Japan
Years & Years Release New ‘Starstruck’ Remix With Rising J-pop Artist SIRUP
British singer Olly Alexander’s solo project Years & Years dropped a brand-new remix of “Starstruck” on Tuesday night (Feb. 15), joined by rising J-pop singer-songwriter SIRUP. The release of the new remix comes on the heels of Years & Years’ latest album Night Call debuting at No. 1 on the Official UK Albums Chart, becoming Alexander’s second chart-topping set. Explore See latest videos, charts and news “Starstruck (SIRUP Remix)” adds the 34-year-old J-pop artist’s uniquely groovy style of rap and vocals over Alexander’s feel-good vibes. The It’s a Sin star shares how the collaboration came about: “I heard a song SIRUP made with another British artist, Joe Hertz, called ‘MAIGO.’ I loved that song, and thought his style would really suit ‘Starstruck,’ because he does a lot of...
Japan-based messaging app will offer trial run of native token starting in March
Users of Japanese messaging giant LINE will soon be able to use the app’s native token for payments at select online merchants in a limited trial. In a Tuesday announcement, the LINE Corporation said that starting on March 16, users would have the option of paying with native LINK token (LN) — not to be confused with Chainlink (LINK) — at any of LINE Pay’s online merchants. The trial period, which will run until Dec. 26, is aimed at testing real-life use cases for the tokens in addition to increasing the convenience and number of payment options for users. Source: Mikhail Nilov, Pexels LINE Pay said it was considering adding other cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) to its payments options in the future, in addition to strengthening its partnerships with blockchai...
FTX exchange acquires Liquid and absorbs its subsidiary Quoine
The acquisition deal is yet to receive the green light from the financial markets regulator and shareholders Japan-based FTX users will be moved to Quoine after the completion of the deal Following a successful $400 million Series C funding round at the end of last month, FTX has moved to acquire Liquid – a Japan-based crypto exchange firm. The Bahamas-based exchange, led by Sam Bankman-Fried, is looking to seal the acquisition deal for Liquid by March. Neither party revealed the deal’s specifics, including the financial sum involved. This is not the first time that Liquid and FTX have crossed paths. Last year in August, the former suffered a hack that saw it lose up to $90 million worth of funds in almost 70 various crypto assets. Following the hack, FTX financed the exchange, offer...
Japan-based crypto exchange DeCurret plans to sell to HK’s Amber Group: report
The holding company behind DeCurret, the Japan-based company offering trading and exchanges of digital assets, reportedly plans to sell its crypto business to investment platform Amber Group. According to a Wednesday report from the Nikkei newspaper, DeCurret Holdings intends to sell the crypto branch of its business to the Hong Kong-based company Amber Group in February. Though the details of the acquisition are unclear, the news outlet reported that the sale price would be in the millions of dollars. DeCurret established a new business structure in December 2021, launching a holding company, DeCurret Holdings, and separating its digital currency and crypto business into separate subsidiaries. Under the proposed arrangement, DeCurret Inc. will represent the company’s crypto exchange busin...
Sega will likely not introduce NFTs for play-to-earn if ‘perceived as simple money-making’
The leadership at video game firm Sega Corporation’s holding company has suggested that they may avoid nonfungible tokens in play-to-earn model games based on the response from users. In a Dec. 14 meeting of Sega Sammy Holdings’ CEO Haruki Satomi, senior executive vice president Koichi Fukazawa, and Sega Corporation president Yukio Sugino, the trio said they needed to “carefully assess” how to potentially introduce nonfungible tokens, or NFTs, into Sega titles to “mitigate the negative elements” and work within Japanese regulations. The executives cited “negative reactions” from users overseas rewarded in NFTs for gameplay. “In terms of NFT, we would like to try out various experiments and we have already started many different studies and considerations but nothing is decided at this poin...
Aimer Returns to No. 1 as Holiday Favorites Soar on Japan Hot 100
Aimer’s “Zankyosanka” returns to No. 1 on the Billboard Japan Hot 100 dated Dec. 29, tracking the week from Dec. 20 to 26, 2021. The anime theme song ruled the tally two weeks prior and continues to maintain momentum. [embedded content] “Zankyosanka” rules streaming for the third week and video views for the second week in a row, both decreasing slightly figure-wise but still going strong. The track racked up 8,904,311 weekly streams (from 9,649,396 the week before) and 2,655,800 views (from 3,183,554) during the chart week, while slipping to No. 2 for downloads after reigning over the metric for two weeks. In other metrics, it comes in at No. 60 for Twitter mentions and No. 29 for radio airplay. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news The song that to...
BE:FIRST and Its Fans Achieve Success on Hot Trending Songs Charts
BE:FIRST, a Japanese group led by musician and music producer SKY-HI, is enjoying tremendous success on the U.S. Billboard charts. The Hot Trending Songs global charts track Twitter posts by artists’ fans and other Twitter users around the world. BE:FIRST’s debut single “Gifted.” — which was released on Nov. 3 — took the No. 1 spot with a commanding lead, a rarity for a Japanese artist. Even now, a month after the single’s release, it still enjoys a high place on the charts. Posts from BESTY, BE:FIRST’s supporters, are generating constant buzz on Twitter. There are also fan accounts who share daily chart updates. [embedded content] As reported in numerous news articles, “Gifted.” took the No. 1 position on the Nov. 10 Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart, dominating the digital metrics of downloa...
Olympic Games 2020 Football Squads: A complete list of all 16 men’s football teams
The men’s football tournament at this summer’s Olympic Games is set to kick-off on July 22, with 16 participating nations allowed to select 22 players. Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the participants can use 22 players instead of the usual 18. Players on the teams must be born on or after January 1, 1997, with the addition of three overage players. Let’s see the list of the confirmed squads. Suggested Article: Olympic Football 2020: Schedule, Odds & Live Streaming. Group A France Goalkeepers: Paul Bernardoni (Angers), Stefan Bajic (Saint-Etienne), Dimitry Bertaud (Montpellier). Defenders: Melvin Bard (Lyon), Anthony Caci (Strasbourg), Ismael Doukoure (Valenciennes), Pierre Kalulu (AC Milan), Clement Michelin (Lens), Timothee Pembele (Paris Saint-Germ...
Coronavirus figures mount in Tokyo ahead of Olympics
The July 23 commencement date for the summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, is under increasing threats from a steady rise in daily cases of the coronavirus in the city. The recent spike has also triggered fears of a possible fifth wave of infections, which will not be ideal for the Games. Coming this close to the opening of the Games, there are palpable concerns raised for many athletes who will be contesting for honours in the Asian city and their crew members who will be with them all the way. On Monday alone, Tokyo reported 317 infections, a figure that represents an increase of 81 from the same account of the week before. The increment marks the ninth week-on-week, consecutive same-day rise in infection rates in a row even with the availability of vaccines. There has also been evidence to ...
Tokyo Olympics: Nigeria relay teams should go for broke at Lagos meet – AFN official
The chairman of the Lagos State Athletics Association, Solomon Alao, has charged the Nigeria Relay teams to go all out and get the required qualification standard for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Alao, the member of the newly constituted Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) board, said the athletes have what it takes to qualify and should give it their all on Thursday at the Lagos Open Athletics Meet billed for the Teslim Balogun Stadium. “They should all go out and get the needed times because we are all looking forward to them getting the time for the Olympics,” the Lagos State Athletics boss told journalists. “I want to appreciate the Lagos State Government led by his Excellency, Babajide Sanwoolu, for supporting the AFN in hosting the countries in Nigeria for the relays. “The most im...
Canada leads call on China to allow Xinjiang access – statement
More than 40 countries urged China on Tuesday to allow the U.N. human rights chief immediate access to Xinjiang region to look into reports that more than a million people have been unlawfully detained there, some subjected to torture or forced labour. The joint statement on China was read out by Canadian Ambassador Leslie Norton on behalf of countries including Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan and the United States to the U.N. Human Rights Council. Beijing denies all allegations of abuse of Uyghurs and describes the camps as vocational training facilities to combat religious extremism. “Credible reports indicate that over a million people have been arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and that there is widespread surveillance disproportionately targeting Uyghurs and members of other...
COVID-19: Hard choices made by Nigeria responsible for successful impact – President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has said the hard choices made by his administration to tackle the coronavirus pandemic ravaging the world have yielded successful impacts. The president, who addressed Nigerians in a nationwide broadcast on Saturday to mark the 2021 Democracy Day, was referring to some measures, including travel restrictions across the states of the federation and beyond, compulsory use of nose masks, hand washing protocols and other relevant protocols instituted to limit spread of the virus. Mr Buhari said; “Our response to the pandemic involved making hard choices in balancing livelihoods and public health concerns. “You are all living witnesses to how successful this has been due to a number of proactive measures put in place. Our response to COVID-19 is globally acclaimed. “...
