Japan
Japan’s UNISON SQUARE GARDEN Drops ‘TIGER & BUNNY 2’ Theme ‘kaleido proud fiesta’
J-pop band UNISON SQUARE GARDEN dropped its new single “kaleido proud fiesta,” currently being featured as the opener of the Netflix anime series TIGER & BUNNY 2. The three-man band’s songs have been linked to the popular series in the past, including the first season of the original TV series and the two feature film versions. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The group also shared an animated music video collaborating with TIGER & BUNNY 2. This video and the one created by “zono.sann,” a visual artist with 2.5 million followers on TikTok, will be included in the CD single’s limited first edition, along with the making-of video. The CD will also come with a clip of the live acoustic version of “Ohitoyoshi Chameleon” from the band...
BoJ official says digital yen won’t be used to achieve negative interest rate
The Bank of Japan (BoJ) has said that its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), the digital yen, will not be used to help attain negative interest rates. The BoJ’s Executive Director, Shinichi Uchida made the announcement in his most recent public speech. “While the idea of using such a functionality as a means to achieve a negative interest rate is sometimes discussed in academia, the Bank will not introduce CBDC on this ground.” Japan initially adopted negative interest rates in 2016 in an attempt to combat decades of deflation by encouraging borrowing and spending. Negative interest rates are only used as a last resort by central banks during a recession to stimulate an economy by encouraging borrowing and spending, with interest being paid to borrowers rather than lenders. Echoin...
Japan’s BUMP OF CHICKEN Releases New ‘Detective Conan’ Movie Theme ‘Chronostasis’
Veteran J-pop band BUMP OF CHICKEN digitally dropped its new single “Chronostasis” on Monday (April 11). “Chronostasis” is the theme of this year’s Detective Conan (Case Closed) movie, subtitled The Bride of Halloween. Set in Tokyo’s Shibuya area during the busy Halloween season, the 25th installment in the long-running franchise depicts clashes with the perpetrator of past serial bombings and a mysterious figure in disguise, and an unprecedented crisis that confronts the protagonist and his peers. The digital jacket artwork was designed by VERDY, who has been responsible for much of the four-man band’s artwork in recent years. It depicts an abstract clock inspired by the music. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news [flexi-common-toolbar] [fl...
Japan’s Daichi Miura Premieres New Song ‘Sansan’ in Concert
J-pop artist Daichi Miura kicked off his nationwide tour on Thursday (March 31) in Saitama, Japan. Titled Daichi Miura Live Tour 2019-2022 Colorless, this trek picks up from where he left off when he had to indefinitely postpone in 2020 due to the pandemic. The current tour adds new venues to the schedule from two years ago for a total of 22 locations. The “Excite” singer-songwriter will perform 33 shows over the course of four months this year. During the concert that was also livestreamed for fans watching from home, the 34-year-old performed a set including many of the songs he released after he had to postpone. He also premiered his latest track called “Sansan,” set to be featured as the theme of the new NHK morning drama series beginning April 11. Chimudondon is the 106th title in the...
Bank of Japan official calls for G7 nations to adopt common crypto regulations
A senior official from the Bank of Japan (BOJ) has warned G7 nations that a common framework for regulating digital currencies needs to be put in place as quickly as possible. G7 refers to the Group of Seven, an inter-governmental political forum made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The statement comes in response to the continued conflict between Russia and Ukraine, as cryptocurrencies and their potential applications for skirting economic sanctions falls under increasing scrutiny. The head of the BOJ’s payment systems department, Kazushige Kamiyama, told Reuters that using stablecoins makes it very easy to “create an individual global settlement system,” which would in turn make it easier for nation states to evade more t...
Mark Karpeles announces commemorative NFT drop for Mt. Gox users
The former CEO of thnow-defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox has announced that certain users will be eligible to receive commemorative nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. In a Monday announcement on Twitter, Mark Karpelès said that crypto users who were Mt. Gox customers between 2010 and 2014 — during which time the exchange was hacked and subsequently declared bankruptcy — could register to claim a free NFT. According to the CEO, the offer extends to users who had a balance or have claimed losses from the defunct exchange. “Mt. Gox customers are early adopters, some of them were on BitcoinTalk when Satoshi Nakamoto was still posting,” said the project website. “A new token or NFT airdrop is a great way to engage users and at the same time erase a bit of the loss incurred in Mt. Gox.” You can claim y...
Japan plans to tighten crypto exchange regulation to enforce sanctions
Japan plans to amend its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act to bring crypto exchanges under the purview of laws that govern banks, a government official revealed on Monday. The proposed amendment is being carried out to prevent sanctioned countries from taking evasive actions using digital assets. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in a press conference said that the government is planning to introduce a bill to revise the Foreign exchange laws to include crypto exchanges. Fumio Kishida, the newly elected prime minister of the country, also supported the proposed revision and called for coordinated moves with Western allies to enforce the new laws. Under the revised foreign exchange laws, crypto exchanges, just like banks, will be required to verify and flag transactions ass...
Coinbase to track off-platform crypto transfers in Canada, Singapore, Japan
Citing compliance with local jurisdictions, crypto exchange Coinbase announced to soon collect additional information from users based in Canada, Singapore and Japan. Effective from April 1, Coinbase users from Canada, Singapore and Japan will be required to provide additional information while sending cryptocurrencies to a different (non-Coinbase) platform. However, while Singaporean and Japanese investors will be required to share additional information about the recipient for every single off-platform transaction, Canadians sending less than $801 (1,000 CAD) will be exempted from this requirement. Screenshot of Coinbase requesting recipient information from Canadian users. Source: Coinbase As shown in the above screenshot, Canadian users will need to share the full name and ...
Japan’s Miyashita Yuu Talks New Album, Including ‘Platinum End’ Closer ‘Koufukuron’
Since 2008, when Miyashita Yuu kicked off his career as a “utaite” singer posting covers of Vocaloid songs on the Japanese video-sharing platform Nico Nico Douga, he has branched out from being a cover singer to being a songwriter, composer, arranger, illustrator and animator of music videos, gifting fans with his multitalented artistry. He released three albums as an amateur artist, beginning with his first project Zouka (“Artificial Flower”) in April 2013, his follow-up from May 2014 called holidays, and his third set called “Suimyaku” (“Water Vein”) in April 2016. He wrote and sang all the songs on these albums and even illustrated the covers. Miyashita made his major-label debut in August 2016 with his first album Tsumugi no Ki, then followed up with Ao ni Aruku in December 2018 and Sa...
Crypto exchange Coincheck will soon list on Nasdaq via a merger
The Asian exchange will list via a special purpose acquisition with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV Coincheck has in the past suffered breaches and serious cyber-attacks Coincheck, a ‘vintage’ crypto exchange and digital wallet firm, on Tuesday said it will soon list on the Nasdaq after completing a special purpose acquisition (SPAC) with Thunder Bridge Capital Partners IV at a $1.25 billion pre-money valuation. The SPAC deal will see the Coincheck crypto exchange become a subsidiary of Coincheck Group (CCG). However, the statement insisted that CCG shall remain under the umbrella of Monex Group, which took over the crypto exchange in 2018. Monex Group currently owns 92% of Coincheck and will own 82% of the new ‘combined’ firm. Via the combined holding, Coincheck...
SixTONES Scores Sixth No. 1 With ‘Kyomei’ on Japan Hot 100
SixTONES’ sixth single “Kyomei” blasts into No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100, dated March 9, putting an end to Aimer’s seven-week streak at the top of the tally. The six-member Johnny’s boy band scores its sixth No. 1 with this track, which is the opener for the ongoing anime series Yashahime: Princess Half-Demon season 2. “Kyomei” sold 402,093 copies in its first week to rule the metric (though about 100,000 copies short of its previous single, “Mascara”), while also coming in at No. 1 for look-ups and radio airplay. The track also did well on Twitter (No. 4) and came in at No. 53 for video views, so the two physical metrics of the chart’s methodology (sales and look-ups) fueled the song to No. 1 this week. Explore Explore SixTONES See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos,...
Japan’s Online Vocaloid Scene’s Influence on Current J-Pop Mainstream, Explained
Fifteen years since the release of the groundbreaking singing voice synthesizer software Hatsune Miku in 2007, Vocaloid has become an essential part of the current J-pop landscape. Numerous artists whose music careers got started by producing and sharing tracks made with Vocaloid software — “Vocalo” is now a J-pop sub-genre and its producers are collectively called “Vocalo-P” in Japanese — have broken into the mainstream, including hitmakers Yonezu Kenshi and YOASOBI, who have dominated the Japan charts in recent years. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news Why have so many gifted artists emerged from the Vocaloid scene? What are some of the factors that led to Vocalo-P creators becoming solo singer-songwriters or forming groups with other artists to...
