I'm enjoying sending the news from Japan, so here's an update.

Tokyo radio is really supporting "Last December!" J-Wave's weekly chart comes out tomorrow, but today Inter-FM's update was posted, and believe it or not, "Last December" is NUMBER ONE this week!

http://www.interfm.co.jp/.../index.cgi

This no doubt has helped sell the official Japanese release of "The Rainbow Children," which finally came out on Wednesday. It debuted at number 13 on the day of its release on the daily Oricon chart (Japan's version of Billboard). The weekly chart will be coming out later, but it's interesting to see how well the Japanese pressing of the CD is selling. The import (from the States) has been available in Japan since late last year, and the Japanese version is identical, except for the inclusion of a translated lyric sheet, a sticker (of the album cover), and a chance to win a T-shirt. The Japanese version is also priced at about $5-$7 more than the import. I don't think there's any official tracking for sales of import CDs in Japan, but it's pretty clear that "The Rainbow Children" is doing quite well here!

When I bought the CD, the shop owner was kind enough to give me a very nice 13" square promo display, which looks pretty similar to the flier I posted previously: the album cover with Prince peering around the side, and the title and info in Japanese. Lucky me! (No, it's not for sale. Lemme hold onto this one.) I don't think there are any posters available.

I'll keep you all posted on the other station's charts and any other info! And I hope this success convinces Prince to do a show here in Tokyo!