The ¥300 million Meguro Ward home of enka singer Matsubara Nobue (41) has been seized due to outstanding tax liabilities. Matsubara gave a tearful press conference yesterday at the office of Columbia Records in Tokyo. Ironically, it was also the release date for her new single. It sems that the seizure stems from financial problems caused by her husband, who is also her business manager. The couple married in 1992 and bought the house two years later. They are still repaying a mortgage on the property. The husband, currently studying Chinese in the city of Dalian, is said to have an extravagant love for cars.
• Nakajima Miyuki’s hit “Chijo no Hoshi” is in the charts at No. 46 this week. Nothing remarkable in that, except it’s the 148th straight week that the single has stayed in the Oricon Top 100. This breaks the 23 year-old record held by Sugiyoshi Taro’s “Sukima Kaze.”