Oricon Singles Chart for the Week of Oct 26-Nov 1:

(Rank, Artist, Song Name, No. of Units, Last week, Purchase Info.)

1. Kinki Kids, Swan Song, 160,407, NEW BUY: JAPAN

2. UVERworld, Kanashimi wa Kitto, 51,743, NEW BUY: JAPAN

3. Mizuki Nana, Mugen, 44,718, NEW BUY: JAPAN

4. Morning Musume,

Oricon Chart for Week of Oct 26-Nov 1:

(Rank, Artist, Album Name, No. of Units, Last Week, Purchase Info.)

1. Michael Jackson, This Is It, 73,709, NEW BUY: JAPAN / OVERSEAS

2. The Gospellers, Love Notes II, 31,584, NEW BUY: JAPAN / OVERSEAS

3. GLAY, The Great Vacation Vol. 2, 29,204, 1 [...]

Japanese electronics company JVC Kenwood Holdings are in talks with software giant Konami to sell their music division, Victor Entertainment. Negotiations are under way for the sale of a majority share to Konami, after JVC had apparently also felt out market leader Universal Music. The deal, [...]

The Center for World-Class Universities at Shanghai Jiao Tong University has released its latest ranking of the top Universities around the world. This annual ranking is a major competitor of the Times Higher Education ranking, which was published last month.

The

Kyodo news carried out a telephone poll of 1,025 registered voters over the weekend, and found that support for the Hatoyama Cabinet had fallen 10.2% since a similar poll a few weeks after the election. In spite of the fall, support is still relatively high, at 61.8%.

On a party basis, 43.2% of [...]

The Michael Jackson farewell picture “This Is It” pulled in $101 million worldwide over the 5 days up to Sunday, a major payoff for distributor Sony. This figure included a massive $10.4 million in Japan, where Jackson books and CDs have been flying off the shelves since the news of his [...]

Japanese Box Office: Oct 24 to Oct 30

(Rank, Movie Name, Weekend Box Office (US$), Cume (US$) (Note: US$1=90.83 yen))

1. I Give My First Love to You, $3,065,672, $3,065,672

2. The Sun That Never Sets, $2,730,848, $2,730,848

3. Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor, $2,183,335, $15,410,878

4. The Rebirth of Buddha, $1,028,178, $3,612,994

5. Fast & Furious [...]

This is the final part of my discussion of Prime Minister Hatoyama’s speech to the Diet last week. In the final part of his speech, Hatoyama discussed Japan’s role in the international community, touching on each of the major issues facing Japan including those that he discussed at the United Nations recently. The main topics [...]