A step forward but with an old stumbling block for Sexy Zone

The other day Youtube recommended me a video of the dance shot version of Sexy Zone's NOT FOUND, the title track of their upcoming single, which of course I watched immediately as nothing made me happier than seeing the group performing as five again.

 

Of course seeing that the dance version was out I went to see if the regular version of the music video was also available, and it was. Sort of. As while the dance version is on Johnny's official Youtube channel the normal edition of the music video is on the Universal Music Japan Youtube channel and is region restricted. I can only assume it is only available for those in Japan, I am in the U.S. and it is well and truly blocked for me.

This is frustrating as Johnny's is definitely headed to being more available internationally yet the use of region blocking by Japanese companies is a familiar hurdle international fans have been stuck with for years. When Sexy Zone switched labels to a label with Universal it was to understood it was in part to help them reach a more global audience. So the region blocking is pretty disappointing. Especially since Johnny's, who seem to drag their feet in doing anything that brings them into the 21st century, know better than to that if they want to reach an international audience. I hope Johnny's is able to get the labels their groups are with to get on the same page and region restrictions can become a thing of the past.