TOHOSHINKI still rocking Japan

TOHOSHINKI is still insanely popular in Japan. The March issue of women's fashion magazine "JJ", which featured the boy band on the cover, sold out in just two days of going on sale January 23. This is the first time that a male group appeared on the cover of "JJ", a magazine which celebrates its 35th anniversary this year. "Starting last March, we ran a special feature section on TOHOSHINKI for three months and it was a huge sensation," a source at "JJ" explained. "Our theme for the cover is 'surprise' and we wanted to prepare a surprise present for TOHOSHINKI fans, so we have been asking TOHOSHINKI [to shoot the cover] since last summer and they had finally said yes this time." The people at "JJ" explained that since the photo shoot and interview were conducted in late December, the members were running on busy schedules -- with their upcoming appearances on NHK TV's "Red and White Song Battle" and Japan Record Awards -- but they were so committed that they ended up working overtime and the atmosphere on the set was warm and friendly throughout. The TOHOSHINKI "Valentine's Day Special" feature includes an eight-page photo spread, a 100-question survey which reveals the personal lives of the five members and a chance to win an autographed picture of the pop idols.

The explosively popular issue of "JJ" then started selling at online website Auction with a bidding price of JPY 5,000 yen, which is several times the original sale price (JPY 650 yen). Numerous fan sites heated up with fans' complaints such as "I want to buy the magazine but no one is selling", "I realized once again how popular TVXQ is. I knew it was hard to buy their concert ticket but did not know it would be just as hard getting a magazine." Eventually on January 25, "JJ" decided to reprint its March issue and distribute the reprinted magazines to bookstores around the country starting January 29.

TOHOSHINKI had another reason to celebrate: their new single "BREAK OUT!", released January 27, reached No. 1 on Oricon's singles chart. The 29th single has been chosen as the theme song to NHK drama "Tomehane! Suzuri Koko Shodobu", which premiered on January 7 and airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. The single sold 169,842 copies on the day of its release, outselling No. 2 single L'Arc-en-Ciel's "BLESS" (which sold 33,051 copies) by a mile. "BREAK OUT!" also topped Oricon's survey for "The Most Anticipated New Single Album" on January 22, a day before its release. With the upcoming release of their first best album "BEST SELECTION 2010" set for February 17, it will be interesting to see if TVXQ continues their sell-out run.

Reporter : Im Da-ham (Tokyo Correspondent)
Editor : Lynn Kim lynn2878@asiae.co.kr, Lee Ji-Hye seven@10asia.co.kr