Pop/rock duo Love Psychedelico (photo) played at the Nippon Budokan for the first time yesterday. Backed up by the stellar guitar work of Sato Naoki (31), vocalist Kumi (29) told their 12,000 fans, “I can’t tell you often enough, Thank you! I love you!” She is one of the few vocalists in Japan who can sing in excellent English. The duo’s greatest hits album “Early Times” topped the oricon chart for two weeks after its February release. They have a new single, “Right Now,” coming out June 16 and will play in Taiwan for the first time June 22.
• The movie “Densha Otoko” (Train Man) is to be shown in several countries in East Asia, including Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, following sales efforts at the recent Cannes Film Festival. The movie is based on a supposedly true story that played out on the Channel 2 web site, Japan’s most popular BBS. It tells of an “otaku” (nerd), played by Yamada Takayuki (21), who comes to the rescue of a woman (Nakatani Miki, 29) being groped on a train. Not knowing how to pursue his newly found love, he turns to the Web for help and advice. The love story was turned into a best-selling book and has the subject of a lot of publicity over the last year, and has publishers scouring the Web looking for the next big hit. The biggest question that remains is whether it’s really a true story of innocent love triumphing or just a clever marketing ploy. The movie opens on June 4.
• Matsuda Seiko‘s agency have denied a recent magazine report that she was romantically involved with a handsome former sports trainer in his early 30’s. Matsuda is 43.