AKB48 Senbatsu Election 2011- Who Will You Vote For?

Announced just the other day, the annual AKB48 Senbatsu Election for their 22nd single will take place once more this year (no precise date as of yet). A special voting ticket will come with their next single (21st) that’s released next month.

We all know that there was a huge upset last year when Yuko won the right to center Heavy Rotation but what do you think will happen this year? Same result as before or will fans of Acchan do their very best to make sure she regains her no.1 position?

I actually think there’ll be some surprises in the Top 12 media senbatsu members this time round and these are my preductions for them:

1. Yuko Oshima
2. Tomomi Itano
3. Maeda Atsuko
4. Mariko Shinoda
5. Mayu Watanabe
6. Minami Takahashi
7. Kojima Haruna
8. Yuki Kashiwagi
9. Rena Matsui
10. Jurina Matsui
11. Rino Sashihara
12. Sae Miyazawa

I do think Tomochin will steal the 2nd spot from Acchan just for the fact that she’s been receiving a big push lately plus she’ll have another solo single out before the election as well. Expect Mayu to get the hump for not improving on last year’s position so we can look forward to another interesting acceptance speech from her and I fully expect Sasshi to enter the Top 12 . She could even get into the Top 10. I don’t think Yui Yokoyama will be one of the media senbatsu members despite her immense push though she will come close but she’ll either be the center of the lower senbatsu or one of the front girls. As for Takamina, fans could perhaps vote in sympathy as the concerts at Yokohama named after her were cancelled and propel her into the Top 5.

Who do you expect to be the media senbatsu members? My vote is going on Yuko. I’m not saying the others haven’t pulled their weight over the past year but Yuko has worked extremely hard and I’ll do anything to make sure my oshimen retains her no.1 position.

Oricon Top 30 Charts 2011 – Week 13

30 TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA – Break into the Light ~Yakusoku no Boushi~ / The Sharing Song ~Toriko no Theme~
29 Piko – Sakurane
28 4Minute – WHY
27 Porno Graffitti – EXIT
26 The ROOTLESS – One Day
25 Tatsuro Yamashita – Aishiterutte Ienakutatte
24 Ryu Siwon – Aishitai Kimi wo Aishitai
23 SCREW – DEEP SIX
22 Yoshimi Tendo – Futari no Funauta
21 AKB48 – Heavy Rotation
20 ClariS – Connect
19 Superfly – Beep!! / Sunshine Sunshine
18 Jin Akanishi – Eternal
17 BUMP OF CHICKEN – Tomodachi no Uta
16 Miliyah Kato – Yuushatachi
15 Matsubara Tsuyoshi (Project.R) Chorus: Young Fresh (Project.R) / Project.R – Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger / Super Sentai Hero Getter
14 no3b – Answer
13 Mitsuko Nakamura – Onna Kaze no Bon
12 Kazuo Chiba – Kizunazake
11 Hiroshi Itsuki – Tsuki Monogatari
10 Lada Gaga – Born This Way
09 Sakanaction – Rookie
08 ARASHI – Lotus
07 FUNKY MONKEY BABYS – Runway Beat
06 SKE48 – Banzai Venus
05 NYC – Yume Tamago
04 AKB48 – Sakura no Ki ni Narou
03 BEAST – SHOCK
02 Not yet – Shuumatsu Not yet
01 MAXIMUM THE HORMONE – Greatest the Hits 2011~2011

AKB48 Enter The Fray For Tokyo’s Upcoming Election

The top 12 senbatsu members of AKB48 held a press conference on the 26th March at a movie festival to state that they’re participating in a CM to highlight the upcoming election for the new governor of Tokyo. The CM aims to promote people to participate in the election. The Committee for Election Administration who is behind the CM hopes that seeing AKB48 will encourage fans and ordinary citizens to vote in the election. From April 1st, the CM will be shown at 218 locations in the city every 6 minutes so if you’re in Tokyo at the beginning of April, chances are you’ll see this CM somewhere.  I’m not really sure what the CM looks like just that the song Heavy Rotation will be used.

At the same event, after a talk and mini-live – AKB48 were proud to announce that so far 600 million yen (that’s 7.37 million USD) have been given to the Japanese Red Cross to help the earthquake/tsunami victims. That is just amazing.

The link below to Youtube has a clip of them performing and having a chat at the event. The highlight has to be Chiyuu unfortunately missing her seat during the chat and falling on her arse!! Acchan can’t seem to stop laughing and poor Chiyuu looks sooooo embarassed!!

http://www.youtube.com//watch?v=GewUPFCEodE

AKB48 “Spirit Bomb” Video For Disaster Victims

12 members of AKB48 have created a “spirit bomb” video to send encouragement to those affected by the recent disaster in Japan and this has been posted on Youtube.  A “spirit bomb” is derived from the manga/anime Dragon Ball where the hero Goku collects large amounts of energy from various people.

The members are shown saying “Do your best Japan” in the video. Every time somebody watches the video, a small donation is made to Japan Red Cross.

Catching Up on AKB48 TV Shows

It’s only this week that I’ve had a chance to sit down and start to go through 2011 episodes of AKBingo and Shukan AKB. There’s a lot of catching up for me to do before I’m up to date with everything. I do have some questions though regarding some shows.

AKBingo (2/2/11 – the 1 hour SP) – who is this Bibiko-san person and what did he say to make Kasai cry? Also I know he’s been in AKBingo before but who is that effeminate man who does the heart ‘chun-yuu’ thing? Everytime he comes onto the show the girls adore him like a god. Is he like a one trick pony act that just does his signature move? If so he’s not going to last long.

Shukan AKB (4/3/11 – Dokkiri) – probably one of the best Shukan AKB shows in a long while but even I was shocked when Shinoda squared up to Nito Moeno. You could cut the atmosphere with the knife such was the tension and the other members became so quiet. Was Shinoda on the act or not? I know she’s said in an interview that she did a reverse dokkori but I just did not like it at all. Fair enough if both girls were in on it but if Mariko stood up to Moeno like a brat knowing full well that it was a variety show and Moeno was only acting then it’s wrong. Has Moeno said anything about the incident? I hope I won’t see anything like that again, just hate seeing my favorite idols having a stand-off like that but I admire Moeno for not backing down if Shinoda’s reaction was indeed real.

French Kiss Become Radio Hosts

The trio of Yuki Kashiwagi, Aki Takajo and Asuka Kuramochi better known as French Kiss will have their own radio show next month on TOKYOFM. The three have been lobbying for a radio show of their own to give the people that have been hit hardest by the Tohoku earthquake something to cheer about.

It is not known on what day or what time the show will be on. Fans have been sending name suggestions for the radio show with the deadline ending tonight.

Oricon Top 30 Charts 2011 – Week 12

30 JAMOSA – Nanika Hitotsu feat JAY’ED & Wakadanna
29 4Minute – WHY
28 Ebisu Muscats – Spring Holiday / Kuchigenka Shinaide?
27 Mayu Kudo, Aya Ikeda – La? La? La? Sweet Pretty Cure? / Wonderful? Powerful? Music!
26 TOKYO SKA PARADISE ORCHESTRA – Break into the Light ~Yakusoku no Boushi~ / The Sharing Song ~Toriko no Theme~
25 Tsuyoshi Matsubara (Project.R) Chorus: Young Fresh (Project.R) / Project.R Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger / Super Sentai Hero Getter
24 Yoshimi Tendo – Futari no Funauta
23 ClariS – Connect
22 Mai Kuraki – 1000 Mankai no Kiss
21 Piko – Sakurane
20 WISE – By your side feat. Nishino Kana
19 Porno Graffitti – EXIT
18 Superfly – Beep!! / Sunshine Sunshine
17 tacica – Inochi no Koushin
16 BUMP OF CHICKEN – Tomodachi no Uta
15 Versailles – Philia
14 D=OUT – ONE
13 Jin Akanishi – Eternal
12 no3b – Answer
11 ARASHI – Lotus
10 Lady Gaga – Born This Way
09 AKB48 – Sakura no Ki ni Narou
08 Miliyah Kato – Yuushatachi
07 Ryu Siwon – Aishitai Kimi wo Aishitai
06 Sakanaction – Rookie
05 FUNKY MONKEY BABYS – Runway Beat
04 NYC – Yume Tamago
03 SKE48 – Banzai Venus
02 BEAST – Shock
01 Not yet – Shuumatsu Not yet

The video below does not correspond to the chart above. Once I find the appropriate Youtube video I’ll change it.

Japan Tsunami Disaster – One Week On

Today marked 1 week on since the devastating tsunami that changed Japan forever. During the past 7 days the nuclear catastrophe is still rumbling on but hopefully by the end of Sunday there’ll be good news that all the pumps will have been restarted to cool the nuclear fuel rods in all 4 reactors. The people there battling overwhelming odds against certain death are bona-fide heroes and I hope Prime Minister Kan acknowledges the sacrifice that they’ve made. AKB48 members have been doing their bit to help on their Ameblo blogs by giving advice to fans on how to save energy.

The foreign media haven’t been helping things by putting up sensationalist headlines on their newspapers and making people panic even more. Yes, a lot of foreigners are going home but I assume the majority will not abandon their adopted country and will return as soon as the nuclear situation at Fukushima is made safe.

Most of the world has been proud of the way the Japanese people have kept calm to this tragedy. Everybody helping each other out , people forming orderly queues for water and supplies and no looting has been going on. This would never happen anywhere else I’m certain of it.

I’ve really been dismayed and angry this week about the sick jokes that’s been floating round on some of my work colleagues’ mobile phones about the disaster. What’s worse is they find it funny and have had a good laugh about the misfortune of others. I don’t understand how mocking such a tragic event is even remotely funny. I bet they wouldn’t be laughing if one of their family had died. They’ve probably been wanting a reaction from myself but I haven’t given them the satisfaction but I have told them they should be ashamed of themselves.

EDIT: Helped out today with a charity event run by the Japanese Institute of my local university to raise money for the Tsunami Appeal. As well as doing my bit for the cause, I met some really nice Japanese people and had a go at doing some origami and Japanese calligraphy. Even got interviewed by Welsh TV news who wanted to know why we were doing the event. I think we’ve raised a good amount of money and I’m grateful for all the people that turned up today to support us.

Oricon Top 30 Charts 2011 – Week 11

Congratulations to SKE48 for achieving their first ever no.1!!

30 ClariS – Connect
29 Goocky – GOOD LUCKY!!!!!
28 HIROKO – Saigo no Koi
27 Kana Uemura – Toire no Kami Sama
26 AKB48 – Heavy Rotation
25 Rake – 100 Mankai no “I Love You”
24 Idoling!!! – Yarakai Heart
23 JAMOSA – Nanika Hitotsu feat. JAY’ED & Wakadanna
22 Team MOER feat. Hatsune Miku & Kagamine Rin – Colorful x Melody
21 NEGOTO – Charon
20 FLOW – 1/3 no Junjou na Kanjou
19 Yoshimi Tendo – Futari no Funauta
18 Tsuyoshi Matsubara (Project.R) Chorus: Young Fresh – Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger / Super Sentai Hero Getter
17 4Minute – Why
16 BUMP OF CHICKEN – Tomodachi no Uta
15 Tatsuro Yamashita – Aishiterutte Ienakutatte
14 Porno Graffitti – EXIT
13 9nine – SHINING STAR
12 Mayu Kudo, Aya Ikeda – La La La Sweet Pretty Cure / Wonderful Powerful Music! Music!
11 Kiyoshi Hikawa – Ano Ko to Nogiku to Watashibune
10 Piko – Sakurane
09 no3b – Answer
08 AKB48 – Sakura no Ki ni Narou
07 Jin Akanishi – Eternal
06 ARASHI – Lotus
05 Superfly – Beep!! / Sunshine Sunshine
04 Mai Kuraki – 1000 Mankai no Kiss
03 Momoiro Clover – Mirai Bowl
02 NYC – Yume Tamago
01 SKE48 – Banzai Venus

More AKB48 Official Announcements

Some more announcements have been made regarding AKB48 and the rest of the 48 family.

AKB48’s 3rd album “Koko ni Ita Koto” which was due to be released on the 6th April has now been postponed for the foreseeable future. The same goes for SDN48’s single “Ai, Chuseyo” which was to be released next week. Not yet’s debut single is still scheduled to be released tomorrow.

Some good news for AKB48 fans is the AKB48 Theater is set to re-open for performances once again on Saturday 19th March. It will follow the schedule that was set for March 14th. The 48 family has also graciously donated 500 million yen for the disaster victims.

There is an unconfirmed rumour going around that one 12th gen kenkyuusei who lives in Sendai has been directly affected by the tsunami and is living in a refugee shelter for now. No name of the person affected has been released yet.

A couple of days ago, the JFA said that two of the Japanese national soccer team matches were due to go ahead in the hope that it would lift the spirit of the nation but JFA officials have now done a complete u-turn and admitted the games could be cancelled. This is due to not being able to guarantee safety for players and fans should something happen. I think this is a wise decision as large aftershocks are still rattling the country.