Japanese singer-songwriter Aimer, who is known for her iconic husky voice, released two albums simultaneously back in April―Sun Dance and Penny Rain―which served as the first albums she had released in two and a half years. Without time to even catch her breath, she immediately dropped a brand new track the following month entitled STAND-ALONE, which was used for the Japanese drama Anata no Ban Desu, and reached No. 1 across Japanese music charts.

Her 17th single Torches was released last month, and served as the ending theme for the ongoing TV anime series Vinland Saga which began airing in July.

Marie Antoinette in Court Dress by Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, 1778 (Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien)

“The Habsburg Dynasty 600 Years of Imperial Collections” is an upcoming exhibition set to take place at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo from October 19, 2019 to January 26, 2020 in commemoration of Japan and Austria’s 150 years of friendship. The exhibition was taking requests for musicians to create a theme song based on someone from the House of Habsburg for the event. Aimer wrote her new song marie based on Marie Antoinette, and it has been selected for the exhibition.

It has yet to be announced when marie will be released, but a TV ad for the exhibition has been posted on TBS’s official YouTube channel and contains a snippet of the track.

Speaking on the occasion, Aimer commented: “The stories of the live of those in the House of Habsburg are filled with conflicting emotions of joy and sadness, privilege and downfall. I received a request to write a song based on any one of theme, and I was immediately reminded of Marie Antoinette.”

She continues: “I drew on her life in my own way in the song marie, from her getting married in France at the age of 14 to the grand final moments of her life. I hope people like the fusion of my voice with the sublime sound of the strings, and I hope it adds something to the Habsburg exhibition for those who are going.”

The new blockbuster hit from internationally-acclaimed animator and film director Makoto Shinkai Weathering with You dropped back in July and has since amassed over 10 billion yen (approximately US$101 million) in the box office.

A music video for the movie edit of the film’s main Shukusai by RADWIMPS featuring Toko Miura has just been released on the band’s official YouTube page. The gorgeous video is inspired by the film’s story, with the change in sunny weather simultaneously uplifting peoples’ feelings.

The video features a lone Toko Miura in a cave with the sunlight shining down. The life that exists down in the cave begins to bloom at the sound and echo of Miura’s bright and clear voice.

RADWIMPS, who are responsible for the film’s entire soundtrack, have announced that they will release a new album entitled Weathering with You complete version on November 27, 2019. The album will include all 5 main themes, including both the full versions and versions edited down for the film.

©️2019 “Weathering with You” Production Committee

The fourth video in Honda’s ongoing “Go, Vantage Point” television commercial series began airing today. The new video features ONE OK ROCK’s song Head High taken from their album Eye of the Storm as well as narration from ONE OK ROCK frontman Taka. The band also featured in the series’ first video two years ago.

The commercial series showcases Honda’s power products while aiming to stir viewers’ curiosity and fill them with motivation.

The commercial made it onto the YouTube Ads Leaderboard in Japan, a list of the ads with the most views.

TK from Ling Tosite Sigure is readying himself for his tour to Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya this October. But before he hits the road, he has just announced that his new single melt (with suis from Yorushika) will be released digitally on October 2, right before the tour begins.

As the title reveals, the track features suis from Japanese music group Yorushika, who was invited on board with a direct offer from TK. The song will be released in just under a month, but TK has given fans a tease over on his official Instagram and his band his band Ling Tosite Sigure’s Twitter page. The song draws a silhouette of ephemeral forbidden love, woven together with the unmatched beauty of TK’s melodies and suis’s vocals.

Speaking about working on the song with TK, suis commented: “I am deeply honoured to have been invited on board a song so sensational I have no idea why I was chosen. I’m the type of person whose soul is touched when it comes to songs, so my chest felt tight the entire time when recording began. Every time I listened to the track it felt like I was doing something wrong. I felt really troubled. I hope the people who listen to the song feel the same way.”

TK also commented: “I wrote this song on the fly. Every element of it came to me at once: the visuals of the music video, the words, the melody. In that time I wanted something that wasn’t me, something that sounded different from my usual image. I called it melt, and suis’s vocals elevated that transience that much more, like it’s close to you and melts and then heads off far away. I’m looking forward to the people who usually listen to Yorushika getting to hear suis in a different light. And the video is wonderful, it’s something completely new. I hope it reaches faraway [people].”

ONE OK ROCK revealed that they will be streaming the live videos of two earth-shattering live performances they delivered last year. Both live concert videos will be uploaded in full onto their official YouTube channel and accessible only via YouTube Premieres. 

The two videos to be streamed are the AMBITIONS JAPAN DOME TOUR 2018 finale and the special live concert called ONE OK ROCK with ORCHESTRA JAPAN TOUR 2018 which was supported by a live 53-piece live orchestra. 

This streaming event stretches over two days and is a fantastic way to commemorate the sale of the videos, which were released in Blu-Ray and DVD format on August 21. The livestream for each video will run for one day only. This event aims to connect ONE OK ROCK fans across the world, allowing fans to share their excitement in real time. If you are a fan, you definitely cannot miss out on this opportunity. 

Tune in on Saturday to witness the full AMBITIONS JAPAN DOME TOUR 2018 live concert finale which saw the end of the AMBITIONS WORLD TOUR, in which they played at over 100 concerts worldwide.

If you tune in on Sunday, you will be treated to the special ONE OK ROCK live concert called ONE OK ROCK with ORCHESTRA JAPAN TOUR 2018, which was supported by a 53 piece live orchestra. As this video will only be available on Sunday, this is a once in a lifetime chance that fans around the world just cannot miss out on. 

Streaming Dates and Times:

①   ONE OK ROCK 2018 AMBITIONS JAPAN DOME TOUR

Saturday, August 24 from 22:00 (JST) 

9:00 (EDT),  6:00 (PDT), 14:00 (BST)

URL: https://youtu.be/vNtvtWCNw3E

②   ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018

Sunday, August 25 22:00 (JST)

9:00 (EDT), 6:00 (PDT), 14:00 (BST)

URL: https://youtu.be/pj49tCFqO4A

ONE OK ROCK will release their 2018 “Ambitions Japan Dome Tour” and 2018 “Orchestra Japan Tour” on DVD and Blu-ray this Wednesday. To promote the release, posters featuring live photos from the shows have been plastered up around various locations in Tokyo as well as throughout the Kansai region including Osaka.

Written on these posters is a cryptic number which is in fact a Japanese phone number. You will need to call the number yourself to find out what exactly it’s all about―and that’s all part of the fun of the promotion for the DVD and Blu-ray releases.

The “Ambitions Japan Dome Tour” posters can be found throughout Tokyo while the “Orchestra Japan Tour” posters are in the Kansai area including Osaka. You’ll find the ones with the phone numbers in Tokyo in the Shibuya and Daikanyama area as well as major train stations in Tokyo while in Kansai they are dotted up and down the major train stations of Hankyu Railway. There is a total of 74 posters so you are bound to see one if you’re in Tokyo or Osaka.

The “Ambitions Japan Dome Tour” saw the band perform for over 300,000 fans at four stadiums in Japan while for the “Orchestra Japan Tour” the band were joined by an orchestra made up of 53 musicians.

Having just released her 17th single Torches today (August 14)―which serves as the ending theme for the ongoing anime series Vinland Saga―Japanese singer Aimer has just announced an all new tour. Titled Aimer LIVE TOUR 19/20 “rouge de bleu”, the tour will begin this fall from October 31 and take her to 17 cities across Japan for 24 shows.

The theme of the tour is red and blue as evident in the tour title’s use of French for the colours. This contrasts with her first-ever performance at Nippon Budokan back on August 29, 2017 which was themed on black and white (“blanc et noir”). We look forward to seeing how she uses these new colours on the new tour.

Those who pick up a copy of Aimer’s new single Torches can access pre-sale tickets for the tour.

Speaking about the tour, Aimer commented: “24 shows in total. The theme this time is red and blue. I will sing at you with everything I have on each of those days the songs I find myself able to sing because of the time we’re in right now. I intend to make this my most amazing tour ever. I’m looking forward to seeing you all from the bottom of my heart. See you out there.”

Aimer will release her 17th single Torches on August 14. While we wait for the CD to hit shelves, us fans have been treated to shortened version of the music video in a track-by-track preview.

The title track is used as the ending theme to the ongoing 24-episode anime series Vinland Saga which began airing on July 7. The music video paints grand imagery with fire and water along to the tribal-like sound of Torches.

The video also teases us with a sneak peek at the other songs on the single including Blind to you and Daisy.

Blind to you is reminiscent of Aimer’s earlier ballads while Daisy is a jaunty, foot-tapping love song.

The title track Torches will receive an independent digital release on August 5 prior to the CD’s release.

ONE OK ROCK have added more dates to their upcoming “2019-2020 EYE OF THE STORM JAPAN TOUR” which is set to begin this September. This includes December 28 and 29 this year at Okinawa Convention Center and January 29 and 30 next year at Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

ONE OK ROCK 2018 AMBITIONS JAPAN DOME TOUR

ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018

The band also released teaser trailers for their upcoming live DVD and Blu-ray releases “ONE OK ROCK 2018 AMBITIONS JAPAN DOME TOUR” and “ONE OK ROCK with Orchestra Japan Tour 2018” both of which will hit shelves simultaneously on August 21.

The trailers showcase their incredible sets with the former covering their 4-date Japan dome tour held last year to 300,000 fans and the latter their orchestra tour held at Saitama Super Arena and Osaka-jo Hall in October last year where the band were joined by an orchestra of 53 people.

Relive these incredible shows by ordering the DVDs or Blu-rays and catch them on the road in Japan this year and next.

Following the successful film Your Name, Makoto Shinkai has produced yet another masterpiece called Weathering with You (Tenki no Ko), collaborating yet again with RADWIMPS. RADWIMPS’ released their brand new album called Weathering with You (Tenki no Ko) on July 19. Until now, their song Ai ni Dekiru Koto wa Mada Aru Kai has made quite a few brief appearances in the promotion in the movie including in the movie trailers and has stirred quite a sensation. 

Today, along with the release of the album, the official music video went public. Each scene of the video has been depicted beautifully. As the weather changes, each scene shifts perfectly in response, portraying the beautiful world of the film flawlessly. The music is filled with the strong and intense yet gentle and kind vibes of RADWIMPS that you absolutely cannot miss. 

The new album includes a total of 31 songs, consisting of the five main theme songs and the 26 songs that are used as background music in the film. Please check out their emotion-filled album and then see the movie for yourself to see just how RADWIMPS have added colour and emotion to scenes of the film. All songs from the album have been released by major streaming services such as iTunes and Rekchok, so please check it out. 

There is also a special bonus scheme running to treat those who purchase the new album from a shop. The bonus involves the free giveaway of a CD-sized card with a special design that represents the five main songs from the album. The pattern on the card varies from shop to shop, so please find out more information about this scheme by visiting their official website if you are interested. 

©2019 Weathering with You Production Committee

The titles of all five theme song from RADWIMPS new album Weathering with You, which is set for release on July 19, have been unveiled. RADWIMPS are in charge of the anime film’s soundtrack, following their work on Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 film Your Name.

We have already heard Ai ni Dekiru Koto wa Mada Aru Kai and Grand Escape (Movie edit) feat. Toko Miura in the film trailers. The other three tracks are titled Kaze-tachi no Koe (Movie edit), Shukusai (Movie edit) feat. Toko Miura, and Daijoubu (Movie edit). The entire soundtrack will consist of 31 tracks divided into 5 theme songs with vocals and 26 BGM tracks. We look forward to seeing at what point each of these songs will feature in the film.

Fans of RADWIMPS and the film can get their their hands on five different CD size cards related to each respective theme song when purchasing the album at select stores in Japan. Full details below.

‘Weathering with You’ Special Trailer

The gorgeous new extended trailer released yesterday looks back at Makoto Shinkai’s works and how his style has developed over the years.

©️2019 “Weathering with You” Production Committee