city Tokyo: Celebs Rumors

Fire Force Season 3 is coming!

Jamie Lang Spain’s Canary Islands video game industry got a major shot in the arm this week as local developer Quantum Box Games, a studio based in Gran Canaria, secured a significant Japanese investment. The deal, worth 300 million yen (approximately $1.9 million), was forged with Route24, a Japanese game development company led by industry veterans who have worked on some of gaming’s biggest franchises, such as “Final Fantasy,” “Chrono Trigger” and “Super Mario RPG.” Route24 boss Kenichi Nishi, a former Square Enix developer, is teaming up with Keita Eto, another Square Enix veteran, and Quantum Box Games to develop a new JRPG titled “Kiriko the Mystic.” The partnership marks a significant milestone for the islands’ local gaming ecosystem as it will see home-grown artistic talent collaborate with some of Japan’s most renowned video game creators.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Neo Sora, the filmmaker and artist behind “Happyend,” has signed with Cinetic Media. The move comes after “Happyend,” which Sora wrote as well as directed, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. It went on to screen at the Toronto International Film Festival, New York Film Festival and Busan International Film Festival, earning positive reviews at each stop.

K-pop agency SM Entertainment has announced the upcoming release of a compilation album to celebrate its 30th anniversaryOn January 13, SM Entertainment unveiled a teaser clip announcing the release of its upcoming compilation album. Titled ‘2025 SMTown: The Culture, The Future’, the album, which celebrates the agency’s 30th anniversary, arrives on February 14.“Through this album, we will once again prove the power of SM music that transcends generations,” said SM Entertainment per Yonhap News Agency.The record will include a total of 17 tracks, including lead single ‘Thank You’, which will be performed by all artists under the agency.

TV presenter Nicki Shields says the secret to her work-life balance is having a supportive husband. Nicki is the face of ITV’s newly-acquired coverage of Formula E motorsport, having worked with the series for over 10 years. But working in international motorsport - which takes place in glamorous locations such as Miami, Tokyo and Monaco worldwide - has a clear toil on home life.

Squid have shared their latest single ‘Building 650’ and announced a string of UK headline shows for 2025.The art-rock band are preparing to release their third studio album ‘Cowards’ via Warp Records on February 7 (pre-order here) and have already shared the lead single ‘Crispy Skin’.Now, they have released a second single, the bright and colourful ‘Building 650’, which frontman Ollie Judge has said was inspired “by our first ever trip to Japan”. Check out the video, directed by Felix Geen, Daisuke Hasegawa and Kuya Tatsujo, here:“We played the Summersonic festival in 2022, luckily we were booked to play 2 days after the COVID travel ban had been lifted, because of this we felt like some of the only tourists in Tokyo,” Judge explained.“On the plane I read In The Miso Soup by Ryu Murikami and watched Lost in Translation out of excitement and later decided to write lyrics about being an outsider visiting Japan, including a very particular type of loneliness one can feel visiting a country that is so different from their own.

Naman Ramachandran The Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA) has tapped actor Dean Fujioka as Ambassador for its upcoming 18th edition, along with four Youth Ambassadors who are fellow actors – Aokbab Chutimon (Thailand), Austin Lin (Taiwan), Lo Chun Yip (Hong Kong) and Okada Masaki (Japan). Fujioka, known for “Fullmetal Alchemist” and winner of Best Actor at the 12th Confidence Drama Awards for “Monte Cristo: A Beautiful Revenge,” started his career in Hong Kong before gaining recognition across Asia in Taiwanese dramas. The Youth Ambassadors bring diverse experience to their roles.

EXCLUSIVE: Fox has a new global TV distribution boss.

Naman Ramachandran The final weekend of 2024 witnessed a significant upswing in China’s box office, with Gengxi Pictures’ “Big World” leading the charge by grossing $28.2 million (RMB200 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Directed by Yang Lina, the film stars Jackson Yee as Chunhu, a young man with cerebral palsy who assists his grandmother, portrayed by Diana Lin, with a stage play while preparing for college exams. It won the audience award at the Tokyo International Film Festival earlier this year.

M.T. Vasudevan Nair, legendary Indian author, screenwriter and director, died Wednesday, Dec. 25 at a hospital in Kerala’s Kozhikode district, days after suffering cardiac arrest, the Times of India reports. He was 91.

Solo Leveling is coming back soon!

EXCLUSIVE: Ansel Elgort (Tokyo Vice) has signed on to star in If You Could See Me Now, an adaptation of the 2005 novel from Cecelia Ahern, to be directed by Catherine Hardwicke (Prisoner’s Daughter).

Naman Ramachandran Theater play “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child“ is expanding its global footprint with two new international productions slated for Brazil in 2025 and the Netherlands in 2026. The Brazilian production, marking the play’s Latin American debut, will be performed in Portuguese under VME‘s banner. Stage Entertainment will mount the Dutch-language version in the Netherlands.

Chappell Roan, Lady Gaga and Dua Lipa have appeared in Apple TV’s A Carpool Karaoke Christmas.The festive special aired last night (December 15), with an hour-long instalment of the show put out on Apple’s platforms in a surprise release.Taking over from James Corden, Zane Lowe took on the role of guest driver and part-time backing singer as he shuttled the three artists around Missouri, Tokyo and Los Angeles, with Roan and Lipa covering Christmas classics as well as their own hits.The ‘Good Luck, Babe’ singer took on Wham’s ‘Last Christmas’ – which she recently performed alongside Sabrina Carpenter on A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter -while Lipa tackled the Ronettes’ ‘Sleigh Ride’.Gaga, true to form, elected to sing an original, joking to Lowe she prefers “a song that the whole family can get together and sing,” before breaking into 2008’s ‘Christmas Tree, in which she sings: “Underneath the mistletoe, everybody knows we will take off our clothes.”Throughout her segment, Gaga discussed her “crazy” collaboration with Bruno Mars and her upcoming album, ‘LG7’. After showing a clip of her late grandmother singing ‘Highway to Hell’, Lowe also surprised her and made a pit-stop to pick up AC/DC’s Brian Johnson, prompting the ‘Born This Way’ singer to recall being an extra in one of their videos when she was a teenager.Lipa also reflected on her teenage years while out Christmas shopping with Lowe in Tokyo, telling him she once got up on stage at a Katy Perry gig to perform a Whitney Houston cover alongside other audience members.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic All they want for Christmas is to ride shotgun. Superstar pop divas Lady Gaga, Dua Lipa and Chappell Roan go a-SUV-caroling in “A Very Carpool Karaoke Christmas,” a holiday special that was unwrapped as a surprise release Sunday night on Apple TV+ and Apple Music. The hour-long installment of the Emmy-winning “Carpool Karaoke: The Series” was put up on Apple’s platforms in a surprise release Sunday night at 9 p.m.

The fate of Japanese LGBTQ+ reality dating series The Boyfriend has just been revealed!

Big Special and Master Peace are among the most eye-catching of the 160 new names added in the second round of Showcasing Artists joining the SXSW 2025 line-up.SXSW will be celebrating its 39th year next year, and is set to take place in Austin, Texas from March 10 to 15.Punk duo Big Special and London indie sleaze revivalist Master Peace will be making the journey from the UK alongside Manchester-based jasmine.4.t, who became the first Brit signee to Phoebe Bridgers’ Saddest Factory record label earlier this year, and singer and multi-instrumentalist Freak Slug.Sam Ryder, who gave the UK its best Eurovision result since 1998, is another notable new inclusion, as are Liverpool indie-punks Gen and the Degenerates.Big Freedia, a pioneer of the New Orleans rap genre bounce who’s been sampled by Beyonce, is set to appear, as are the Tokyo futurepop sister duo Tamanaramen, Barcelona indie rockers HEAL, and Czechia’s Eurovision 2024 entrant Aiko. With over 160 artists, countries from Brazil to Indonesia to Nigeria to Ukraine are represented.

EXCLUSIVE: UTA has inked Chinese filmmaker and 2024 Un Certain Regard Prize winner, Guan Hu, for representation in all areas. 

A teenager has set her sights on the Olympics after becoming Britain’s fastest female climber.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore director Chiang Wei Liang and co-director Yin You Qiao’s “Mongrel,” a portrayal of disenfranchised migrant workers in Taiwan, won Best Asian Feature Film at the 35th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF). The jury praised the film’s “dense, shadowy and violent world” and its innovative approach to depicting contemporary issues of forced migration. The film has previously won awards at the Cannes and the Golden Horse festivals and at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Based on the novel by Shuang Xuetao, My Friend An Delie marks seasoned actor Dong Zijian‘s directorial debut.

Brendan Fraser have given an update on his upcoming post The Whale films, including Searchlight’s Tokyo-Shot Rental Family, and also revealed he would like to get into producing next, in an onstage conversation at the Red Sea Film Festival.

Keely Hodgkinson was told by Sir Alex Ferguson that she might not fully value her Olympic gold medal until her career ends, during a heartfelt exchange at Old Trafford.

TikTok users are calling out Khloé Kardashian for what they’re saying is a SUPER different look in Bustle‘s fresh new series of Keeping Up With The Kardashians throwback videos this week! But honestly? We’re not totally feeling what fans are saying this time around!

The sudden death of Japanese actress Miho Nakayama, who was found unresponsive in her bathtub at her Tokyo home, is being investigated by police. Reports suggest that the 54 year old star may have drowned as she was discovered sitting upright and leaning forward in the bath. She won hearts not only as a TV star but also as a J-pop singer.

Japanese singer and actress Miho Nakayama was found dead at her home in Tokyo on Friday.

Japanese actress Miho Nakayama has been found dead in her bathtub in Tokyo.

Ellise Shafer Miho Nakayama, a Japanese singer and actor best known for the 1995 romance film “Love Letter,” was found dead at her home in Tokyo on Friday. She was 54. Nakayama’s team confirmed the news in a post on her website, writing: “We are deeply sorry to have to suddenly announce this to all the people involved who have always looked after her and to all the fans who have supported her, but this incident was so sudden that we, too, are shocked and saddened.

Khloé Kardashian, girl, what are you doing?!?!

SM Entertainment has dropped the first batch of stops for the upcoming SMTOWN Live 2025 world tour, with shows in Mexico, Los Angeles and Tokyo.On December 2, the South Korean music label announced the first three stops for its highly anticipated SMTOWN Live 2025 world tour, along with dates and venues. The tour is in celebration of the company’s 30th anniversary.It will kick off with two-night residency at Seoul’s Gocheok Sky Dome from January 11 to 12, 2025.

In Japan, you can set your watch by the arrival of a train. “Delays” (if that’s the word) tend to be calculated in seconds – not minutes or hours.

Ringside Studios is teaming with Tokyo Vice producer Alex Boden to create a production services business, as it boards Netflix Japan feature 10Dance.

Tokyo Police Club played their final ever show in their hometown of Toronto on Friday (November 29) – check out footage below.The Canadian indie rock group – made up of David Monks, Graham Wright, Josh Hook and Greg Alsop – made the announcement that they were breaking up at the start of the year, saying that it was “time for us to say goodbye”.They confirmed that their last show would go down at Toronto’s History venue, and the sold-out show took place in front of their most devout fans. They played an extensive 29-song set, including a nine-track encore, drawing on music from across their career.Making appearances were ‘Cheer It On’, ‘Citizens Of Tomorrow’ and ‘Nature Of The Experiment’ from their debut EP ‘A Lesson In Crime’ from 2006, all the way up to tracks from their final full-length release ‘TPC’ in 2018.See fan-captured footage from the show below.‘Favourite Food’‘Favourite Colour’‘Breakneck Speed’‘Wait Up (Boots Of Danger)’‘Centennial’‘In A Cave’‘Juno’‘Sixties Remake’‘New Blues’‘Simple Dude’‘Pigs’‘Hang Your Heart’‘Hands Reversed’‘Gone’‘Bambi’‘Frankenstein’‘Nature Of The Experiment’‘Citizens Of Tomorrow’‘Listen To The Math’‘Tessellate’‘A Lesson In Crime’‘The Harrowing Adventures Of…’‘Ready To Win’‘Argentina (Parts I, II, III)’‘Hot Tonight’‘Box’‘Cheer It On’‘Your English Is Good’‘End Of A Spark’Announcing their decision to end in January, the band wrote: “It’s time for us to say goodbye! This band has meant so much to us for so many years, but all magical things must come to an end.

Select public screenings of All We Imagine As Light, the second feature from rising Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia, began in early May, a few weeks ahead of the film’s splashy competition debut at the Cannes Film Festival. I first saw the film during this run in London at the notoriously dingy Soho screening rooms and as the credits rolled in the room, there was a feeling of subdued excitement in the air. Attendees — some of the industry’s most hardened and cynical critics — could be seen cracking smiles at each other and nodding approvingly. 

Fast & Furious writer Chris Morgan has responded to Christopher Nolan revealing his love for Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift. Back in 2020, while appearing as a guest on Josh Horowitz’s HappySadConfused podcast, Nolan shared that he’s “got a very soft spot” for Tokyo Drift and went on to praise director Justin Lin’s entries in the franchise “as they got crazier and bigger and crazier and bigger and became something else, but something else kinda fun,” (via Collider).Now, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Morgan opened up to Nolan’s comments about the standalone sequel to 2001’s The Fast and the Furious.After being asked if the news of the Oppenheimer director’s comments had “knocked you sideways at the time,” Morgan said: “How could it not? He is literally one of the greatest filmmakers in the history of humanity, and he likes my movie.“By the way, I’ve spoken to him about it since then.

K-pop singer Kang Daniel has announced his upcoming 2025 ‘ACT’ tour, featuring concerts in Asia and Australia.Earlier this week, Kang Daniel released a new tour poster announcing the concerts on his upcoming 2025 ‘ACT’ tour. The singer originally kicked off the tour in October 2024 with a two-night concert in Seoul, and previously announced concerts in Tokyo and Osaka set to take place in January 2025.The singer has announced five new shows in Asia and Australia for 2025.