Utada Returns… To DJ

Japan’s biggest-selling pop artist of the 21st century, Hikaru Utada  has announced she is coming out of a self-imposed three-year hiatus at the age of 30. However, she is not planning a return to singing for the time being.

Instead she will be a DJ on Tokyo-based FM radio station InterFM, according to the daily Sankei Shimbun newspaper. The show, which is called “Kuma Power Hour with Utada Hikaru,” will be broadcast on the third Tuesday of every month beginning April 16.

Radio hosting is a common sideline for pop stars in Japan, and this isn’t Utada’s first attempt. Thirteen years ago she had her own regular show called “Utada Hikaru no Tres Bien-Bohemian” but had to give it up due to her busy schedule.

The only music work that Utada has done in the past three years was composing and performing the ending theme to an animated film, though her management said it was strictly a one-off project and did not signal a return to full-time music-making.