 Janken Taikai 2017 in Nippon Gaishi Hall has concluded for this year. The concept behind this year’s rock-paper-scissors competition were members of 48G created subunits and the winning subunit would get a major debut.
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 A-to-J Connections recently attended J-POP Summit 2017 and we were lucky enough to sit down with ex-AKB48/Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 member and current enka soloist, Misaki Iwasa. We discussed everything from past lives, her favorite songs, and just what enka is for those that don't know! This is one you'll want to check out!
In 2008 Misaki Iwasa joined AKB48 as a seventh generation trainee member and participated in their first ever US appearance later that year in New York. In 2010 Misaki debuted as both a member of Watarirouka Hashiritai 7 and AKB48's Team A. 2012 saw the release of her debut single "Mujin Eki", which also featured an enka version of AKB48's mega-hit "Heavy Rotation", a trend that would be copied in later singles. The release of her third single, "Tomonoura Bojou", followed two years later and it was her first single to top the Oricon charts. She graduated from AKB48 in 2016 and focused on her solo activities which included her sixth single Sabakaidou and several overseas appearances including Hyper Japan in London and Japan Expo in Paris. J-POP Summit 2017 marks her solo debut in the US.  We recently dropped by San Francisco's J-POP Summit and we were lucky enough to interview Babyraids JAPAN, an idol group who mixes rock and idol music to create their own genre of "Emotional Idorock"! We discussed their stay in San Francisco, their upcoming concert, and their thoughts on their latest singles! Be sure to check it out and look forward to more content from J-POP Summit 2017 soon!
Babyraids JAPAN originally formed as "Babyraids" in 2012 and released their first single, also titled "Babyraids", that September. In December 2014 they held a solo concert at Nippon Budokan, one of the most prestigious venues in Japan. To commemorate this major milestone they changed their name to "Babyraids JAPAN". They recently released their fourteenth single "Maru Maru Maru Maru Maru" in August and even more recently released their latest MV, "Bokura wa Koko ni Iru" days before their appearance at J-POP Summit. J-POP Summit 2017 marks their US debut, but the group performed at Paris' Japan Expo in 2016. The five-member group is partly produced by former Idoling!!! member Kikuchi Ami.  Golden Age devotees Bed In burst onto the idol scene last year with their explosive debut album RICH. Now the self-proclaimed "underground sexy idol" duo is back with a new single off their upcoming second album TOKYO.
 Almost 3 years ago, the AKB48 YouTube channel, along with its other sister group channels, were blocked in the US due to a change in YouTube’s contract. As of today, AKB48 has opened back up its channel for US viewers.
The jump to including overseas fans began back in June 2017. AKB48 began expanding their ticket sales for overseas fans by setting up an multi-language version of their ticketing website. Before expanding ticket services, AKB48 partnered with buyee.jp to set up an AKB48 Online Shop for users of the proxy service. Now, as we predicted, AKB48 opened back up their YouTube channel for US viewers. However, their sister groups, SKE48, HKT48, NGT48, and JKT48 are still inaccessible to the US. This leads to speculation. Does AKB48 have something planned for the US? Did they finally realize how valuable the foreign fans really are? Will the sister group channels be changed soon? What do you think is the reasoning behind this sudden change? ~Alana (Milky Kitty) In the Alt Idol world, eyes were on CY8ER this summer as they hit us with double releases- Kakushemu in June and Koi Natsu at the end of July. But what’s all the talk about? Who are these Cy8er kids and what makes them special? CY8ER, born from the duo formally known as BPM15Q, was founded by ex-BiS member Ichigo Rinahamu after the departure of DJ Nicamoq. An entrepreneur in all things Harajuku, Rinahamu’s quirks fall not only in her many ventures-fashion, modeling, producing- but in her Yume Kawaii esthetic that shows in the groups she manages under her own company, Ichigo Style. Hailing from strawberry kingdom as she likes to say, its only appropriate she would have equally quirky members by her side. Enter CY8ER!  CY8ER official logo  WACK, the idol management company headed by the infamous Junnosuke Watanabe, has just introduced a new group into their avex family. Made up of five hooded members, EMPiRE is thus far a mystery. With the alternative idol scene becoming as bloated as it is, is there room for another group in the WACK style? Will this be more of the same, or will EMPiRE break into some formerly-unexplored territory? We'll have to wait and see. Feel free to speculate in the comments! Relevant social media links are below.
-Justin  Enigmatic dream pop idols ········· (or Dots) are one of the most experimental idol groups out there. Currently on the cusp of releasing a 70-minute song, they just dropped this MV which is probably the least absurd thing they've ever done.
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