It's about "Time"

The new Arashi album is out! I received it this morning via Fed-Ex from YesAsia. (Being the crazy die-hard fan that I am, I pre-ordered it so it shipped quickly.) Now, it’s not as revolutionary as the new Edison Chen album, but it’s still wonderful. To me, Arashi represents a different side of my musical tastes. It’s the left over remnants of being an N’Sync fan that allows me to love them so whole-heartedly. I don’t have a favorite song on the album yet. I love the single “We Can Make It” that’s from Matsu-Jun’s Bambino drama. But, I have a tendency to over-play my current favorites, so I’m a bit burnt out on that track. The rest of the album flows nicely and has the traditional perfect harmonies and Sho-raps. I bought the limited edition with solos from each member. I’ll admit, I don’t particularly like any of their voices separately. I love their harmonies and the songs they sing together so much more than when they sing solo. It’s funny, because most of the time I’m the opposite. But, I digress. Once I’ve listened a few times, I’ll update further, for now, check this album out in all of it’s J-Pop glory!

1 – Oh Yeah!
2 – Love So Sweet (Hana Yori Dango Season 2 Opening Theme)
3 – WAVE
4 – We Can Make It (Bambino Theme)
5 – Firefly
6 – Taiyou no Sekai
7 – Carry On
8 – ROCK YOU
9 – Cry For You (I really like this track)
10 – Love Situation
11 – Kaze
12 – Be With You
13 – Life
14 – Aozora Pedal
(15 – Everybody Zenshin is only on the normal edition CD)

Bonus Tracks (Limited Edition only)
1 – Song for me (Satoshi Ohno solo) (Fun - techno beat)
2 – Friendship (Masaki Aiba solo)
3 – Niji (Kazunori Ninomiya solo)
4 – Can’t Let You Go (Sho Sakurai solo)
5 – Yabai-Yabai-Yabai (Matsumoto Jun solo) ((Hey - I actually really like this one))

Letters from Iwo Jima

As my love for Japan slowly takes over my life, you can imagine my dismay when I discovered the release of Clint Eastwoods: Flags of Our Fathers. But, this dismay was short-lived when I learned that he was making a reverse of the film from a Japanese standpoint. This is something that I think our country dearly needs. They need their eye's opened to the other side of things. Now, my excitement over the second installment of this story was just amped by the reading of the credits on IMDB. Kazunari Ninomiya is to play a character named Saigo in the film. I follow the Japanese pop scene fairly closely and love the band Arashi. This innocent-looking young man happens to be a member of the band. I immediately announced it to my favorite forums and here on my blog. Not to mention the dashing Ken Watanabe of The Last Samurai fame is a title character as well. Can't wait to see this film, I guess I should watch the first one beforehand though...