Pop group Morning Musume performed their hit “The ManPower” before yesterday’s baseball game between Rakuten Eagles and Seibu Lions. The Eagles won their opening home game at Miyagi Stadium, taking no less than 16 runs from last year’s Japan Series champions, after losing four on the road.
• Young kabuki actor Nakamura Shichinosuke (photo, 21) made his first stage appearance in two months at the Kabukiza theater yesterday. The occasion was the ongoing series of performances to celebrate his father’s succession to the stage name Nakamura Kanzaburo (49). The son was involved in a drunken punchup with a policeman on January 30. He joined his brother Kantaro (23), father and other cast members on stage to greet the audience, who responded with warm applause.
• Comedian and former politician Nishikawa Kiyoshi (58) was in tears of joy as his eldest daughter Kanako (30) married pastry chef Hayashi Shigekazu (51) at an Osaka hotel yesterday. He said, “I’ve been crying for the last three days. I thought the tank must be empty by now…” Hayashi is a department head of a cookery school.