Upcoming Jpop Boy Group Releases for August 2017



Traffic Light. - Perfect World / GEEKDOM

 Release Date: 2017/08/02 

Traffic Light. - a subunit of a certain boy group who got a lot of attention earlier this year for a music video that involved a lot of kissing - will be releasing an EP this August; a double A-side called "Perfect World / GEEKDOM". "Perfect World" was used as the ending theme for the anime "Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters" while "GEEKDOM" was used as the ending theme for the TV drama "Kaiju Club ~Fantasy Tokusatsu Live Action~".


BOYS AND MEN - Ho wo Agero!

Release Date: 2017/08/02

On the same day, BOYS AND MEN will release a new single called "Ho wo Agero!".


MATSURI nine. - Aa, Yume Mikoshi

Release Date: 2017/08/09

Younger brother group of BOYS AND MEN, MATSURI nine. will also be releasing a new single. A week after their senpais, they'll be bringing their debut single, "Aa, Yume Mikoshi".


THE HOOPERS - SHAMROCK

Release Date: 2017/08/09

Handsome girl group, THE HOOPERS will be releasing their 7th single, "SHAMROCK" on the same day.


Sakura Shimeji - Ayama Rhythm 

Release Date: 2017/08/23

Towards the end of the month, EBiDAN duo Sakura Shimeji will release their 5th single, "Ayama Rhythm". The title track was used as the opening song for the anime "Tomica Hyper Rescue Drive Head".


Da-iCE - Kimi Iro

Release Date: 2017/08/30

Finally, fan-favourite group Da-iCE will release their 12th single, "Kimi Iro".


Do you plan to buy any of these releases? Which one is your favourite? Let me know down below!

P.S. I'm now on Bloglovin'! Give me a follow if you like: 

All Foreign Male Idol Group?! | Guyjin48

Foreign members of Japanese idol groups aren't an uncommon occurence. From Marius Yo in Sexy Zone to amina du Jean, it's been proven that both Japanese and foreign fans alike can see the appeal of a "gaijin" member in the group. For non-Japanese fans it can be a way to feel more connected to the group because well, when you're a fan of a group who live miles away and probably have no idea that they even have fans in your country, you take what you can get.

While groups with one or two foreign members aren't unusual, this new male idol group boast as being the very first group of its kind in Japan to be made up solely of foreigners.

 

Guyjin48 is an up-and-coming male idol unit currently consisting of members studying in Japan, originally hailing from countries such as China, Venezuela, America, Korea, and the Philippines. The group's aim is to further bridge the gap between the Japanese and the foreign community living in Japan by introducing different cultures and also creating an environment that will allow foreign students to eventually stay and work in Japan.

The group has yet to make their debut and is still looking for members but I think I'm in love with them already! I think the group's name is quite clever and cute too. 'Guyjin' is a pun on the English 'guy' and the Japanese word 'gaijin' meaning foreigner, and the '48' obviously comes from the hugely popular female idol group, AKB48. If you're a male foreigner studying in Japan and you're interested in becoming an idol then why not apply for this unusual group? You can do so here.

What do you think of Guyjin48? Are you going to apply? Would you become an idol in Japan if you could? Let me know in the comments!

Links:
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Everyone is Fabulous! | Jpop Boy Groups According to My (ex) Boyfriend Part 2


Here I am again, torturing my boyfriend with handsome Japanese men who he has an unjustified amount of hatred for. Hope you enjoy his suffering, haha.

chotokkyu (Bullet Train)

The "giving the members weird nicknames" trend seems to have returned. Here are a few of them:

Ryouga - Weird Face

Kai - The Villian (Apparently his white hair made him look like an anime villian)

Takuya - Weird...hair...eyebrows

Yuki - The Overly-Photoshopped Girl

Yusuke - Fabulous No-Rules

I showed him a video of them performing "Battaman" live and I think it's pretty safe to say that Yusuke is his favourite member.





X.E.N.O. Project

Now there's another boy group member to add to the list of people my boyfriend doesn't like. He really, really doesn't like Tsukasa for some reason, haha. When I asked him why the only reason he could give me was "Because he reminds of me Jean". He still can't tell me why he hates Jean so much either. Tsukasa also kind of reminds me of Fumito (from G=AGE) who - surprise - my boyfriend also doesn't like. Anyway, I showed him their dance video for "YOU'RE SO GOLD".


He was unimpressed with Tsukasa's backflip (how??) and all he really commented on was how squeaky their shoes were against the floor and the brightness of Takanori's hair. He also made fun of Takuya's facial expressions a lot. Why does he always make fun of my favourites? T^T

BOYS AND MEN

 I showed him the "Boimen ~B.M.C.A.~" video because I thought he'd have some pretty great reactions to it. Although, he just ended up pausing the video in random places and laughing at their facial expressions. I made this one his desktop background because I'm pretty sure Yukihisa is now his favourite member.


Seriously, just do yourself a favor and keep your eyes on Yukihisa throughout the video.




Da-iCE

Finally, we'll end on a group that he actually enjoyed and didn't spend the whole time making fun of. I showed him the music video for "Splash" and he admitted that the song was good and the members were talented. He made fun of how high Souta's voice was a little though, haha.




Bonus: Yoshida Jinto

We ended up watching some of the Fit's Gumi commercials. If you don't know, Fit's are a brand of Japanese chewing gum and since the beginning of this year they've been airing these commercials that star various celebrities as high school students including the members of M!LK. He really got a good laugh out of watching Jinto's dancing. He said it was how serious his face was when the dance routines were so cutesy and upbeat. When I told him it was the same guy from M!LK, he didn't recognize him. He found this video particularly amusing.



A Guide to Buying Male Idol Goods for Overseas Fans

I think it's pretty easy these days to buy Japanese CDs if you don't live in Japan. There are lots of websites like CDJapan and HMV Japan that take their foreign customers into account by having an English version of their website, multiple different payment options, and of course international shipping. However, it might be a little more tricky to buy less common merchandise (such as concert goods and very limited items) especially if you don't speak Japanese so I've put together a kind of guide/list of resources I've used and personally had good experiences with. This guide mainly focuses on male idol merchandise as that's my main interest but most things can probably be applied to any Japanese artist.

Where to Buy
The Artist's Official Store
The most obvious place to buy goods from is the artist's own website. Of course this is the best place to buy from if you want to support the artist but it has some draw backs (such as price, older items no longer being available etc.).

Surugaya
Surugaya is a store where you can buy secondhand anime, idol etc. merchandise. Their selection of items isn't the biggest but it's constantly changing so if you check the website regularly you may occasionally get lucky and find some items you want. Items on Surugaya tend to be super cheap and they've been good quality in my experience. Their shipping is often free too (within Japan). My only issue with them is that they often take several weeks to ship out your items.



Mercari Japan
Mercari is an online auction site (there is also an English version of the Mercari site so make sure you're using the Japanese version). It's quite common for people to sell their unwanted idol merchandise here for good prices so be sure to search for your favourite groups regularly! Note that most sellers on Mercari don't appreciate people purchasing items outright without commenting first so if you do this they'll likely cancel your order.

Yahoo Auction Japan
Yahoo Auction Japan is the same story as Mercari, really. YAJ might be easier to purchase from though as it has its own official proxy service (Buyee). 
 
A list of keywords you can use when searching for items:
  • Badge - 缶バッチ 
  • Bromide - ブロマイド
  • Eco bag / bag - エコバッグ / バッグ 
  • Event edition - イベント版
  • Goods -グッズ 
  • Keychain - キーホルダー 
  • Penlight - ペンライト
  • Poster - ポスター
  • T-shirt - Tシャツ
  • Trading Card - トレカ
  • Set - セット
  • Uchiwa - うちわ

How to Buy
Now that you've chosen your items, here are a couple of ways you can purchase them.

Tenso
When I first discovered Tenso it was a life-saver. Tenso is a website that gives you a Japanese address that you can use to purchase from stores that only ship within Japan. When purchasing the item, you input the address of their warehouse (as well as the unique member ID that they give you) and the item will be shipped to them. Once they receive it you pay a small free and they send it to you.

Proxy Services
The one problem I had with Tenso is that some Japanese websites don't accept foreign credit cards or have the option to pay with PayPal. It's all well and good having a Japanese address until you can't actually pay for the items to be shipped there in the first place, haha. For websites that have this issue I use a proxy service. They work the same as Tenso pretty much expect proxy services will actually make the order for you so they might be a better alternate if you don't speak Japanese. My personal favourite proxy service is From Japan but some others I've used and had no problems with include Buyee and Japonica Market. 


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