On May 15, Okai Chisato, who retired from showbiz on April 30, opened Twitter and Instagram accounts announcing that she will be making her comeback as 'Okaike' (Okai Family).  

The artist line up for MUSIC STATION's June 19th broadcast has been revealed.

Tamura Atsushi (46) of London Boots 1-gou 2-gou has announced the birth of his second daughter. 

The senbatsu members for NGT48's new single "Sherbet Pink" has been revealed. 

HACHIMANTAI, Iwate Prefecture--As the seasons change, the melting snow has revealed the "Hachimantai dragon eye" at Kagaminuma swamp near the top of Mount Hachimantai, which borders Iwate and Akita prefectures.

Snow remains near the peak of the 1,613-meter-high mountain. The swamp, about 50 meters in diameter, is said to look like a huge "dragon eye" when seen from above.

When cooking steak at home, lean meat is a recommended choice.

Parts labeled as "beef round" ("momo") or "rump" ("rampu") are lean meat fit for steak. While the round is simple and light, the rump covering the hip to the rump is richer and softer.

Yonezu Kenshi will release his fifth album "STRAY SHEEP" on August 5. 

His last album "BOOTLEG" sold over 600,000 copies, and won the Grand Prix at the '10th CD Shop Awards' as well as Album of the Year Award at the '60th Japan Record Awards.' The upcoming album comes about two and a half years later, and it will contain a total of 15 songs including his previously released numbers "Lemon," "Uma to Shika," and his self-cover of "Paprika." The jacket cover seen above was illustrated by Yonezu himself.

Yamashita Tomohisa will be in charge of the ending theme for Hulu's original drama 'THE HEAD.' 

Set for a worldwide release on June 12, the drama is described as a survival mystery set in Antarctica. A team of researchers break all contact with the outside world to go on a mission under extreme circumstances.

The bubble tea craze has taken Japan by storm — so much so that it was even one of the symbols featured by a doll maker in Tokyo who represented Japan’s trending topics through ornate hina dolls. It comes as no surprise, then, that tapioca was named the country's Dish of the Year in 2019.

GENERATIONS from EXILE TRIBE have revealed their unreleased song "You & I" on YouTube.

"You & I" was written after the group concluded their dome tour in 2019, and with 2020 activities in mind. They had planned on releasing the song in summer, but decided to release a video including messages from the 7 members hoping that we will be able to overcome this current situation together. 

Studio Ghibli producer Suzuki Toshio has released a video message for children who are  staying at home due to school closures.

Schools in Japan as well as all over the world have been closed in an effort to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. To cheer up those children staying at home, the Nagoya Board of Education launched a special website. 

It's been announced that Okai Chisato's contract with her agency JP Room has expired on April 30th, and as such, she has retired from showbiz. 

Okai passed Hello! Project's kids audition at the age of eight back in 2002. After C-ute disbanded in June of 2017, she had been making various appearances on TV. However, last April, she suddenly announced that she would be taking a break from her activities. 

YOSHIKI (X JAPAN) will hold a live broadcast on May 2 from 7:00 pm JST on Nico Nico Namahousou. 

May 2 is the death anniversary of fellow X JAPAN member hide who died back in 1998. YOSHIKI will be broadcasting himself live from his home in Los Angeles. As he will be handling things on his own, he warned, "There's a possibility that the live stream will not be successful."

Ikimonogakari's Yoshioka Kiyoe has launched a YouTube channel for her new project called 'Yoshioka Kiyoe no Mainichi ga Douyoubi ~Kazoku de Utaou!~'.

Through the project, Yoshioka plans to introduce nursery rhymes and others songs she sang as a child. The first song revealed is "Koinobori" sung by Yoshioka accompanied by eji on the piano. Shirokuma Nanami was in charge of the illustration.