Girls’ Generation was selected as the group with the best dance performance by mobile users in Japan.

On June 18th, the ‘Ranking of Girl groups with great dance performance’ was released by Japan’s mobile music service site Recochoku. From the users’ voting result, Girls’ Generation took the no.1 spot in the survey.

E-Girls came in 2nd while Japan’s 3-member techno-pop girl group Perfume took the no.3 spot. Kara and Speed were ranked 4th and 5th respectively.

Credit: sportschosun.com

Girls’ Generation’s 1st Japanese album ‘Girls’ Generation’ which was released in June last year has been ‘Million’-certified by Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ).

RIAJ categorizes singles and albums into different levels of certification – ‘Gold (100,000 copies)’, ‘Platinum (250,000 copies)’, ‘Double Platinum (500,000 copies)’ and ‘Million (1,000,000 copies)’ based on the number of copies shipped.

Girls’ Generation is the second Korean artist to have achieved the ‘Million’ certification by RIAJ after BoA. It has been 7 years and 3 months since BoA’s first compilation album ‘Best of Soul’ in 2005 was awarded with the ‘Million’ certification.

With the release of their 4th Japanese Single ‘Paparazzi’ on June 27th, the girls are expected to kick off their promotional activities in Japan again soon.

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Japan’s popular rock band L‘Arc-en-Ciel revealed that they are also fans of Girls’ Generation.

Through an interview to promote their 3rd concert in Korea which will be taking place on May 5th, L‘Arc-en-Ciel members had hinted that they hope to see Girls’ Generation at their concert.

During the interview, the members were asked about the things that they will be anticipating the most during the concert in Korea this time. To this, L‘Arc-en-Ciel replied, “We are curious about who among the Korean artistes, would be coming to our concert. Probably Girls’ Generation or….”, shyly revealing their wish.

Upon seeing the news, netizens gave various reactions and commented, “L‘Arc-en-Ciel are Girls’ Generation’s fans too”, “Full of anticipation for their concert”, “Instead of Girls’ Generation, we will go”, “Legendary band, L‘Arc-en-Ciel!”, etc.

L‘Arc-en-Ciel’s concert will be held at Jamsil Indoor Gymnastics Stadium in Songpa-gu, Seoul at 7pm KST on May 5th.

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Ever since its release, Girls’ Generation – TaeTiSeo’s mini album ‘Twinkle’ has been topping Japan’s Tower Records’ preorder chart for 3 days in a row before dropping to the no.2 spot on May 1st. Besides that, the mini album has also managed to secure the 4th placing on HMV’s preorder chart as well, which is an indication that TaeTiSeo is receiving explosive response and interest among Japanese music fans.

Innolife and other Japanese media stated, “Even with only 3 members, it’s enough (to achieve such amazing feat). There is a huge interest in Girls’ Generation – TaeTiSeo among international fans”.

TaeTiSeo will be performing ‘Twinkle’ for the first time on Mnet ‘M Countdown’ on May 3rd.

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Girls’ Generation’s 1st Japanese Single ‘Genie’ was certified ‘Platinum’ by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ) for ‘PC Download Singles Division’. According to RIAJ’s certification, any album or single that sells more than 250,000 copies will receive the ‘Platinum’ certification.

‘Genie’, released in September 2010, received its ‘Gold’ certification back in October 2010 and the fact that it has been upgraded to ‘Platinum’ is an indication of Girls’ Generation’s consistent popularity in Japan.

Currently, while Girls’ Generation members are having their individual activities, Taeyeon, Tiffany and Seohyun will be releasing a mini album ‘Twinkle’ as sub-unit called ‘TaeTiSeo’ on April 29th.

Credit: sportschosun.com

Girls’ Generation’s actual off-the-stage behavior was revealed.

Girls’ Generation was featured on Japan’s Fuji TV ‘Mecha-Mecha Iketeru! (commonly known as just Mecha-Ike)’ aired on March 31st. ‘Mecha-Ike’, a variety show with a format somewhat similar to SBS ‘Running Man’ is hosted by Takashi Okamura and Hiroyuki Yabe. On the previous episode, Okamura and his ‘expedition team’ set out to look for Girls’ Generation who were featured as the ‘Girl Clan’, the descendants of ancient residents living in Seoul.

The Japanese production staff had secretly installed cameras in SM Entertainment’s building to observe the girls’ actual behavior. Even when the cameras were not on them, the girls were playing and laughing heartily. The atmosphere was filled with warmth as the members revealed their friendly characters.

Jessica, nicknamed ‘Ice Princess’ showed no expression on her face while flipping through a magazine but gave out the brightest smile and laughter when she was having conversations with the other members.

Besides that, the natural behavior of the girls who were busy concentrating on the nail arts on their nails, sending messages on their cell phones, eating their meals, etc were all captured on the hidden cameras.

During their dance rehearsal, the girls burst into laughter when a Japanese comedian who pretended to be a photographer started following Girls’ Generation’s dance moves out of a sudden. In the end, the girls were literally ‘captured’ when a net was released on them.

According to the ‘Mecha-Ike’ production staff, the filming took place in the middle of March in Seoul, after taking consideration of Girls’ Generation’s schedule. From ‘Mecha-Mecha Iketeru’ onwards, the girls are expected to be featured in various variety programs in the future.

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The recent photos from the shooting session of new KBS Monday-Tuesday drama ‘Love Rain’ in Hokkaido, Japan have indeed garnered a lot of attention and interest from fans.

From a photo taken by a netizen at a shooting set in Hokkaido, YoonA and Jang GeunSuk can be seen standing beside a building with Girls’ Generation’s poster pasted on it. Since the photo was published, there has been a huge interest and anticipation of Girls’ Generation’s ‘appearance’ (the poster) on ‘Love Rain’. From the angle it was captured, it was as if the girls were watching YoonA and Jang GeunSuk’s acting. The fact that Girls’ Generation’s poster was captured so randomly at the shooting set further indicates the girls’ huge popularity in Japan.

Meanwhile, as soon as the teaser video of ‘Love Rain’ was released online, it receives explosive response and has recorded about 30,000 views since. ‘Love Rain’ will be aired starting March 26th after ‘Dream High 2′.

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According to Oricon on February 17th, 2011 was the year where Korean artists made it into the history book for recording the highest sales in the Japanese music market so far. Although the overall sales of music singles, albums, DVDs, Blu-ray Discs has been on the downward trend in Japan for the last five consecutive years, the sales of these ‘soft’ music products by Korean artists have hit its highest in history, bringing in revenue of 24.47 billion Yen in 2011.

Last year, Girls’ Generation’s 1st Japanese album ‘Girls’ Generation’ recorded sales revenue of 2.96 billion Yen while Kara’s album ‘Super Girl’ brought in 2.08 billion Yen. In total, the sales revenue of albums by Korean artists in Japan demonstrated an increase of 22.3% compared to the previous year. There has been increase in sales revenue for three consecutive years ever since the review on this area was initiated in 2008.

In addition to that, the annual Japanese market possession ratio of Korean artists has also gone up from 6.0% to 7.8%. With Girls’ Generation and Kara’s advancement to Japan, the market possession ratio has gone up 4.8% since 2009 (3.0%) and the overall sales revenue has gone up 2.3 times from 10.59 billion Yen in 2009.

In the album category in 2011, ‘Girls’ Generation’ recorded an annual sales of 642,000 copies and Kara’s ‘Super Girl’ with 451,000 copies, placing these two albums within the top 10 best selling albums in Japan last year.

Credit: etoday.co.kr + asiae.co.kr

Girls’ Generation’s Japanese album and its repackaged will be available on the Korean market starting February 9th.

SM Entertainment stated, “1st Japanese studio album ‘Girls’ Generation’ and the repackaged album ‘Girls’ Generation: The Boys’ will be available in Korea on February 9th, where each of the album will be available in 2 editions (CD only and CD with DVD).”

‘Girls’ Generation’ consists of 12 songs, which includes hits such as the Japanese versions of ‘Gee’, ‘Genie’, ‘Run Devil Run’, as well as other new songs such as ‘You-aholic’, ‘Let It Rain’, etc. In addition, the music videos for ‘Mr.Taxi’, ‘Gee’ and ‘Genie’ will be included in the DVD.

The repackaged album has 15 tracks in total where it consists of the Japanese version of ‘The Boys’ as well as new song ‘Time Machine’ and the remix versions of ‘Mr. Taxi’, ‘Bad Girl’ and ‘The Great Escape’.

Released in June last year, ‘Girls’ Generation’ went into the history book for being an album by a foreign artist which recorded the high sales in the first week of release on Oricon in Japan. Girls’ Generation is also the first Korean girl group to have taken the no.1 spot on Oricon Weekly Album Chart. Within just a month, the album which recorded sales of more than 500,000 copies and was certified ‘Double Platinum’ by RIAJ. Along with the repackaged album, 1 million copies of the album were shipped out as of December 2011. The girls’ 1st Japanese studio album broke another record when it was placed within the top 10 of Oricon Weekly Album Chart for 17 weeks.

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