Kyary Pamyu Pamyu will perform at UNIK Asia Festival 2022, a massive music and fashion festival to be held at a large outdoor space in the middle of Hong Kong on December 10 and 11, 2022. 

UNIK Asia Festival 2022 will bring together a number of Asian artists for live performances and fashion shows. JAY B, leader of the popular Korean boy band GOT7, will also perform, along with all former members of 2NE1–CL, Minzy, Park Bom, and Sandara Park.

Also slated to perform are Feng Ze, Taiwanese band 831, rapper Tyson Yoshi, Jer and Jeremy from the idol group MIRROR, and many more international artists. 

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu and Travis Japan, who made their world debut last month, will represent Japan. Kyary has performed around the world many times, appearing at Coachella in April, and recently performing with Katy Perry at THE CONCERT 2022. 

In December, Kyary will reenact her Coachella performance with shows in Osaka and Tokyo. Tickets are available now, so grab them before they’re gone!

From April 21 until May 15, 2022, Startbahn is holding the ‘Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality’ exhibition at a pop-up venue in Hong Kong! A virtual showroom by VIRTRIX is also open for those who can’t attend in person.

‘Made in Japan 3.0: Defining a New Phy-gital Reality’ utilizes blockchain technology and NFTs to showcase cutting-edge Japanese creativity in the worlds of fashion, art, and crafts, bringing the physical and virtual worlds together. The lineup was brought together by Startbahn, a leader in blockchain and Web3 infrastructure in Japan. Participating artists include fashion stars Tomo Koizumi and Anrealage, ceramic artist Takahiro Koga, and Yumi Kishi, known for creating digital portraits using artificial intelligence. The latter has appeared in Vogue and worked with Nike.

Participating Fashion Brands / Designers, Artists

Fashion Brands / Designers
ANREALAGE
HIRUME
Masaya Kushino
TOMO KOIZUMI
YUIMA NAKAZATO

Ceramist
B-OWND / Takahiro Koga

Artist
Yuma Kishi

SBINFT Market Artists:
Tsuki
NauGhtEd
AURORA
NY_
gamacho
galcid
Haioka
mera takeru
marimosphere

Shingo Katori, previously known as a member of the legendary boy band SMAP, will release his second studio album ‘Tokyo SNG’ on April 13, 2022. The release comes about two years after his last album, ‘20200101.’ 

The concept of the work is ‘jazz in a tuxedo.’ The band performs a wide range of jazz styles from standard style to big band, and to commemorate the release of the album, Katori and his incredible band will perform 24 shows at Meiji-za in Tokyo. 

‘Tokyo SNG’ features a total of 11 songs and includes guest appearances by Atarashii Gakko!, H ZETTRIO, Ai Higuchi, Gentle Forest Jazz Band, Takao Tajima, and WONK. Certain tracks were arranged by Yasuharu Konishi, and the English version of ‘Mack the Knife,’ a standard jazz number and 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame inductee, is also covered brilliantly by Katori.

The song Tokyo SNG includes lyrics by Shutoku Mukai (ZAZEN BOYS), and Takarazuka Revue’s resident writer Takeshi Ota composed Michishirube, which also boasts lyrics written by Gekidan Hitori.

Comment from Shingo Katori

My new album ‘Tokyo SNG’ is complete! I like to play with different styles, and this time, I tried to wrap myself in jazz. I live in Tokyo, where so many things have been restricted. I wanted to try to lift people’s spirits with swing, so please enjoy it! Let’s smile together!

Japanese singer-songwriter AiNA THE END, who is also known as a member of the Japanese idol group BiSH, announced via her official Twitter page that her new single Dare Dare Dare (“Who Who Who”) will be released on music streaming and download services on February 23, 2021. The track will be used as the new opening theme for the ongoing TV Tokyo drama series Anonymous: Keishicho ”Yubisatsujin” Taisakushitsu starring Shingo Katori which began airing in January.

AiNA THE END

New Song – “Dare Dare Dare”

Dare Dare Dare is a new song not featured on AiNA THE END’s solo album THE END which dropped on February 3 this year. It is produced by Japanese music producer and arranger Seiji Kameda who also produced THE END.

AiNA teased the new single’s artwork on her official Twitter account along with a snippet of the instrumental version of the song.

A new Japanese drama series titled Anonymous: Keishicho ”Yubisatsujin” Taisakushitsu began airing on January 25, 2021. The show stars Shingo Katori in his first commercial broadcast for a drama series in five years. When the first episode dropped, the show’s name Anonymous trended on Japanese Twitter.

Earlier this week, Shingo Katori surprised everyone by releasing the main theme song for the series Anonymous (feat.WONK), which he sings, digitally on music streaming services including Spotify.

When the song was first broadcast, there was much speculation as to who the singer was on Japanese social media, with some having no idea and others saying it sounded a lot like Katori. Turns out it really was him to the surprise of fans.

When the second episode aired on February 1, the show’s official homepage went live and Katori updated his own personal social media pages with promos for the show. The song comes as his first music release in over year following the huge success of his album 20200101 which dropped on January 1, 2020 and made it to No. 1 on Japan’s Oricon charts. He wrote the song in collaboration with music group WONK. The song’s theme touches on seeing the light in a dark world and is sung in English.

Katori also released a music video for Anonymous (feat.WONK) earlier this week which is available to watch on his YouTube channel.

NAMCO ENTERPRISES ASIA LTD. opened the new “namco Telford Plaza” store inside the Telford Plaza shopping mall in Hong Kong on September 11, 2020.

Located on the 5th floor, the shop has a variety of crane and arcade games, and introduces Hong Kong’s first sports entertainment facility: the “SPORTAINMENT ARENA,” which combines sports and digital entertainment.

The sports activities are for all people, both beginners and pros, and staff are on hand to help support players.

Amazon is set to release a new Amazon Original drama series entitled Dareka ga Miteiru (Somebody’s Watching) on Amazon Prime Video on September 18, 2020. The 8-episode series will drop worldwide.

The series was created by Kōki Mitani and Shingo Katori, two veterans in the Japanese entertainment industry. in collaboration with Amazon. Both will appear in the series, with Mitani as we’ve never been him before and Katori bringing humour to the screen.

The series will be released in over 240 countries and territories worldwide. In spite of the different language and culture of those who will watch it outside of Japan, they are sure to be entertained by both Katori’s character, who despite messing up all the time you still can’t hate them, and Mitani’s character, who will draw viewers in with all the happenings around him.

Katori spoke joyously of the series. “‘Dareka ga Miteiru’ is a really funny series, so I really want a lot of people to see it, even if they watch it by themselves. I’m super happy that the people of the world will get to see this.”

He continues: “And I hope Kōki Mitani’s character gains fans around the world who love him.”

To promote the series, the first two episodes will be premiered on YouTube and Twitter on September 12, and viewers around the world will be able to watch them with Katori and Mitani. You can set a reminder for the YouTube premiere below or follow the series on Twitter.

YouTube Live Premiere

In the series, Katori Shingo’s character is a klutz, and so their neighbour’s sister comes up with the idea to film everything in secret and upload it to YouTube to make him popular. Check out the trailer below, which showcases the full cast of characters played by some huge names in Japan, as well as plenty of comical moments.

“Dareka ga Miteiru” Trailer

If you’re looking for a laugh, then be sure to check out this series created by Kōki Mitani and Shingo Katori, both of whom have brought comedy to Japan in films, drama series, and theatre shows.

© 2020 Amazon Content Services LLC

Pan Pacific Retail Management of Pan Pacific International Holdings Group, the latter of which manages the discount chain store Don Quijote, has announced that it is opening a new branch of Don Quijote called DON DON DONKI Pearl City inside the Pearl City shopping centre in Hong Kong on July 7, 2020.

DON DON DONKI is a chain of Don Quijote stores located in Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong which specialises in discount Japanese brand products and products made for the Japanese marketplace. The first Hong Kong branch opened in Tsim Sha Tsui last year in July, followed by another in December of the same year at OP Mall, stocked with high quality Japanese products including food.

Pearl City welcomes the third branch to open in Hong Kong where it will open in Causeway Bay, a retail area home to many high-end stores and bustling with young people.

Customers can get their hands on Japanese seafood products, fruits, and many other foods as well as cosmetics, lifestyle goods, and much more, all at a discounted price. There will also be a gift corner packed with plenty of souvenir ideas and all of which can be packed in gift bags and wrapping.

Shingo Katori is an official ambassador of KitKat Japan, and he appeared in the latest television commercial for the chocolate brand which began broadcasting on March 27. The commercial was also posted on the KitKat Japan website.

Japan has the biggest KitKat market in the world. In September 2019, in an effort to reduce the amount of plastic waste, Nestlé made the decision to alter the packaging of five types of its large size KitKat chocolate bars from plastic to paper. The paper can then be used to make paper cranesーa symbol of hopes and prayers in traditional Japanese cultureーor for writing messages on to give to people.

In KitKat’s latest commercial, Shingo Katori comes together with young people to create an art piece from the paper packaging which reads, “Let’s all work hard together!” in Japanese.

See the commercial here on the Nestlé website or here on their official YouTube channel.

Shingo Katori will release his new album 20200101 on January 1, 2020ーthe title of the record itself referring to New Year’s Day. The CD covers as well as tracklist were revealed today. The album is a happy celebration of the new year, one in which the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics are set to be held.

The 12-track album will include the songs 10% and Trap, both of which peaked at No. 1 on the Japanese digital music charts, and feature a wave of top artists including BiSH, Kishidan, KREVA, SALU, Scha Dara Parr, SONPUB & Mukai Taichi, TeddyLoid & Tanaka, WONK, and yahyel.

Until now, the final featured artist has been kept a secret, but it has been confirmed that it will be Keina Suda, a singer-songwriter whose popularity continues to surge, with over 67 million combined music videos views on YouTubeーincluding a self-cover of Sharuru which itself has 47 million views.

First Press Limited Edition – Miru BANG!

First Press Limited Edition copies with the subheading “Miru BANG!,” include a DVD featuring “Music Movies” for FUTURE WORLD (feat. BiSH) and Trap. “GOLD BANG!” copies include a remix of 10% by Yasuharu Konishi. Both editions are also coupled with booklets with special features. You’ll have to get your own copy to see what they are!

Katori’s third digital single Prologue (feat. TeddyLoid & Tanaka) has also been released. The song serves as the opening track to the album and features acclaimed music producer TeddyLoid and Tanaka who has worked with Boku no Lyric no Boyomi.

More information is to be announced, so stay tuned.

Japanese cafe chain Afternoon Tea TEAROOM is set to expand its services overseas this autumn by opening its first ever branch in Hong Kong.

It will be situated in K11 MUSEA, a retail and arts complex being developed by K11 Group that is set to open in Kowloon later this year.

Afternoon Tea TEAROOM offers delicious hot drinks in a relaxed environment. Customers can enjoy a selection of teas and sweets as well as a variety of foods such as sandwiches and pasta.

The new branch promises to offer the same hospitality they do in Japan, so if you’re heading through Kowloon be sure to drop in for a cosy cup of tea and a bite to eat from their seasonal selection.

Japanese ramen shop Ippudo has just opened inside Eaton Hotel, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The ramen shop celebrated its grand opening on 3rd May. 

Yokohama Kakaei Tonkotsu　80HK$/ ¥1,136

Ippudo pork buns　28HK$/ ¥397

The ramen served here includes Japan’s favourites; Shiromaru (salt-based), Akamaru (spicy red miso) and Ippudo Karakamen (hot and spicy). Besides the basics, there are so many other types of ramen served here, such as the Kuro (black) ramen, which shares the same standard tonkotsu broth but has a dash of garlic oil and black pepper. There’s also an Eaton Hotel-limited ramen called Yokohama Kakei Tonkotsu which is made using the tonkotsu broth infused with a chicken soup broth. Besides ramen, there is a rich variety of elegant dishes to complement your ramen. You can also get Ippudo pork buns and Ippudo gyoza (stuffed dumplings). There are also dessert treats such as the black soybean-matcha pudding dora (a black soybean and green tea pudding sandwiched between two Japanese-style pancakes).

Eaton Hotel is just a five-minute walk from Jordan train station (Tsuen Wan line, MTR). Other popular attractions in the area within walking distance include the Ladies Market and Temple Street, which thrive during the night in the Kowloon area. This area is bustling with tourists as well as locals, who come and go to this area! On the lower ground floor which is one floor below Ippudo, there is a countless number of food and drink places which are popular with visitors every day.

Starting with Ippudo ramen, come and show your support for delicious Japanese food in countries all over the world!