SDN48 Gets It’s First Casualty

It hasn’t taken too long after their debut for SDN48 to get their first casualty with the news that Yuki Iwata has left the group due to some chronic health issues. She was an understudy in the group.

The New Pepsi Drink For The Autumn

Yes, Pepsi Japan have revealed their newest Pepsi flavor that’s going to be released over there on the 20th October. After Pepsi Shiso which I tried out a couple of week ago (tasted very minty but overall it was OK) comes Pepsi Azuki. Azuki is a red bean so this’ll be an interesting one to try out.

Erika Sawajiri To Be Fired By Her Agency

The troubled career of Erika Sawajiri is set to cause further headaches for her this week when her agency Stardust Management is due to fire her for breach of contract.

Ever since her petulant strop in 2007 during a PR event for the movie Closed Note, Erika has been mostly out of the spotlight – disappearing off to London with her then-boyfriend to have English language lessons before coming back to Japan to marry in January.

Her agency though has been concerned that there are rumours that she’s been taking drugs whilst in Ibiza and hanging around with disgraced actress Noriko Sakai. It seems she’s also prone to doing things without her agency’s consent so they’ve had enough of dealing with her difficult personality.

The announcement that they’re firing her is likely to happen quite soon. I doubt that Erika really cares to be honest. She doesn’t seem to be making an effort to try and be nice and apologise for her past behavior.

AKB48 Related 2010 Calendars

Although AKB48 member calendars for 2010 have been announced for quite some time now, it’s only recently that the covers for the calendars have come out so below you’ll find the majority of those are coming out next month. I’ve already pre-ordered the Weekly AKB48 2010 calendar but I’m not sure which 2 member calendar to get. It’s a toss-up between Kojima, Acchan, Tomochin and Yukorin. But I’m still shocked that one of AKB48’s favorite members Takamina isn’t getting a calendar again next year. And what about Sayaka!!! Which one would you buy?

EDIT: I went and bought Acchan and Yuko Oshima’s calendar in the end!

and not forgetting ex-AKB48 member Mai Oshima!

Pocky Commercials

One of Japan otaku’s favorite snacks and also popular with teenagers is Pocky (a thin biscuit stick covered with chocolate). Pocky can be found nearly everywhere in the globe. Last year the UK renamed it to be Mikado. It’s a shame this country only sells one flavor as Japan has many different varieties to try out such as banana, caramel, green tea, orange and many many more.

These CM’s below advertising Pocky stars one of my favorite Japanese teen idols – Yui Aragaki and Morning Musume. Does my ears deceive me as I’m sure I hear Nacchi say “touch my boobs” during the 4th CM!!!

EDIT: For those that want to buy the original Pocky in the UK and live close to London, pop down to the Japan Centre otherwise you can always order it from their excellent website. That’s what I do anyway.

Another AKB48 Member Switches To SDN48

Today there was an annoucement that Team B’s Haruka Kohara is graduating from AKB48 and moving instead to SDN48 next month. I’m not too sure what the explanation is for her switch. I don’t really know who she is so her moving over won’t really bother me that much.

SKE48 Get Their Own TV Show!

SKE48 will be getting their own TV show from next month. SKE48 Gakuen will be a variety show with a school theme. It’ll have the idol group doing some skits and other segments. It all starts on October 3rd at 12pm on the Sky PerfecTV channel Ent! 371.

I’m looking forward to seeing this programme. AKB48 and SKE48 have got a bit of a presence on Japanese TV these days with the various shows they’ve got airing.

AKB48 – Iiwake Maybe (Latest Figures)

It’s been a while since I updated on how sales are going for AKB48’s single Iiwake Maybe. I’m happy to say that they’ve finally broken the 100k barrier for the 3rd time in a row. It took them 3 weeks to do it. Figures right now has them having sold 102,523, that’s not far behind 10nen Sakura’s total of 105,280. It’s possible that they could top that figure soon.

Koharu Kusumi To Graduate From Morning Musume

It was announced earlier that 7th generation member 17 year old Koharu Kusumi will be graduating from Morning Musume and Hello!Project at the end of the group’s Autumn tour on the 6th December which will take place at the Tokyo Kouseinen Kinkaikan. She’s decided that 4 years is enough in the group and she now wants to try something else possibly modelling.

I had a feeling that this year there would be a graduation from Morning Musume but Koharu was the last person I thought would be leaving not only the group but Hello!Project as well. I always expected Ai-chan and Risa to go first so this will be a bit of a shock to fans. I admit to not liking Koharu as a singer, I think she’s terrible but I’ve always found her a very entertaining person to watch when she’s not singing. The last few singles of Morning Musume have relied too much on Ai, Koharu and Reina so this will be a chance maybe for somebody else to go and share the lead lyrics instead

Whatever my feelings on Koharu, I wish her the very best of luck. No doubt we’ll see a lot of her on TV screens in the near future. It begs the question now of who will replace her? New auditions to fill her spot or perhaps taking somebody from Berryz or C-ute?

2009 has been a bad year all round for graduations not only in H!P but for AKB48 too.

1st Year Anniversary

I didn’t realise until now that yesterday (14th September) one year ago I started out this blog. Can’t believe that 12 months has gone by so quickly. I’d like to say a big thank you to all of you that have visited this site and contributed with your comments to my posts. I really do appreciate each and every one of you coming here. It makes everything worthwhile.