So…
Just casual post this time.
You probably noticed it. There was no post last week. I wanted to post something about SMAP’s apology and confirmation that they aren’t breaking up. And how even the prime minister Abe Shinzo expressed relief upon hearing that SMAP isn’t breaking up. Well, I didn’t get a chance to last week so here I am, writing about it now.
I’m glad. Truly glad to hear that SMAP isn’t breaking up. The whole fiasco became so, insanely huge. It’s been reported in the news worldwide… Even here in the tropical island of Singapore. I don’t remember the last time JE got such worldwide coverage. To think that even their PM feels the need to comment on it… That’s the sort of influence SMAP has in Japan. (And well, in Japan, politicians don’t usual talk about JPOP.) Public outcry of such scale… It’s truly unbelievable. As an Arashi fan… It really makes me wonder how Arashi matches up to their senpai. Sure, we know the hard numbers. Sales, concert goers etc… But how do you gauge this sort of public impact?
I must say though, as legendary SMAP is, Arashi certainly deserved to be also called National Idols in their own right. Their public impact is also phenomenal, and they have quite a mind blowing CV too. From setting Guinness World Records to holding gargantuan scaled concerts, to hosting Kouhaku, as a group, for 5 consecutive years, Arashi has done quite a lot of things.
I certainly hope this whole incident will change the JE internal structure/politics for the better though. With all that talk about ‘faction wars’ breaking apart JE into two… Despite their best attempts to deny it, some truths remain. Arashi not working with SMAP for example. While the underlying cause is unknown, hopefully this shake up will enable us to see more cooperation between them.
Some fans also commented that SMAP didn’t look happen at all during the announcement. Well… I’m not familiar with SMAP, but they do give off a strange vibe that left me pondering whether they were coerced into staying. The pressure for them to stay together is enormous after all. I just hope the members are happy with their decision. Speculations have been abound about how they will eventually break up anyway. I guess only time will tell… On a different note, all these publicity is bound to be generating loads of $$$ for JE….
On a separate note…
Life has been pretty busy recently, hence the lack of updates last week. I’ll definitely try my best to keep up the weekly updates. I’d certainly love to post more often, about both serious and non-serious stuff (e.g. entertainment news). Oh, and if you haven’t already done so, do subscribe to the blog by filling up your email at the bottom of the side bar. You’ll just get emails when new posts are made. No spam, I promise!
Ok, last thing I wanna say in this post.
The tracklist and cover art for Arashi’s new single is out! I’ve updated them in the post here. The song titles looks interesting, and I can see the clear relationship between the titles and the whole love/romance theme. The cover… Well it’s nice looking and sporting a city theme. I’m so excited to hear the songs!