Singer Go Hiromi (49) has taken his ex-wife Nitani Yurie (40) to court. The weekly magazine Shukan Post reported that Go has sued his ex at the Tokyo District Court for ¥20 million in damages for failing to uphold the terms of their 1997 divorce. Go claims that Nitani has denied him visitation rights to their two daughters and has allegedly misued the ¥150 million she received from Go in child support.
• Outrage at public broadcaster NHK continues unabated. After his resignation as chairman following a long period of scandals, Ebisawa Katsuji was offered a consultant position with the company. The offer was rescinded by new chairman Hashimoto Genichi, who apologized in a televised press conference, when NHK was flooded with angry telephone calls. The result is that even more people are refusing to pay their subscription fees.
• “Tony Takitani”, a rare film adaptation of a story by best-selling author Murakami Haruki, opened Saturday. The critically acclaimed film stars Issey Ogata (52) in the title role and Miyazawa Rie (31) in dual roles. Directed by Ichikawa Jun, it picked up three awards at last years Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and was entered for this month’s Sundance Film Festival, which ends today.