After three months, the recently completed 7th series of auditions for new members of Morning Musume has failed to turn up any stars in the making. Producer Tsunku said that he was looking for a new “ace” as group leader Iida Kaoru (23) is graduating at the end of this month. Ishikawa Rika is also leaving the group in May, leaving it with ten members.
• Actress Yonekura Ryoko (photo, 29) is still denying having any impending wedding plans. Speaking at a PR event for the theater production of Liasons Dangereuses, she faced the usual barrage of questions about marriage before the end of the year with kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo (formerly Shinnosuke, 27). She also claimed the sparkler on her ring finger wasn’t an engagement ring, but reporters sense a big story in the making.
• Talento Nishikawa Kaneko (30) is engaged to marry a pattisier just seven years younger than her father, veteran Yoshimoto comedian Nishikawa Tsuyoshi (58). With both his sons being actors, and Kiyoshi himself a former Diet member, the Nishikawas are considered the Yoshimoto “Royal Family.”