KAT-TUN Concerts May Qualify For Guinness

Source: tokyograph.com

On Friday, popular boy band KAT-TUN completed their record-setting run of eight consecutive days of concerts at the Tokyo Dome. With a full house of about 55,000 fans at each show, a total of roughly 440,000 people attended the concerts.

Last year, KAT-TUN performed four consecutive days at the Dome. At the time, it tied for the record with British rocker Sting, who also did a four-day stretch there in 1988. However, KAT-TUN's recent concerts have now doubled that record.

Their management agency, Johnny's Jimusho, is hoping to have this achievement officially recognized as a Guinness World Record under "most consecutive concerts at a venue with a capacity of 50,000." It appears that someone affiliated with Guinness happened to be at the Tokyo Dome, so the agency has requested verification of the record.

With the success of these concerts, KAT-TUN has scheduled many more to extend their tour. They had originally planned for these 8 shows to be followed by 3 at Osaka Dome on May 29-31 and 2 more at Tokyo Dome on June 14-15. They have now added 17 more shows in 6 other cities, starting in July.

More "Gokusen" Cast Details

Source: tokyograph.com

With "Gokusen: The Movie" less than a couple months away, a new announcement has revealed that six more actors from the drama's earlier seasons will be returning, including Shun Oguri and Mocomichi Hayami.

The movie is already known to focus on the cast of the show's third season, which aired in 2008. It was previously announced that Yuya Takaki, Haruma Miura, and Yuta Tamamori are part of the main cast. At the end of last month, it was also revealed that the second season's Kazuya Kamenashi was added to the cast.

Now, the number of returning alumni has again increased, adding three students each from the drama's first two seasons. Oguri will represent the first season, along with Yuma Ishigaki and Hiroki Narimiya. From the second season, Hayami will be joined by Teppei Koike and Keisuke Koide.

Although all six played delinquent students in their respective seasons, they have grown up to become respectable members of society. Together with Kamenashi's character, who has become a teacher in training, these graduates will lend their support to the beloved teacher "Yankumi," played by starring actress Yukie Nakama. This movie is said to be Nakama's last time to take on this role.

Filming for the movie finished on May 13. The picture opens in theaters on July 11.

Utada Is 1st Japanese On U.S.'s Top 100 CDs Since 1986

Source: animenewsnetwork.com

Earlier this month, singer-songwriter Hikaru Utada became the first Japanese musician to have a top 100 album on America's Billboard 200 chart in over two decades. Utada's This is the One album debuted at #69 when it was released on physical CDs in the United States on May 12. With the album's digital release in March, Utada became the first Japanese musician have a top 20 album on Apple's online iTunes retail store in the United States.

The last Japanese representative on the chart was Loudness, which ranked #64 with Lightning Strikes back in 1986. The Japanese artists who previously earned this distinction were Kyu Sakamoto (1963), Isao Tomita (1974-1977), Tsutomu Yamashita (1976), Yellow Magic Orchestra (Haruomi Hosono, Yukihiro Takahashi, and Ryuichi Sakamoto during 1980-1984), and Yoko Ono (1980-1984).

Newbie Actress Woo Seung Yeon Commits Suicide

Source: allkpop.com

Newbie actress Woo Seung Yeon (24) was found hung by her family on the 27th. The death is being ruled as suicide and the police have released the statement "Although there is no will found, before her death, she sent a text message to her younger sibling saying 'I'm sorry.'" She is known to have been suffering from depression after failing an audition and breaking up with a long time boyfriend. A family member revealed that she had received treatment at a hospital for her depression, but it had worsened in recent weeks and caused her to commit suicide.

Woo Seung-yeon started off as an internet uljjang, before modeling, and had even branched out into acting, appearing in the movie Herb and the mobile sitcom Yap. Her most recent role was in the movie Private Eye, which was released earlier this month. She was born in 1985 and was planning to return to return to her school, Joong Ang University where she was majoring in French Language & Culture.

In addition, her cyworld is getting attention as it was revealed that she wrote a message titled "Good-bye" on the 25th and had changed her background music to Toy's Sorry and Time Alone. Because the guest book function on her cyworld is closed, netizens have left their condolences through comments under her picture uploads.


*****What's happening in korea? why many known personalities commit suicide?

Big Box Office Expected For "Rookies" Movie

Added by: dilaChan | Date: 29 May, 2009 (3 minutes ago) | Views: 11 | Source: tokyograph.com | Suggested by: akicute

The "ROOKIES" movie, opening this weekend on May 30, is looking to be a smash at the box office, based on advance ticket sales and fan response. Officially titled "ROOKIES -Sotsugyo-," the film continues the popular drama series that aired on TBS last year.

To help promote the movie's premiere, an event was held at Yoyogi National Gymnasium on Wednesday, attended by the main cast members such as Ryuta Sato and Hayato Ichihara. Said to be the largest such event ever for a Japanese film, all 12,000 tickets (at 3900 yen each) sold out in just two minutes.

For the movie's opening, about 240,000 tickets have been sold in advance, surpassing even last year's hit drama-based film "Hana Yori Dango Final." That picture went on to gross 7.75 billion yen during its theatrical run, which was the second highest gross for a domestic film in 2008.

Shinee+ BOF news

SHINee released thier new mini album
Message:
SHINee has released their new mini-album "Romeo".
Track Listing:
01 니가 맘에 들어 (Talk To You)
02 Juliette
03 차라리 때려 (Hit Me)
04 세뇨리따 (Senorita)
05 잠꼬대 (Please, Don't Go)
06 소년, 소녀를 만나다 (Romeo + Juliette)


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T-money card issuers have signed with Korea Smart Card and Etude House's Lee Min-ho (from Boys Before Flowers fame) to design a special Limited Edition card. What kind of card would that be you might ask? Well, Lee Min-ho's handsome face on the card, what else!
The T-money cards can be used as payment and transportation cards in Korea. T-money card payment service partners with Etude House to celebrate its 1 million production on May 1st. It is hoped that this special limited edition Lee Min-ho Etude House T-money cards will entice women to get the card. It's a marketing strategy...that i think would certainly work! If i were in Korea, i would definitely want that Min-ho T-money card! GIMME THAT CARD!
Source: JKnews
Credit :Kpopped!


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Blog Entry 2009 Korea Junior Star Awards
Message:
Credits : SS601.com + (English Translation) xiaochu @ Quainte501.com
‘Flower Boy’ Kim HyunJoong, Kim Bum...competes for best newcomer, daesang in drama section
The lead actors for this year’s hottest drama KBS 2TV ‘Boys Over Flowers’, Kim HyunJoong and Kim Bum will compete against each other in ‘2009 Korea Junior Star Awards (KJSA)’. Both of them has been selected as one of the candidate for daesang and newcomer awards in the drama section for ‘2009 Korea Junior Star Awards’. This award ceremony is to present acting awards to youngsters who will be in charge of the next generation’s hallyu wave and other child actors.
‘Korea Junior Star Awards’ sponsored by Korea Movie Producer Association will be held on 23rd, 2pm at Seoul KwangJin-gu NeungDong Universal Art Center.


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Kim Joon is the glue that sticks F4 together
Message:
Very similar to his role in Boys Before Flowers, Kim Joon is the one who binds the F4 together. In the drama, Joon plays Song Woo-bin who's usually uninvolved romantically but provides his friends support and a listening ear to their problems. In real life, Kim Joon also acts like a "big brother" (and in actual fact he is the oldest among the four) and shows support to his F3 friend's projects.
Kim Joon and T-MAX showed up to support Lee Min Ho in his recent Cass Beer club event and even stood on stage with Min-ho to promote a healthy responsible drinking habit. Joon also congratulated Kim Bum on his new projects and attended a fan meeting with the youngest of the F4 members.
Even with their busy schedules, F4 reunited (not so sure about Kim Hyun-joong though) to work on the Special Edition music drama. To work on this post-drama project, it was reported that Kim Joon had a hand in rounding the boys up. He personally contacted them. With that, Joon played an important role in making the special edition project a success. Since it's launch on Mnet, the music videos have been viewed by a whopping 11 million viewers.
Some might say he isn't as popular as the other three guys and thus has more free time but perhaps he's just a regular nice guy and values his friends.
Source: Osen
Credit: Kpopped!
Tags: kim joon

SS501 Kim HyungJoon, ‘Challenges Acting!’ Changes into an actor

Credits : lalala@sportshankook.co.kr + SS601.com + (English Translation) xiaochu @ Quainte501.com
Casted for the role of the son of a wealthy family in Korea-Japan joint production ‘Tele Cinema’
SS501 Kim HyungJoon will challenge himself on acting as an actor.
Kim HyungJoon was made one of the lead actors for the Korea-Japan joint production ‘Tele Cinema’. Kim HyungJoon will thus debut as an actor after being a radio DJ and a regular MC for variety program. He will be doing both singing and acting concurrently just like other members of SS501, Kim HyunJoong who acts in ‘Boys Over Flowers’ and Park JungMin in musical ‘Grease’.
Kim HyungJoon will act as a rebellious son of a wealthy family, with novelty charisma in this drama, title yet to be confirmed. Kim HyungJoon’s partners for this drama are Bae SeulGi and Son HoYoung.
Kim HyungJoon secretly finished his filming at Seoul and Kyunggi-do, etc, in mid-April. Kim HyungJoon had to do various fighting actions during the filming and generously showed his acting with his actions. A close Kim HyungJoon source said “Kim HyungJoon had a strong image of being a magnae or a cute little brother previously. However, through this drama, he will show us the cool side of him as a man.”
‘Tele Cinema’ is a drama jointly produced by Korean actors and famous Japanese drama producers. DBSG’s Hero JaeJoong, Han HyoJoo, An JaeWook, Kang HyeJung, Lee JiAh, Kang JiHwan, Big Bang’s Top & SeungRi, Heo LeeJae, etc have already participated for this series. It will be first broadcasted through SBS this year and later through public TV channels in Japan.

Who's the Coolest Lady Killer?

Who is the coolest lady killer? A week-long online poll launched by CRIonline Showbiz has the answer. South Korean star Lee Minho came atop the list, beating down 'Twilight' star Robert Pattinson, Chinese pop singer Han Geng and a member from Taiwan boy band Fahrenheit , Wu Chun .
Lee Minho
Impression: Handsome boy featuring curly hair, very clean look and slim and muscular body.
'Boys Over Flowers' star Lee Minho became famous overnight. He was one of the most popular Korean stars in the first half of the year.
"Boys Over Flowers" is a 25-episode South Korean television drama in 2009. This is the Korean drama adaptation of the Japanese manga 'Hana Yori Dango', also an equivalent of Taiwan drama 'Meteor Garden' and Japan's 'Hana Yori Dango' (TV series).
Han Geng
Han Geng (born on February 9, 1984), better known in Korea as Hankyung, is a Chinese pop singer and actor.
He is the only Chinese member of the large boy band Super Junior and the leader of its subgroup Super Junior-M.
As a member of a Korean music group, he has been an important contributor to the Korean wave in China.
Wu Chun
Wu Chun, is a Brunei-born actor, singer, a former model, and gym instructor.
He is the only non-Taiwanese member of the boy band Fahrenheit, and is known for his roles in the Taiwan idol dramas 'Romantic Princess', 'Hanazakarino Kimitachihe', 'Hot Shot' and 'Tokyo Juliet'.
CRI Online