Ringo was invited to Nakamura Kenzaburou XVIII's NHK Memorial TV Program

Because of their close friendship, Shiina Ringo shared some words about Nakamura Kenzaburou XVIII's, at a NHK-G special memorial program about the kabuki player's life who died last week. Nakamura Kenzaburou was responsible for the "Sannin Kichisa" play, for which Ringo wrote the song "Tamatebako".

Her part on the memorial program was very brief, but I took some snapshots either way because it's the most recent pictures we see of her. I'd say she seems pretty fit for a KZK 2, don't you think?

Tokyo Jihen "returns" in February...

Tokyo Jihen, or should I say EMI, are returning this coming February, or at least two new releases are, according to Kronekodow. Yet another best DVD and another best CD collection, both released February 27th, 2013.

Although this time expect it to suck your wallet dry.

Hard Disk

Complete CD-Box (21.000Y, around $255)

- All 5 albums

- color bars

- Shinyawaku

- Special 9 track CD with songs that didn't make it to CD format yet and also unreleased tracks

Includes a hard-cover 52 page Photobook, 4GB Tokyo Jihen USB with photos and an instrumental version of "Service" called "Kaomisen Hen", which means something like Debut Chapter (wth?). Apparently the size of this thing will be the same as a analog record, according to my crappy translation.

First-Press Edition will come in a hard-cover book format.

Golden Time

DVD/BR (3.400Y / 4.100Y)

PV Collection:

- Gunjou Biyori

- Sounan

- Shuraba

- OSCA

- Killer Tune

- Noudouteki Sanpunkan

- Sora ga Natteiru

- Onna no Ko wa Daredemo

- Atarashii Bunmeikaika

- Konya wa Karasawagi (New Edit)

- Tadanaranu Kankei (New Edit)

- Senkou Shoujo (New Edit)

Comes with a special booklet concering the PVs and the first-press edition will have a plastic sleeve case.

New Tokyo Jihen releases this August

Today Kronekodow revealed the covers for the new Jihen releases. We can only guess if this is going to be EMI's last batch of money-milking after the band announced it's dissolution in last February 11th.

Regardless, we're still bound to get some interesting contents from both items: the B-Side CD collection "Shinyawaku" and the live best-of DVD/BR "Chin Play Kou Play". Here are the contents for both of them.

Title: 深夜枠 (Shinyawaku) (The Edge of Late at Night)

Release Date: 29 August 2012

01 - ハンサム過ぎて (Handsome Sugite)

02 - 我慢 (Gaman)

03 - BB.QUEEN

04 - 体 (Karada)

05 - ピノキオ (Pinochio)

06 - 鞄の中身 (Kaban no Nakami)

07 - 恋は幻 (Koi wa Maboroshi)

08 - 落日 (Rakujitsu)

09 - ダイナマイト (Dynamite)

10 - 心 (Kokoro)

11 - その淑女ふしだらにつき (Sono Onna Fushidara ni Tsuki)

12 - 顔 (Kao)

13 - ただならぬ関係（新曲）(Tadanaranu Kankei) (New Song)

Title: 珍プレー好プレー (Chin Play Kou Play) (Unusual Play, Good Play)

Release Date: 29 August 2012

Tours:

From "Dynamite!” 2005.02.09 ／ Nagoya Century Hall

01 - 林檎の唄 (Ringo no Uta)

02 - 車屋さん (Kurumaya-san)

03 - 恋の売り込み (I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door)

From “DOMESTIC Virgin LINE” 2006.02.19 ／ Nippon Budokan

04 - 葬列 (Souretsu)

05 - 虚言症 (Kyogenshou)

06 - 母国情緒 (Bokoku Jousho)

07 - 落日 (Rakujitsu)

From “Just can't help it!” 2006.05.26 ／ NHK Hall

08 - 雪国 (Yukiguni)

09 - ダイナマイト (Dynamite)

10 - 喧嘩上等 (Kenka Joutou)

From "Spa & Treatment” 2007.11.21 ／ Zepp Tokyo

11 - 金魚の箱 (Kingyo no Hako)

12 - 私生活 (Shiseikatsu)

13 - 黒猫道 (Kronekodow)

From “ウルトラＣ” 2010.05.12 ／ Tokyo International Forum A

14 - 電波通信 (Denpa Tsushiin)

15 - 生きる (Ikiru)

16 - 乗り気 (Noriki)

From “Discovery” 2011.12.07 ／ Tokyo International Forum A

17 - 空が鳴っている (Sora ga Natteiru)

18 - 秘密 (Himitsu)

19 - 今夜はから騒ぎ (Konya wa Karasawagi)

From “Domestique Bon Voyage” 2012.02.29 ／ Nippon Budokan

20 - 新しい文明開化 (Atarashii Bunmeikaika)

21 - 能動的三分間 (Noudouteki Sanpunkan)

22 - 群青日和 (Gunjou Biyori)

Festivals and Events:

From “0724YAMABIKARI”

2004.07.24 / Chicken George, Kobe

01 - その淑女(をんな)ふしだらにつき (Sono Onna Fushidara ni Tsuki)

From “FM802 MEET THE WORLD BEAT 2004”

2004.7.25 / Expo Commemoration Park, Osaka

02 - 御祭騒ぎ (Omatsuri Sawagi)

From “FUJI ROCK FESTIVAL '04”

2004.7.30 / Naeba Ski Resort in Yuzawa, Niigata

03 - 遭難 (Sounan)

From “COUNTDOWN JAPAN 06/07”

2006.12.30 / Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall

04 - 花魁 (Oiran)

05 - ブラックアウト (Blackout)

From “RISING SUN ROCK FESTIVAL 2008 in EZO”

2008.08.15 / Ishikari, Hokkaido

06 - 閃光少女 (Senkou Shoujo)

From “SOCIETY OF THE CITIZENS Vol2.”

2008.08.24 Tokyo Dome City Hall

07 - BB.QUEEN

08 - ミラーボール (Mirror Ball)

From “COUNTDOWN JAPAN 09/10”

2009.12.30 / Makuhari Messe International Exhibition Hall

09 - 我慢 (Gaman)

10 - ありあまる富 (Ariamaru Tomi)

From “EMI ROCKS 2010”

2010.11.06 / Saitama Super Arena

11 - 天国へようこそ (Tengoku he Youkoso)

12 - 透明人間 (Toumei Ningen)

From “EMI ROCKS 2012”

2012.02.19 / Saitama Super Arena

13 - ｓａ＿ｉ＿ｔａ

14 - キラーチューン (Killer Tune)

Bonus Feature:

幕の内サディスティック (Makunouchi Sadistic)

Special feature concerning the most performed song by the band, Marunouchi Sadistic.

PS - Regarding the blog's 3rd year, celebrated last June 26th, yay!
PSS - Regarding the link's issue, I'm still trying to find time to solve/upload it all. There are rumours that megaupload might be returning, so I'm inclined to wait a little bit to see if it's true or not... Thanks for your patience!

RIAJ issues

Well, well, well...

Seems like my recently-not-very-updated blog is having more and more excuses to be a little bit dead. Nevermind my lazyness and lack of Ringo news, this time RIAJ decided to act against my Mediafire uploads and all of them have been suspended. Which means that with Megaupload and Mediafire kind of useless now, I'm not sure where to turn to. Rapidshare is not really a solution, since it has become so crappy for downloads, and all the other websites were never really an option (and aren't still).

So I guess I'll have to think about some kind of solution. Maybe share this stuff over some tracker?

I'll let you guys know once I figure it out.

Cheers!

SWITCH March 2010 Scans

Here are my scans for the March 2010 issue of the SWITCH magazine, featuring loads of Ringo and Jihen content, during the Sports era.


SWITCH - 2010.03
Download (24 PNGs)

As the cover says, there's a Shiina Ringo x CHANEL photoshoot inside, one of her collaborations with the fashion house before the recent THE LITTLE BLACK JACKET exhibition/book.
I didn't include the pages where there was only text/interviews, by the way.

Bon Voyage Tour DVD and Blu-Ray

The final Tokyo Jihen tour, Bon Voyage, will get a DVD and Blu-Ray release on June 13th.

First-press edition will include a cardboard sleeve and an envelope-enclosed 1.000.000 Jihen paper bill. This release will include the last day of the short tour, February 29th at Nippon Budokan. Pre-orders are available at the usual sites.

Shiina Ringo - 2007.03.11 - Otakara Show at NHK

After the (still shocking) Tokyo Jihen dissolution, we still don't know what plans Ringo has in her mind for the future of her career. So let's take a look at what she was doing in a not so distant past.

Otakara Show was a NHKG Special made to promote the Heisei Fuuzoku album. In it, Ringo spoke about her career and how she was approached to make this soundtrack for the Sakuran movie. There's also appearances by violinist Saitou Neko and Ringo's brother, Shiina Junpei.

The glamorous concept of the show is very similar to what can be found in the Baishou Xstasy or Dai Ikkai Ringohan DVDs, and the 8 performances are sure to please any fan of the Heisei Fuuzoku era.

01 - 歌舞伎町の女王 (Kabukichou no Joou)
02 - 罪と罰 (Tsumi to Batsu)
03 - 茎 (Kuki)
04 - パパイヤマンゴー (Papaya Mango)
05 - 錯乱 (Sakuran)
06 - 意識 (Ishiki)
07 - この世の限り (Kono Yo no Kagiri)
08 - 迷彩 (Meisai)

Download (MP3 V0)
Download (MP4 H264 848x420)

Tokyo Jihen Live Tour 2012 Domestique Bon Voyage (set-lists)

Once again I'll try to cover up the setlists for the Bon Voyage Tour. The 6 days tour started yesterday, February 14, with a huge setlist bound to please most fans, even with the absense of some favourite tracks. There was space for three covers, however, two of them being from the recently released self-penned songs given to Chiaki Kuriyama.

ROCKIN' ON JAPAN January 2012 Scans

Here are the scans from the Discovery Tour article included in the January issue of ROCKIN' ON JAPAN, unfortunately not quite as early as I had expected to post them. The article is a bit short on words, focusing on all the releases and activities that culminated in the 2011 tour, with a brief sinopsis of the shows. It also mentions the release of the solo single "Carnation" and the soon-to-be released album "color bars", then called simply "colo bar".

I think the important part are the gorgeous photos, really, so get downloading.

ROCKIN' ON JAPAN - 2011.11.17
Download (5 PNGs)

Tokyo Jihen - 2012.01.20 - Music Station

This is Tokyo Jihen's last performance on Music Station, which aired yesterday. The band decided to pick up both the last and first singles of their career: "Konya wa Karasawagi" and "Gunjou Biyori". As usual, the instruments are all playback, but Ringo seemed to actually give an effort this time, showcasing some of her best vocals on Music Station ever. The stage includes a Phase 2 logo with the Phase 1 colors, which was a very nice touch and matches the song choices.

Much to my surprise, they didn't really talk much about the dissolution, with only some comments from Ringo and Kameda. They did have somewhat of a special focus on the show, however.

For the stalker-ish fans (like me), I've included the first few seconds of the Big Bang performance where you can see Ringo curiously looking at them in the background. I wonder what she was thinking about.

01- 今夜はから騒ぎ (Konya wa Karasawagi)
02 - 群青日和 (Gunjou Biyori)

Download (MP3 V0)
Download (MP4 H264 1280x720)
Download (MP4 H264 848x420)

PS - I'm opting for 480p videos, since I can achieve smaller filesizes that way (200MB compared to 500MB for a 720p version). However, I'd like to hear everyone's opinions on this choice.
I've also changed Megaupload with Rapidshare, considering the recent incidents. I'll have to reupload every video on this blog as well, so before that it would be nice to know what you think of this choice too.

EMI ROCKS 2012

Even after the dissolution news, Tokyo Jihen keep treating us with (somewhat) good news.

The announced performace at the 2012 EMI ROCKS edition, on February 19, is still up, and Tokyo Jihen will perform in this festival along with other big names from EMI like Acidman, Straigthner, 9mm Parabellum Bullet and Miyavi.

Yet another event to look forward to, during these last two months of Tokyo Jihen.

Sadistic News

The word is out: Tokyo Jihen have disbanded.

Through a series of messages from every member, posted on Kronekodow and the official band page, Tokyo Jihen announced the end of this Phase and also the band itself.

It is truly a sad day for every fan, including myself.

I can only find hope in believing that Shiina Ringo will not stop being a musician and continue her solo career.

But I'm not here to express my feelings on this matter, I have done it in other places.

Tokyo Jihen have announced a farewell tour to start next month. Tickets will be sold from January 13th to January 23rd, and the dates/venues are as follows:

February 14th

神奈川県 横浜アリーナ

Kanagawa Prefecture - Yokohama Arena

February 15th

神奈川県 横浜アリーナ

Kanagawa Prefecture - Yokohama Arena

February 21st

大阪府 大阪城ホール

Osaka - Osaka Jo Hall

February 22nd

大阪府 大阪城ホール

Osaka - Osaka Jo Hall

February 28th

東京都 日本武道館

Tokyo - Nippon Budokan

February 29th

東京都 日本武道館

Tokyo - Nippon Budokan

Price of the tickets will be 8888 JPY for all venues (approx. $115).

They will also participate in the January 20th episode of Music Station. A chance to promote color bars and talk about the disbanding, I'm sure. Hopefully also about the future.

Shiina Ringo - 2011.12.31 - 62th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen

Took me a while to upload, but here is Ringo's performance at the New Year's Eve National TV Show, the 62th NHK Kouhaku Uta Gassen. It's her first time performing at this important television event, after all this time, and altough Jihen are present in the stage, it's really supposed to be a solo thing, with Ringo being part of the female team or Akagumi (Red Team).

She does perform one song from her solo career, the latest single "Carnation", and afterwards a Tokyo Jihen single, "Onna no Ko wa Daredemo". It's important to notice that this live arrangement of "Carnation" is exactly the same as the one performed during the Discovery Tour, which differs greatly from the orchestrated original song.

At the beginning of the video we can see Ono Machiko, who is the star of the dorama "Carnation", and also the band Arashi, which coincidentaly has had a strong connection to Ringo for some reason I've yet to understand.

01 - カーネーション (Carnation)

02 - 女の子は誰でも (Onna no Ko wa Daredemo)

Download (MP3 V0)

Download (MP4 H264 1280x720)