SPACE SHOWER TV named the winners for this year’s MUSIC VIDEO AWARDS. The winner’s music videos were selected from 50 nominees and the categories look to have been slashed from last year’s 18 to just 5. The number of awards handed out may have changed but the winners of BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR didn’t. Sakanaction (サカナクション) takes home the grand prize for the second year in a row with their “Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu” (バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです。) video. Coincidentally, it was also SparkPlugged’s Neaux’s top selection of 2011. Great minds…

Here’s the list of winners:

BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Sakanaction (サカナクション) – “Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu” (バッハの旋律を夜に聴いたせいです)

BEST ARTIST
Tokyo Jihen (東京事変)

BEST YOUR CHOICE
Maximum the Hormone (マキシマム ザ ホルモン)

BEST DIRECTOR
Shimizu Yasuhiko (清水康彦), director of RADWIMPS’ “DADA” and videos for Maximum the Hormone.

SPECIAL AWARD #1
Kyary Pamyu Pamyu (きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ) – “PONPONPON”

SPECIAL AWARD #2
androp – “Bright Siren”

Congrats to the winners. Here’s a selection of this year’s winning music videos:

Sakanaction – “Bach No Senritsu Wo Yoru Ni Kiita Sei Desu”:

Tokyo Jihen – “Sora ga Natteiru” (空が鳴っている):

Kyary Pamyu Pamyu – “PONPONPON”:

androp – “Bright Siren”:

via MVA’s official site

Award categories range from BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR to BEST STORY VIDEO to BEST DIRECTOR and many more. The show, hosted by Ito Seiko (いとうせいこう) and Yasu Megumi (安 めぐみ) selected videos from over 20 categories.

The award ceremony was on Saturday, March 15. Here is a list of the artists who took home awards:

BEST VIDEO OF THE YEAR
BUMP OF CHICKEN – 花の名 (Hana no Na)

BEST YOUR CHOICE
BUMP OF CHICKEN – 花の名 (Hana no Na)

BEST ROCK VIDEO
ASIAN KUNG-FU GENERATION – アフターダーク (After Dark)

BEST POP VIDEO
YUI – My Generation

BEST R&B/HIP HOP VIDEO
KREVA – ストロングスタイル (Strong Style)

BEST REGGAE VIDEO
PUSHIM – HEY BOY

BEST NEW ARTIST VIDEO
9mm Parabellum Bullet – Discommunication

BEST MALE VIDEO
Hata Motohiro – é±—(うろこ, Uroko)-Director’s Cut Ver.-

BEST FEMALE VIDEO
Amuro Namie – HIDE & SEEK

BEST GROUP VIDEO
BUMP OF CHICKEN – 花の名 (Hana no Na)

BEST GROOVE VIDEO
Denki Groove – 少年ヤング (Shounen Young)

BEST IMPACT VIDEO
Spitz – 群青 (Gonjou)

BEST CG/ANIMATION VIDEO
Yurayura Teikoku – 美しい (Utsukushii)

BEST STORY VIDEO
Kato Miliyah – LALALA feat. Wakadanna

BEST ART DIRECTION VIDEO
Chatmonchy – とび魚のバタフライ (Tobi Sakana no Batafurai)

BEST TECHNICAL WORKS VIDEO
Tokyo Jihen – キラーチューン (Killer Tune)

BEST CONCEPTUAL VIDEO
Maximum the Hormone – 絶望ビリー (Zetsubou Billy)

BEST INTERNATIONAL VIDEO
JUSTICE – D.A.N.C.E

BEST DIRECTOR
Kodama Yuuichi

BEST CREATORS’ CHOICE
DOES – 修羅 (Shura)

BREAKTHROUGH VIDEO
ET-KING – 愛しい人へ (Itoshii Hito)

BEST SSTV ONLY EDITION
Crystal Kay – あなたのそばで “for SPACE SHOWER TV” (Anata no Soba de)

To watch the award-winning PVs or for more info on winners and nominees visit the SPACE SHOWER Music Video Awards ’08 official site and on goo.

I’m going to Japan for Christmas and New Years. We’re going to do a lot of things especially touring Kyushu: Kumamoto and Fukuoka. But we’ll also visit the cities of Kyoto and Osaka. In Osaka we’ll attend the COUNTDOWN JAPAN concert.

COUNTDOWN JAPAN is a 3-day concert event (12.29-12.31) to celebrate New Years. There are two different venues: one in Tokyo and the other in Osaka. The Osaka event will feature over 50 musicians!

Yes, we had to enter and be selected simply to buy tickets. It makes sense though since this is such a huge mega-concert. Luckily we were selected.

I will attend the concert on December 30th. On that day 16 musicians will play. The artists that are booked are:

• ACIDMAN
• ULTRA BRAiN
• OVERGROUND ACOUSTIC UNDERGROUND
• Captain Straydum (
• KREVA
• QURULI
• THE CROMAGNONS
• Salyu
• Chatmonchy
• The Back Horn
• Beat Crusaders
• Fujifabric
• Furukawa Miki
• BENNIE K
• Maximum the Hormone
• Yoshii Kazuya

I’m so incredibly excited…especially to see ACIDMAN, QURULI, THE CROMAGNONS, The Back Horn, and Fujifabric! I can’t wait to see ‘em all though! Some of my other favorite artists (Art-School, Base Ball Bear, Remioromen will play on other days but I’ll take what I can get. 12.30 has the highest frequency of my favorite musicians

Before I knew about this concert, I could only dream about seeing some of these artists lives. It still sounds too good to be true, haha.

I’ll keep everyone (and myself) updated as trip time and showtime near. For now, all I can say is “AHHHHHHHHHHH, YAY!!!!”

COUNTDOWN JAPAN