“Talento” Niiyama Chiharu (23) is engaged to marry Kuroda Satoshi (29), an infielder for the Yomiuri Giants baseball team. The marriage registration and wedding ceremony are to be held during the baseball off-season. Sources made a point of saying that the couple have been going out for a year, and also that Niiyama is not pregnant and the pair are not living together, two things that seem to come before most celebrity marriages in Japan. Niiyama made her debut at the age of 15, when she won a talent scout audition for the HoriPro agency, beating out 43,000 other hopefuls. Kuroda started his career with the Seibu Lions, moving to the Giants in 2002. He has yet to become a regular starter.
• Tom Cruise, in town to promote his latest movie “Collateral,” became the first foreign celeb to make his mark outside Yurakucho’s Hibiya Chante cinema in downtown Tokyo. Cruise put his handprint in the Nemu no Hiroba, and to mark his special status, it was gold instead of the usual silver. It was the first new addition in almost 12 years, and was made in recognition of Cruise’s contribution to Japanese cinema through his work on “The Last Samurai.”
• Meanwhile, Godzilla is to get the same treatment in Hollywood. With the world premier of his last celluloid appearance, “Godzilla, Final Wars” to be held in the U.S. next month, his star is also to be inducted to the Walk of Fame on Hollywood Boulevard.