “Koi no ABO“ (released in April 2009). This is indeed a good start for NEWS.

NEWS has been topping the singles ranking since its debut with single “Kibou~Yell~“. Including its 5 top-ranking albums, NEWS has had 19 chart-topping works. In the top 3 places for most number of top-selling singles since debut are Kinki Kids (32 singles), KAT-TUN (18 singles) and NEWS (14 singles).

NEWS leader Koyama Keiichiro (28) was especially happy about their long-awaited new single ranking in first place. He addressed NEWS fans and commented, “‘Chankapana’ is a result of our feelings and the feelings of the fans who have been waiting for us. We achieved the best start. When I heard about the ranking, I cried. We will express our thanks through our activities. So ‘let’s fall into beautiful love’ with us!”

Koyama, Kato Shigeaki (25), Masuda Takahisa (26), and Tegoshi Yuya (24) started fresh as the newly-formed NEWS. They will kick off their nationwide tour “NEWS LIVE TOUR 2012 ~Utsukushii Koi ni suruyo~” with a public performance at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium. It’s announced that the tour will be held at seven locations in Kobe, Fukuoka, Niigata, Sendai, Hiroshima and Sapporo.

Check out the PV for Chankapana below!

Source: Oricon

As tokyohive reported previously, this is the debut novel for Kato. It tells a story about two best friends who enter the entertainment industry together. One becomes a star, while the other is nothing more than an extra.

No other details, including who would write the manga or when it would be released, have been revealed at this time.

Stay tuned for further details here on tokyohive!

Source & Image: Comic natalie

Popular Johnny’s group NEWS released their 1st best of album ‘NEWS BEST‘ on June 13th, and it topped Oricon’s Weekly Album Ranking for the week of June 25th. The album sold 109,000 copies for its first week of sales. With this achievement, all five of their studio albums dating back to 2005 have topped the weekly ranking. They are the 4th male artist to achieve this accomplishment, three male artists, KinKi Kids, CHEMISTRY, KAT-TUN also achieved this record.

NEWS made their come back with 4 members, Koyama Keiichiro, Masuda Takahisa, Kato Shigeaki and Tegoshi Yuya. To commemorate their return, they released their first best of album ‘NEWS BEST’ which includes their debut single ‘NEWS NIPPON’ to the latest single ‘Fighting Man’. Also, the group will release their new single “Chankapana” on July 18th, it will be their first single release in a year and eight months.

Source : Oricon

As previously reported, NEWS will be releasing their new single “Chankapana” on July 18th, and they have just revealed jacket covers and further details on this upcoming release.

This will be their first single in a year and eight months. The single comes in 6 versions; a limited edition special box; limited editions cleverly named N, E, W, S; and a regular edition. The limited editions come with solo jacket covers and a different bundled solo song for each version.

Limited edition N has Koyama Keiichiro’s song “Starry“, limited edition E has Kato Shigeaki’s song “Vampire ha Kaku Katariki“, limited edition W has Masuda Takahisa’s song “PeekaBoo…“, and limited edition S has Tegoshi Yuya’s song “Addict“. Special box limited edition has all those limited editions, and comes with DVD of “Chankapana”’s music video and making of.

Check out the preview of “Chankapana”, track list and jacket covers below!

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Limited Edition N (Koyama ver. jacket cover)

1. Chankapana
2. Starry [Vocal：Koyama Keiichiro)
3. Starry (Original Karaoke)

Limited Edition E (Kato ver. jacket cover)

1. Chankapana
2. Vampire ha Kaku Katariki [Vocal：Kato Shigeaki]
3. Vampire ha Kaku Katariki (Original Karaoke)

Limited Edition W (Masuda ver. jacket cover)

1. Chankapana
2. PeekaBoo… [Vocal：Masuda Takahisa]
3. PeekaBoo… (Original Karaoke)

Limited Edition S (Tegoshi ver. jacket cover)

1. Chankapana
2. Addict [Vocal：Tegoshi Yuya]
3. Addict (Original Karaoke)

Special BOX limited edition

[CD] (limited edition N/E/W/S)
[DVD]
1. Chankapana -music video-
2. Making of Chankapana

Regular Edition

[CD]
1. Chankapana
2. Full Swing
3. Chankapana (Original Karaoke)
4. Full Swing (Original Karaoke)

Source: Johnny’s entertainment

Back in April, NEWS announced their comeback through the release of a new single and album, now the group has finally announced the details of their upcoming album which will hit stores on June 13th!

The upcoming album is titled  ’NEWS BEST‘ and it will include their hit singles. The tracks range from their debut single “NEWS Nippon” to the latest single “Fighting Man“.

It will come in two versions, the limited edition will come with the member’s individual solo songs. In addition to the songs that has been performed live, it will also include the studio recorded versions.  The regular edition will also include 15 songs which was voted by the fans as the top 15.

Check out the track lists of the album below.

NEWS BEST
<Limited Edition> (With 28 pages(tentative) booklet)
[Disc 1] ALL SINGLES BEST

01：NEWS Nippon
02：Kibou～Yell～
03：Akaku Moyuru Taiyou
04：Cherish
05：TEPPEN
06：Sayaendou
07：Hadashi no Cinderella Boy
08：Hoshi wo Mezashite
09：weeeek
10：Taiyou no Namida
11：SUMMER TIME
12：Happy Birthday
13：Koi no ABO
14：Sakura Girl
15：Fighting Man

[Disc 2] UNRELEASED BEST
【Koyama Keiichiro’s solo】
01：Love Addiction
02：Private Hearts
03：Uri Sarang
【Masuda Takahisa’s solo】
04：-AKATSUKI-
05：Pumpkin
06：SUPERMAN
【Kato Shigeaki’s solo】
07：HAPPY MUSIC
08：Cacao
09：Sharara Tambourine
【Tegoshi Yuya’s solo】
10：Gomibako
11：Stars
12：Ai Nante

<Regular Edition> (With 24 pages(tentative) booklet)
[Disc 1] Same as Limited Edition

[Disc 2] FAN SELECTION BEST
01：Endless・Summer
02：Share
03：I･ZA･NA･I･ZU･KI
04：SNOW EXPRESS
05：DREAMS
06：FLY AGAIN
07：Smile Maker
08：Forever
09：Bambina
10：Kirameki no Kanata e
11：Yume no Kazudake Ai ga Umareru
12：2Nin/130000000 no Kiseki
13：Mafuyu no Nagareboshi
14：Cherish <Ryoji（from Ketsumeishi）Remix>
15：Towairo no Koi

Source : Johnny’s Entertainment

As we reported, Johnny’s Entertainment had had a countdown on their official website, and the mysterious count down officially stopped on April 15th at 12:00AM. When the timer hit 00:00, the huge clock turned into a silhouette of 4 people with some background music. Many people could not see this as the website servers were swamped by people trying to access the site.

Matching up with many fans assumptions, there’s some good news for NEWS fans as it seems the information was about NEWS. The silhouette picture matches up exactly the same as their profile picture on Johnny’s website.

After Yamashita Tomohisa and Nishikido Ryo withdrew from NEWS back on October 2011, fans were hardly able to see their activities as the new 4 member NEWS,  Koyama Keiichiro, Kato Shigeaki, Masuda Takahisa and Tegoshi Yuya.

There is no more details and Johnny’s website is currently inaccessible, so stay tuned for more details!

Congratulations for all NEWS fans who had been waiting for this moment!

Source & Image: Johnny’s Entertainment

On March 8th, TBS revealed the cast and the story for the third episode of their three-night special drama ‘Blackboard ~Jidai to Tatakatta Kyoshi-tachi~‘, which will portray the struggles of three different teachers in three different eras.

As it was announced in January, the first episode (which will air on April 5th) is set during the early post war period. Arashi member Sakurai Sho will be playing a soldier who’s exchanging the real battlefield for a junior high school, where he’ll be working as social studies teacher. Aside from having to adjust to the post war life and the new democratic system, he also has to struggle with his new prosthetic arm after losing his arm in the war.

One of his colleagues, an English teacher, will be played by AKB48’s Oshima Yuko, making this the first time for members of Arashi and AKB48 to appear in a drama together. Also appearing in this episode are Miyazawa Rie and child actor Suzuki Fuku.

The next episode (April 6th) will feature Sato Koichi as a unique teacher during one of the most violent eras for schools in the 1980s. One of the “bad students”, who is making life and work difficult for the teachers, will be played by Shida Mirai. Also appearing in this episode are Kanjiya Shihori, Kimura Tae, Hayashi Kento, and Sometani Shota.

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Additionally, it was just revealed that the final episode (April 7th) will be actually set in modern-day Japan again, and will tackle the story of forbidden teacher-student relationships. Matsushita Nao will play a very devoted English teacher who’s offering personal lessons for a pupil (played by Kamiki Ryunosuke), who barely can read or write.

Out of jealousy, the other pupils start to spread a false rumor about an alleged love relationship between her and said pupil. Even though it’s a lie, the rumor soon spreads to her coworkers and parents of the pupils. She loves being a teacher, and therefore tries to endure it all, but things become more difficult when the PTA (Parent-Teacher Association) files a complaint against her.

NEWS‘ Kato Shigeaki will play one of her colleagues, while SKE48’s Matsui Jurina will take on the role of a jealous pupil who starts the rumor.

All three episode will air at 9:00 pm.

Source: Sanspo (1,2), Sports Hochi, Cinema Café

This will be the first time for any talento from Johnny & Associates, Inc. to publish a novel.  Kato also stated during an interview, “I will continue writing after this, and someday, I would like to win the Naoki Prize (Japanese literary award).“, and revealed that he is planning to pursue both careers as a talento and as a novelist simultaneously.

His debut novel “Pink to Gray” is a story about two best friends who enter into the entertainment industry, and one becomes a star, while the other is nothing more than an extra.  Kato appealed confidently, “I guarantee that it will have a shocking impact on whoever reads it.”  Although he didn’t major in literature and studied law, reportedly, he had always loved to write, and wanted to write a novel ever since he was 20 years old.

Kato also said about his name change, “To turn over a new leaf.  I put the wish to make a fresh start.”  Back in October, two of the members, Yamashita Tomohisa and Nishikido Ryo left the group.  Kato revealed how he felt when the all six members had a talk in June, “I was shocked to hear about their withdrawal.  There was a possibility for the group to disband, but I’m glad we could maintain NEWS even with the four members.  I would like to make a new start as a group as well.”

Source: Sanspo