Southern All Stars frontman makes comeback in charity concert

Singer-songwriter Keisuke Kuwata

SENDAI (majirox news) — Cancer-stricken Southern ALL Stars singer-songwriter and frontman Keisuke Kuwata made his comeback on stage Sept. 10 with a solo concert for charity here.

Kuwata belted out more than 20 songs in a 2 1/2-hour show in front of about 8,000 fans at the Sekisui Heim Super Arena in Rifu, Miyagi prefecture. The site was chosen deliberately as it had been used as a temporary morgue for victims of the March 11 disasters.

Kuwata visited Miyagi prefecture in late May to inspect the damage caused by the disasters and promised to put on a show for the Tohoku region as thanks for the support it has given him over his decades-long, highly successful career.

Saturday’s concert was Kuwata’s first since playing Tokyo’s Budokan in March last year. He announced four months after the show that he was putting performances on hold to undergo treatment for esophageal cancer.

Kuwata will donate part of the proceeds from Saturday’s concert to a fund for recovery from the disasters.

The Southern All Stars is widely regarded as Japan’s greatest-ever rock band. The band has been on hiatus since 2009.

Tags: Fukushima, Japan, Keisuke Kuwata, Southern All Stars

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Typhoon Talas dumps rain on southern Japan; 2 dead (AP)

TOKYO – Powerful Typhoon Talas inched across south-central Japan on Saturday, dumping rain and buffeting a wide swath of the archipelago with strong winds. At least two people died and five others were reported missing.

The Japan Meteorological Agency said the center of the typhoon, the 12th of the season, was moving north at less than 6 miles an hour (10 kph) across Okayama prefecture Saturday evening after crossing the southern island of Shikoku. Because of the storm's slow speed, the agency warned that heavy rains and strong winds could lead to flooding and landslides.

Kyodo News agency said 3,200 people were evacuated in 16 prefectures.

A woman who appeared to be in her 30s was declared dead after she was found in a river in Ehime prefecture on Shikoku, police said.

A 73-year-old man in Nara prefecture died after a landslide caused his house to collapse, police said.

Media reports said five others were missing, including a 75-year-old woman who was swept away in a swollen river in Shikoku's Tokushima prefecture.

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