Who is Nobuyukii Tsujii? Why, he's the young man in the photo above -- a gifted 21 year old pianist who is completely blind. According to a report from Time (via News On Japan), Tsujii has been playing a solo tour which has had Japan bursting with tears of joy and thunderous applause. The report calls the phenomenon "Nobu Fever". Apparently people are obsessed (and perhaps with good reason)!

Still in his junior year of music school, the young pianist recently won a gold medal at the Van Cliburn International Competition held in Fort Worth, Texas. If you're interested in seeing what all the fuss is about, you can go check out his official website, watch videos of his performances and purchase his CDs. I'm a fan of classical music, so I personally really enjoyed it!

People are capable of doing lots of scary things, to be sure, but for me one of the worst is the type who will hack into your email or read all your text messages in your cell phone. One crazed fan of the all-girl pop band AKB48 decided to go this route recently. Since the Japanese post office does not require proof of ID when changing your address, he decided to change their mailing address to his own so he could receive their mail instead.

Japan Probe reports that the man registered his own address as one of the members of the band between September and October of last year. The member in question reported she was no longer receiving her mail and the police were able to uncover the whole scheme from there. Further investigation revealed he had registered his address as that of eleven total members of the band (it has forty in total). He was quoted as saying "I just wanted some of their stuff, I didn't care what."

I guess it's not up there with peering into their window and whacking off in the bushes, but it's up there. What do you think is the creepiest thing a stalker can do?

Vis-kei band that isn't really a vis-kei band anymore Dir en Grey is set to play two gigs in LA this weekend. November 20th and 22nd will see them bringing their nu-metal rock sound to the House of Blues Sunset Strip.

Tainted Reality is offering up the chance for 10 lucky bastards to win a pair of tickets, five pair for each show. The only catch is that they will be giving away the tickets on their call-in show on November 19th, accessible only though Skype. So fire up your cyberphone and check out all the details on how to connect with them below.

Tainted Reality will also be airing an interview with Versailles Don't Forget To Add The -Philharmonic Quintet- So We Don't Get Sued during the show, so even if you don't win, you'll win!

Hit the jump for details and some video action.

This is probably old news to you by now, but it seems that British pop star Leona Lewis has been drafted into singing the theme song for Final Fantasy XIII's international release.

The song is titled "My Hands" and is from her album Echoes. The Japanese release of the game, however, will have its own theme "Kimi Ga Iru Kara," sung by Sayuri Sugawara.

While I've never preferred using pop songs for games in a fantasy setting (for me it "breaks character"), doing this was a good way to make the move. Some previous games and other RPGs with lyrical themes attempted to write English lyrics for dub over the Japanese music, which usually ended up sounding ridiculous. May as well license an actual English song/singer for it.

Or, go the Persona route and have your Japanese singers sing in hilariously lovable Engrish. Baby baby baby baby baby!

Check below to listen to both songs. Which do you prefer?

Back again with lucky show number 113! It's another one of them there radioator Japan cast pods.

This week, lots of cool new news and music from the likes of Utada Hikaru, HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR, An Cafe and a closer look at Boom Boom Satellites in the Artist Spotlight.

Hurry up and put this 13 behind you as fast as possible by downloading the show immediately!

NOTE: I goofed and recorded my voice track and a super-low bit rate. Deal.

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We've been reporting on the line-up changes to the band HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR for some time now. Well, we will now get the chance to see those changes manifest when the band hits the stage at Sakura-Con next year.

The three day event in Seattle takes place from April 2nd to the 4th. This will be the first time HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR has trod upon American soil since singer Makii left to pursue other activities. Their new singer, HALCA, has since stepped in. The band released their new album swamp man earlier this year.

So what say you, H&MC fans? Are you already booking your tickets?

I'll be up front in saying this: Boom Boom Satellites is one of my favorite bands. With that out of the way, let me just say that they have really covered alot of ground in their musical career. From their unique jazz-influenced beginnings to their more modern drum-heavy electronic stylings, they know what they're doing and have done it well. Their most recent release, Back on my Feet actually marked a bit of a return to their older style -- which is no problem to me.

This all said, if you are also a fan of Boom Boom Satellites, get your calendar out and mark this date down: November 24th at 7pm.  They'll be performing at Santos Party House, the ticket price being a grand total of free. Me You Us Them will be opening for BBS as well. Superglorious has all the details and the form to RSVP if you want to go. Only limit? You have to be 18 or over. Sorry, underage Jtorians. I'll be doing my best to attend, hopefully I can see you guys there!

[Image via .damien flickr]

I know some of you probably don't follow the American rock scene very closely, let alone the Japanese one, but for those of you who follow both, like me, you'll love this. Slash's first single, "Shara," from his upcoming album Slash & Friends has hit the shelves in Japan, and features Koshi Inaba, the vocalist of B'z.

The song is actually pretty awesome, not that I had any doubts going in, but that last Velvet Revolver album wasn't exactly something I thoroughly enjoyed. It also pleases me to know that the lyrics are entirely in Japanese. Inaba didn't have to go out of his way to try and sing in English, and I like that--after all, it's not always easy for Japanese vocalists.

The catch, though? According to Slash's latest tweets, the song is only going to be included on the Japanese version of the album and I can only assume that means the single will remain a Japan-only release. Still, that shouldn't stop any of you from trying to track down a copy of the single on CDJapan because there's nothing wrong with importing it.

Take a listen to the song after the jump.

Here it is! The new episode of Japanator Radio! Just a little late. Nothing to panic over. Jeez!

This week, some UVERworld, some Ali Project, some Bloodthirsty Butchers and Quinka With A Yawn in the Artist Spotlight. Fun!

Let's make up for lost time together by downloading the new show right now! Go! Go!

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New music from Utada Hikaru is always good news if you're a huge fan of  her work like me. And it looks like that might be something we can look forward to soon. According to the updated site discography of Goetz B., one of Utada's longtime collaborators, the song is called "Show Me Love". He is a sound mixer and has worked on her Japanese releases in the past, so perhaps we'll be seeing this one in the near future?

[Via Utada's official blog]