Featured

SMAP

Former SMAP member Shingo Katori announces marriage to woman he’s been dating for 25 years

The relationship hasn’t exactly been a secret, but it came as a surprise anyway. 

Read More

Feud with boy band talent agency might spell the end of Sega’s Judgement video game series

Lost Judgement could be the last Judgement if Sega can’t work out a compromise with with Takuya Kimura’s agency.

Read More

Former sixth SMAP member wins motorcycle championship, fulfilling 24-year promise with bandmates

Fans dub November “The Day that United SMAP”.

Read More

World’s longest trailer shows former SMAP star play a transgender role in new film Midnight Swan

Japanese movie depicts the blossoming mother-daughter friendship between a transgender woman, played by SMAP‘s Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and a neglected teenage girl.

Read More

Our team of five reporters try to turn themselves into Japanese heartthrob Kimutaku【Photos】

The desire to achieve cultural icon status drove our team to undergo hair and clothing makeovers for hefty transformations. How were the end results?

Read More

The One and Only Nose in the World – talented girl plays recorders using her nose [video]

“What a waste of talent…this is awesome,” one Twitter user commented.

Read More

Japanese boy band pop star celebrates Donald Trump’s visit to Japan with Trump cosplay【Photos】

One of Japan’s most successful musicians ever takes on a new identity as “Katold Trump.”

Read More

SMAP idol group members issue farewell messages to fans

The popular idol group SMAP broke up on December 31 after performing music together for more than a quarter century.

Read More

RocketNews24’s top 10 Japan Events of 2016: Did your favorite make the list?

We’ve included some events and scandals that were big in Japan, so be sure to find out what they are!

Read More

SMAP vs. Mr. Sato! Our writer compares his life to that of Japan’s most successful boy band ever

How does the life of RocketNews24’s crack Japanese-language reporter stack up?

Read More

SMAP, one of Japan’s most famous pop boy band groups, have announced they will disband at the end of this year.

Read More

The five members of the popular group appeared sombre during their special television appearance last night. 

Read More

Reports indicate that the five-man vocal group’s 25-year stint in the Japanese spotlight is about to come to a close.

Read More

Prepare to be outraged: Japan votes for its “100 Best World Class Songs” 【Videos】

The long-running Japanese music program Music Station recently held a nation-wide survey polling 10,000 people on what they thought were Japan’s most world-class songs. Respondents told the TV show which songs they felt best represented Japan, throwing up popular artists such as Arashi and Mr. Children, and the results were aired on 23 September.

As with any music ranking, the results are open for debate, and this list is certainly no exception. However, looking at the top 10, it’s hard not to wonder where Music Station found the people who were asked to name Japan’s greatest ever song, and many Japanese netizens are calling the list “a national embarrassment”.

Are they right? Let’s find out by kicking things off with the 10th Best World Class Song: “Koi Suru Fortune Cookie” by AKB48.

Read More

When you get to be really famous, sometimes people will ask you some strange questions. If you’ve got even a passing interest in the Japanese entertainment or music industries, you’ve probably heard of evergreen male idol group SMAP and Takuya Kimura, its most popular member. Kimura hosts a weekly radio program, and in the most recent broadcast, he was asked by a listener for his thoughts on women’s panties that tie up on the sides with strings.

Rather than comment on their fashionableness, the star responded with his idea for the best way to remove said underwear, which got his many fans all in a flutter. Here at RocketNews24, though, we don’t have time for abstract panty theory. We’re all about practical life hacks, so today we’re testing Japan’s most-talked about way to remove lingerie.

Read More

Hugh Jackman stars, sings J-pop cover, and speaks Japanese in ads for Toyota【Videos】

When you get to be as big a company as Toyota, you can afford to go out and get A-list talent for your commercials. Over the last few years, the automaker’s created a series of ads starring boy band SMAP’s Takuya Kimura and film icon Beat Takeshi.

In the commercials, collectively known as ReBORN, Kimura and Takeshi play historical figures Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi, reincarnated in modern Japan. The latest installment even has a special guest star as Hugh Jackman, Wolverine himself, shows up to help spread the word about Toyota’s newest eco-friendly cars.

Read More

Japanese TV reveals the revolting truth about the source of jasmine’s alluring fragrance

Sometimes it’s better not to know where nice things come from. That’s the lesson Japanese netizens learned last week when a TV show revealed a very unpleasant fact about why jasmine has its unique and fragrant scent.

In a segment of the variety show aptly called “it’s better that you don’t know,” the president of an “aroma school” in Tokyo revealed that the compound that gives jasmine its pleasant fragrance is also responsible for a very unwelcome smell familiar to us all.

Read More

  翻译：