Celebrities: Kawase Tomoko (川瀬 智子)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! Like I told you guys before on my article on the article about "Tommy heavenly6", I was going to do a celebrity category on Tomoko Kawase!! ^_^

                                  Name: Kawase Tomoko (married name: Okuda Tomoko)
                                    Stage Name(s): Tommy february6, Tommy heavenly6
                                                            Nickname: Tommy
                                                    Birthday: February 6th, 1975
                                                              Blood Type: B
                                                              Height: 161cm
                                                    Hometown: Kyoto, Japan

Now, time for some detailed information about Kawase Tomoko! Kawase Tomoko was originally the lead vocalist and lyricist of an alternative rock band called "The Brilliant Green". She was asked to join the band in 1995 after her now husband, Okuda Shunsaku, and Matsui Ryo heard her sing when she took part in a karaoke contest. And as the band's lyricist, she wrote songs and sung them in both Japanese and English. And in her videos, she speaks really great and clear English and she isn't even a native English speaker. Since the indefinite hiatus of "The Brilliant Green" she started doing more soloist music on her own so she came up with "Tommy february6" and "Tommy heavenly6".

And other than music, she is involved in other things as well.She writes songs for other singers. And she also once lent her voice to an anime called Piroppo as a character named Pikki. She also modeled for an Italian fashion house, Fiorucci, and for some time she hosted "Break Down", a show on MTV Japan.

She is also known for having an obsession with "Elmo", the red Sesame Street Muppet, Harry Potter, and more recently Pikachu from the anime Pokemon!

Now, more about "Tommy february6"!  Kawase Tomoko began developing the character of february6 way before her debut. The february6 persona is known for her geeky looks, theme of cheerleaders, strange habits, her librarian-esque glasses, and her innocent personality (portrayed in her lyrics)!! The name itself was inspired by her birthday.

Here is a song from "Tommy february6":

                                                                       RUNAWAY

Now, about "Tommy heavenly6" which many of you that read my blog probably read an article about it before! Now, Tommy heavenly6 is meant to be the dark side and the alter-ego of Tommy february6. This one is released under "heavenly6". It is pop rock based and features Tommy as a more sophisticated and a classy person. Tommy heavenly6 is obessed with her image, and almost parodies modern culture in a way. Her persona loves reality shows, alcohol, and junk food.

That is also all what I have to say about Tommy heavenly6 so now I will show you guys a song from Tommy heavenly6:

                                                             CAN YOU HEAR ME?

And before I end this article, here is her in the alternative rock band "The Brilliant Green"!!


                                           THE BRILLIANT GREEN - A LITTLE WORLD

Well, that is all I have to write about on Kawase Tomoko! Thank you guys for reading! I will make sure to post more and more! ^_^ Thank you! And don't forget to comment and follow and tweet @LivNLuvJP and email me at livnluvjapan@yahoo.com !! ^_^

Celebrities: Hikaru Utada (宇多田 ヒカル)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! Today, I will be talking about a popular Japanese celebrity who is a solo artist named Hikaru Utada~! ! ! ^_^

• Name: Hikaru Utada (宇多田 ヒカル)
• Birthday: January 19th, 1983 (currently 31 yrs old)
• Birthplace: Manhattan, New York City, NY
• Height: 5'2" (1.58m)
• Spouse: Kazuaki Kiriya (married from 2002-2007)
• Parents: Teruzane Utada & Keiko Fuji
• Occupation: Singer & Songwriter

 
 Hikaru Utada is a Japanese-American singer and songwriter. She has been in business ever since 1996 and then ended it in 2011 on hiatus. Which means she probably paused on her music to handle personal things in her life. She is originally from Japan but, was born in the U.S. Her music is really popular in both Japan and the U.S. among both Japanese and American people. She plays many varieties of different music such as pop, R&B, rock, alternative, dance, electronica, synthpop, and experimental. She also knows how to play the piano, vocals, and guitar.

On September 7th, 2002 she married Kazuaki Kiriya. He is a photographer and a film director who was 15 years her senior and he had also directed several of her music videos. After 4 and a half years, the couple divorced on March 2nd, 2007. Soon, she confirmed she had a boyfriend 8 years her senior which they begun their relationship in about September 2009. Then on January 27, 2010 it was reported that their relationship had ended due to the fact that Utada was extremely busy with her "In The Flesh 2010", and the fact that they never saw each other. 

Sadly, on August 22, 2013...Utada's mother, Keiko Fuji, died by apparent suicide by jumping from the 13th floor of a 28-floor condominium building in Shinjuku, Tokyo. 

Soon, she announced on her personal site, that she was engaged to be a wed, asking for her fans and the media to view her personal life from a "respectable distance" as he is not in the entertainment industry. On that same day, her ex-husband congratulated her on her marriage. Then, on February 10th, 2014 Utada and her fiance Francesco Calliano left a message on Hikaru Utada's official site about how they met each other, him being a bartender in London hotel and asking for privacy. They were wed on May 23rd, 2014.

Here are some amazing photos of her family:

                                                This is Hikaru Utada's mother Keiko Fuji

                                        This is Hikaru Utada's ex-husband Kazuaki Kiriya

                                             This is Hikaru Utada's father Teruzane Utada

                                    This is Hikaru Utada and her husband Francesco Calliano



Now, I will show you guys videos of a few of her songs that she had written (it is kinda hard for me to find the official version of MVs but all the songs is the official version) Also most of her songs that she I have written are also part of the video game "Kingdom Hearts".:



                                                                  "Simple and Clean"

                                                                         "Passion"

                                                               "FINAL DISTANCE"

Thank you guys so much for checking out Liv N' Luv Japan! I will be posting more articles soon for you guys to check out! Bye Bye!! Love you!! Arigatou gozaimasu~!! ^_^

Celebrities: Ashida Mana (芦田 愛菜)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! Today, I am going to be on the subject of celebrities. I want to talk about a famous Japanese child named Ashida Mana~! ^_^

Birthday: June 23rd, 2004 (currently 10 yrs old)

Occupation: Singer, Actress, Model, and Tarento

Birthplace: Hyogo Prefecture, Japan

Talent Agency: JobbyKids

 Now, here is a little more about Ashida Mana and my opinions on her. She has been on so many movies, j-dramas, commercials, and voice acting for animations/cartoons. So I am going to give you guys a list of the many things she has appeared in:


MOVIES:

• Hanbun no Tsuki ga Noboru Sora (2010)
• Kokuhaku (2010)
• Ghost Mou Ichido Dakishimetai (2010)
• Inu to Anata no Monogatari (2011)
• Hankyuu Densha Katamichi 15 fun no Kiseki (2011)
• Usagi Drop (2011)
• Liar Game: Saisei (2012)
• Nobo no Shiro (2012)
• Pacific Rim (2013)

I am planning to check out all of these movies and plan to watch them since I am a huge fan of this kawaii little Japanese girl Ashida Mana. I am really interested in one of these movies which is "Pacific Rim". After I watch these movies I will also plan to write a review on my blog about them. ^_^

Now here is a little bit of information about Ashida Mana that you may not know about her. Her favorite foods are cucumber, fried vegetables, sukonbu and kameni. But, she dislikes eggplants, pumpkin, and milk. Her hobbies are riding the unicycle and reading. She looks up to the K-POP group KARA. She became famous and rose up to popularity after she was starred in the award winning j-drama "Mother" and she end up winning "Best Supporting Actress" at the 14th Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix. And at the age of only six, she became one of the youngest leading actress in a Japanese drama called, "Sayonara Bokutachi no Youchien" in 2011.

Now like I said before, Ashida Mana is a singer so I am going to show you a couple of her music videos:


                                  Ashida Mana - Sutekina Nichiyoubi ~ Gyu Gyu Good Day!

                                                   Ashida Mana - Zutto Zutto Tomodachi

                                                   Ashida Mana - Minna no Happy Birthday

                                                  Ashida Mana - Maru Maru Mori Mori

That was just a couple of her music videos and I find all of them to be very adorable and I love listening to her music. It's hard to really choose my favorite song by her but, I gotta say that I would choose "Maru Maru Mori Mori" because the song is super adorable and so is the very colorful music video and just listening to the song makes me feel really happy and makes me feel like a really happy little kid~! ^_^

Now also like I said before, she has also been in so many commercials!! So, I will also show you guys a video full of most of the commercials she has been in:

And do you remember when I said that Ashida Mana looks up to KARA and is a really huge fan? Well, here is another video which was on her birthday and she meets the group KARA for the first time! Really cute~! ^_^

Well, that is all for this article on the celebrity Ashida Mana~! I will be posting more articles soon so stay tuned and don't forget to follow Liv N' Luv Japan on Twitter at @LivNLuvJP ! ^_^

Celebrities: Masaki Sato (佐藤優樹)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! It's time to talk about Japanese celebrities!!! I want to talk about Masaki Sato from Morning Musume. She is my most favorite member from Morning Musume. I love her cuteness and there is something about her that I like that make her stand out from all of the other girls in the group~! ^_^

Name: 佐藤優樹 (Masaki Sato)

Birthday: May 7th, 1999 (currently 15 yrs old)

From: Hokkaido, Japan

Occupation: Singer

Association: Morning Musume, Harvest, Jurin, Sato no Akari, Hello!Project, Mobekimasu 

Blood Type: A

Height: 153cm

Now, that was just some basic in general information about Masaki Sato. Now, I am going to talk more about her and about Morning Musume. First of all, Masaki Sato is part of the 10th generation of Morning Musume and she was one of the girls who were selected on September 29th, 2011. She has 2 younger sisters.

 Masaki Sato is known to have a cheerful personality. She is the 6th Morning Musume member who is from Hokkaido. What is really shocking to me that she is the only 10th generation Morning Musume member who has not had past experience in the entertainment industry. So, when I think about that, that means this is her first time ever and all of a sudden she just audition and got in with no experience at all! She had always spoken English until she was 5 years old, when she started kindergarten, she had to start using Japanese.

That is how much I learned about Masaki Sato so far. By far when it comes to the 10th generation Morning Musume, she will always be my most favorite member! I hope that she will audition to be in future generations. She is really young, and we are the same age! Plus, I am a few months older than her which is something surprising that I have learned as well! I am positive that she will probably be in future generations because of the fact, it will be a while before she gets to a certain age to graduate from Morning Musume.

Now, who is your favorite 10th generation member?! ^_^ I would love to know your opinions about Masaki Sato and your favorite member!! ^_^ Please comment below!! And don't forget to tweet @LivNLuvJP !!
Thank you very much!! Arigatou gozaimasu!!
  

Celebrities: Miyamoto Karin (宮本佳林)

Hello everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! I like talking about famous Japanese celebrities, especially the ones I have an obsession over. One of my top favorites is Miyamoto Karin. Many of you who listens to J-POP may know her from the girl group Juice=Juice.

Birthday: December 1st, 1998 (currently 15 yrs)

Birthplace: Chiba, Japan

Occupation: Singer

Blood Type: O

Height: 154cm

That was a little general information about Miyamoto Karin that I have mentioned above. When I think of Miyamoto Karin, I think of her as a leader and not a follower. I really don't know why but, I think it has something to do with her being in Juice=Juice. She seems like the leader of the bunch and seems to be the most popular. But, that doesn't make her better than the rest of the other girls. 

Here is a little information you may be interested in knowing about Miyamoto Karin. Her favorite colors are baby pink and grape color. She doesn't like to draw (which I don't understand why...who doesn't like to draw?!). Her hobbies are home karaoke and playing with her cats. Her favorite subject is music (which is very obvious!). Her group Juice=Juice is part of Hello!Project. Other than her in the Juice=Juice group is Akari Uemura, Tomoko Kanazawa, Yuka Miyazaki, and Sayuki Takagi.

There is really not much more I can really say about her. But, I will make sure to post articles about the other members of the group for those who are curious about the other girls as well. And if you have any questions about Miyamoto Karin or want me to do an article about some of your favorite Japanese celebrities, feel free to let me know by commenting below! ^_^ 

CELEBRITIES:安部 春香 (Haruka Abe)

Hello everyone and welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! Today, I want to talk about this celebrity that is kinda popular but, we have all seen her before in this popular new music video called, "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit. She is not part of the Clean Bandit band but was filmed in the music video because she was a fan of theirs and it was also filmed in Tokyo, Japan so they decided to let her in the video.

She is a Japanese actress in London, UK. She was born in Tokyo, Japan and as a child she had lived and moved around New York, London and Tokyo. She was born on January 8, 1985 (currently 29 years old.).

She had been filmed in the TV shows:

• Ideal
• Slingers
• Wire In The Blood
• Casualty
• My Phone Genie
• Doctors
• Edge Of Heaven

She had been in the films:

• The Knife That Killed Me
• 47 Ronin

Here is a couple of photos of Haruka Abe:

And now for those who haven't heard the song "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and haven't seen Haruka Abe in the video, and for the ones who enjoy this song and love watching Haruka Abe perform, here is the music video "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit:

Yaya Han

Konnichiwa everyone! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan! Today, I want to talk about a famous Chinese (who at first I thought was Japanese) cosplayer and I think that's the number one cosplayer of all time....Yaya Han!!! ^_^

She is an American cosplayer, model, and costume designer based in the US. She is also a regular judge at cosplay competitions. I first discovered Yaya Han when I was watching the reality TV series "The Of The Nerds" and saw her re-appear again on the Syfy TV series "Heroes Of Cosplay".


                                                           KING OF THE NERDS

                                                                HEROES OF COSPLAY

Just watching Yaya Han cosplay makes me really want to cosplay and make my own costumes and designs and perform but, that seems to much for me but seems like a very exciting experience!

Here is a video of Yaya Han in "Heroes Of Cosplay":

Watching this on "Heroes of Cosplay" really excited me! I can just watch this over and over again! I recommend watching the TV series as well and watching all the other amazing cosplayers as well! Thank you so much guys for reading this article and checking out my blog today! I will be posting even more later on today and also tomorrow when possible! Arigatou gozaimasu! ^_^

Celebrities: 柏木 由紀/ Kashiwagi Yuki

Hello Everyone~! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan!! Today, I will be blogging about Kashiwagi Yuki~!! ^_^





Born: July 15, 1991 (age 22)

Height: 5'4" (1.63 m)

Music Group: AKB48 & French Kiss

TV Shows: Majisuka Gakuen

Record Labels: King Records, Avex Group & DefStar Records

Nickname: Yukirin


柏木 由紀 (Kashiwagi Yuki) is a member of the Japanese idol group AKB48. She had auditioned for AKB48 on December 3, 2006. She is the member of Team B. Previously, she was captain of Team B but, she was replaced by Ayaka Umeda as captain. She was born in Kagoshima, Japan!

This was her catchphrase: 寝ても覚めてもゆきりんワールド、夢中にさせちゃうぞ♪　ゆきりんこと柏木由紀です。よろしくお願いします(Whether asleep or awake it's Yukirin world, I'll make you dazed♪ I'm Kashiwagi Yuki also known as Yukirin. Please be nice to me)

 She had once auditioned for Morning Musume 8th Generation! 

Her favorite AKB48 songs are Hizukehenkousen and Namida no Shonan!























Fact about me...Kashiwagi Yuki is my favorite member of AKB48~!! ^_^


Thank you very much for reading you guys!!

 

Celebrities: 田中 れいな/ Reina Tanaka

Hello Everyone~!! Welcome to Liv N' Luv Japan~!! Today, I will be talking about a celebrity that is part of a really popular J-POP group Morning Musume...Reina Tanaka~!! ^_^





Name: 田中 れいな/ Reina Tanaka

Born: November 11, 1989

Music Groups: Morning Musume, Hello!Project, Aa!

Movies/TV Shows: Sugaku Joshi Gakuen, Yona Yona Penguin

Record Labels: Piccolo Town, Zetima

Origin: Fukuoka, Japan


Reina Tanaka is a Japanese singer. She is part of a rock band " LoVendoЯ" and part of a J-POP idol group created by Hello!Project, Morning Musume! Her professional first name is originally written in kanji but, on stage she uses her name using hiragana to distinguished herself from another Japanese idol with a similar name written with the same kanji. In 2001, Reina Tanaka had audition for Morning Musume 5th Generation and passed the audition. But sadly, she had to leave when they founded out that she was underage. Soon in 2002, she had re-auditioned again and passed Morning Musume 6th Generation along with the members Eri Kamei and Sayumi Michishige, which makes Reina Tanaka the only one to audition twice to get in.

Reina Tanaka was featured in two solo versions of "Memory Seishun no Hikari" on a fan club released CD. In 2003, Reina Tanaka was chosen as a member of the new unit "Aa!", along with the members Airi Suzuki and Miyabi Natsuyaki. Together they have released one single "First Kiss" before going on to an indefinite hiatus. Soon, the group had reformed in 2009 but this time without Reina Tanaka because she was already in a group called "High-King". So, Tanaka place in the group of Aa! was taken by Akari Saho. On March 2008,  it was announced that Tanaka would be taking voice role in Kirara, a main character in Sanrio's anime "Onegai My Melody Kirara"; the 4th "My Melody" season.




 





 





Thank you everyone for reading~!! ^_^

Celebrities: 二宮和也/ Ninomiya Kazunari

Hello Everyone~! Today, I have started a new topic for Liv N' Luv Japan~!! I will be talking about popular Japanese celebrities from all over Japan and the rest of the world! I figure this would be a really popular topic for people who are huge fans of many Japanese celebrities. From the music category to models and actors/actresses!

For today, I will be talking about Ninomiya Kazunari~!!
^_^

 

Name: Ninomiya Kazunari /  二宮和也

Music Group: Arashi (since 1999) 

Height: 5'6" (1.68 m)

Birth Date: June 17, 1983 (Age 30)

Occupation: Singer/Actor/Songwriter/Voice Actor/Radio Host

 Nickname: Nino 

Ninomiya began his career in the entertainment industry when he joined the Japanese talent industry Johnny & Associates in 1996 at the age of 13. Prior to this debut as a singer with Arashi in 1999,  Ninomiya started an acting career when he was cast as Chris for the stage play Stand by Me, which was based on the film of the same name. Since then, he has went on to appear in numerous drama, movies and stage productions, making him known as the actor of Arashi. Described as an actor who can act with his mouth and his eyes, Ninomiya has won numerous awards and nominations for his rolls. 

Ninomiya was born in Katsushika, Tokyo and was the youngest child of his family. Both his mother and father were working as chefs when they first met each other. His sister is two years older than he is. Ninomiya had graduated from high school in March 2002 at the age of 18. 

                                                NINOMIYA KAZUNARI PICTURES

Thank you everyone for reading about Ninomiya Kazunari~! ^_^