Singer Shinohara Tomoe (26) seems to be making something of a comeback. She made a big impact back in the mid-90s with her bubbly personality and outlandish fashion sense, and her single “Ultra Relax” was a big hit in 1997. She disappeared from the music scene over the last few years as she concentrated on theater work, but has been popping up on variety shows again lately. In October she released her first single in five years. This week she’s in Paris for a month-long event to promote Japanese pop culture. It was also announced that she will be back in the City of Light next June to take part in a major music festival.
• Meanwhile, the “anime USA” festival was held in Washington DC over the weekend. Pop trio m.o.v.e. were on hand to provide a live rendition of “Dogfight,” the theme song to the anime series “Initial D.” The 3-day event attracted about 3,500 fans of anime and manga.
• And coming in the opposite direction, it was announced that Bon Jovi will be touring Japan for the 13th time next April. They’ll play 6 stadium shows, bringing their total here to 35, a new record for a foreign band. They currently share the record with the Rolling Stones with 29.