The popular idol group Shuritsu Ebisu Chugaku will open a one-day-only cafe in Omotesando on May 1, 2022! The location will open in conjunction with CookpadTV, which hosts the popular show ‘Shiritsu Ebisu Culinary Institute.’

The members of Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku are passionate about cooking, making this the perfect project. Since October 2021, the girls have streamed their cooking stories and ideas on CookpadLive, and now, they’re ready to put their hearts and souls into each and every item on this cafe menu. Visitors will also be able to purchase original merchandise on-site and see some of the member’s costumes! 

Reservations for the cookpadLive Ebisen cafe are required, and the lottery for reservations is open now. Some of the menu items and original goods offered at the cafe are also available for purchase on cookpadLive’s official E-commerce site, so don’t worry if you aren’t able to attend in person on May 1!

The cookpadLive Ebisen Cafe will feature a special lunch time, dinner time, and cafe time. The nine members of Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku will appear in three teams for each session.

Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku have released the music video to their latest single Dekadonden which is set to be released on June 6.

A mysterious photo and countdown was posted on the group’s official Twitter and Instagram on May 25, causing much speculation from fans. The countdown stretched to May 30, on which the music video was unveiled. Japanese actress, comedian and fashion designer Naomi Watanabe makes an appearance in the video, who the group members adore.

The video sees the group members taking on the roles of detectives to solve incidents around town. It’s then that they stumble upon Naomi Watanabe, who plays the role of a giant dance queen. They managed to corner her in a car park where an epic dance battle takes place. It’s then that the plot twist is revealed. ‘Plot twist’ in Japanese is dondengaeshi, which related to the song title.

Speaking about the collaboration, the members said: “We haven’t had many guests perform in our music videos, so we are truly honoured for Naomi Watanabe to be that person, whom we love, and to even have danced with her!” During the dance battle sequence, the members are wearing clothes from PUNYUS, a fashion brand produced by Naomi Watanabe and one that the Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku members enjoy in their daily lives.

‘Dance’ is the key word behind this video, and it’s all thanks to Sasuga Minami who created the choreography for it. The unique and powerful dance moves are worthy of note.

Be sure to catch the video for yourself and see the group’s collaboration with Naomi Watanabe, who is a dance queen both in name and in reality.

Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku (hereafter Ebichuu) began their Japan solo hall tour “Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku IDOL march HALLTOUR 2017～Ima, Kimi to Koko ni Iru～” on April 22^nd at Olympus Hall Hachioji. The group toured 18 locations and performed 19 concerts, concluding the tour At Tokyo International Forum Hall A on July 16^th.

On February 8^th this year, Ebichuu member Rina Matsuno (attendance no. 9) suddenly passed away, leaving 7 members to participate in this tour. By sheer coincidence, the final date of the tour was the same day as Matsuno’s birthday, which marked July 16^th a significant day for the other members.

The tour saw the group perform the entirety of their latest album “Ebicracy,” which was the talk of the town amongst fans. The album, which is their fourth to date, went on sale on May 31^st, and saw Ebichuu take their first ever number one spot on Oricon’s Weekly Album Rankings. Ebichuu challenged themselves to a new kind of release with “Ebicracy,” having each member featuring as the main vocalist on different tracks..

Ebichuu family gathering to see the group who performed an exciting set list made up of the tracks from “Ebicracy” and their most popular tunes. But the key point to highlight is how different this performance was from any other on this day.

The confetti at the end of the concert was designed in the same image colour as Rina Matsuno – blue. The first song the group performed during the encore was “Zenryoku☆Runner”, a song that was loved by Matsuno. The next was “Fure! Fure! Sairiumu” during which each member held up a blue coloured penlight. This was followed by a graceful performance of a Matsuno-original version of “Sudden Death”.

The show finished with a performance of Ebichu’s first original song “Ebizori Diamond!!” The entire concert lasted almost 2 and a half hours with a total of 23 songs. The Ebichuu family were ebullient and merry to the end.

At the end of the concert, an emotional Ayaka Yasumoto (attendance no.5) asked, “Can I tell you about a dream I had?” and began to talk about Matsuno for the first time since the start of the tour. She went on to talk about some funny stories, and at the end said “To the mother who gave birth to Rina, and to the father that raised her. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for letting me have the chance to meet such a wonderful girl. (partially omitted) I want to continue talking about Rina to even more people from now on too. I hope we as a group can become one that can make lots of different people laugh. Are you listening! Are you listening! I bigged you up so much just now! Just you wait and see! Keep on watching over us!” She said this directly to Matsuno while looking up just as on the first day of the tour.

Hinata Kashiwagi (registration no. 10) spoke about “Ebicracy” reaching number one on the Oricon Weekly Chart, saying “I wonder if it was a present from Rina. (partially omitted) This isn’t the end for us here with this concert. I want to keep working hard by challenging ourselves to different things, so please keep on supporting Shiritsu Ebisu Chuugaku”.

As the concert drew to a close, a tour documentary film began playing where the members had left the stage, accompanied by the song “Kanjou Densha” sung solo by Rina Matsuno. It was the last ever recording of Matsuno before her passing and tugged the heartstrings of everyone in the room who were welled up with tears as they listened. The film also showed the 8 members recording “Ebicracy”.

 It ended with an 8-member key visual for “Ebicracy” and the tour title “Ima, Kimi to Koko ni Iru” (“I’m here with you right now”) which changed on screen to “Korekara mo, Kimi to Koko ni Iru” (I’ll always be here with you”). The crowd screamed “Thank you!” while giving a huge round of applause.

The full footage of this concert is set for release this autumn and is provisionally titled “EVERYTHING POINT 5”.

Related article：Music video released for “Ringer Hut” TV commercial song “Kanjou Densha” by  Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku!

Idol had missed Tuesday concert before succumbing to unspecified disease.

Rina Matsuno, a member of the idol group Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku, passed away on Wednesday, February 8 due to an unspecified disease. She was 18.

The group’s official website had announced on Tuesday that she could not appear at a Shiritsu Ebisu Chugaku concert that day due to a health issue.

Sources close to her said that she was recuperating at her home when her condition took a turn for the worse early Wednesday morning. Her parents phoned emergency medical services at around 5:00 a.m. on Wednesday. An ambulance took her to the hospital, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.