Daishi (29, real name Kajinaga Daishi), vocalist of popular “visual kei” rock band Psycho le Cemu, has been arrested on drug possession charges. According to police in Kanagawa Prefecture, Daishi was arrested June 2 after receiving a report at the end of May that he was buying stimulants. He has denied ever using drugs. Psycho- formed in 1999 and released the first of seven major-label singles in 2002. Though dressing up is all part and parcel of being a “visual kei” band, and Psycho- have one of the more outlandish looks, Daishi looks almost normal in comparison. He was in the middle of a solo tour at the time of his arrest and a concert planned for today has been cancelled. Release of a DVD, due for June 22, has been postponed.
• A planned pre-release event for the upcoming Steven Spielberg-Tom Cruise blockbuster “War of the Worlds” has been cancelled. The world’s-first screening, planned for June 13 at the Nippon Budokan, was cancelled by distributors UIP due to concerns about videotaped copies leaking out on the Internet prior to its worldwide opening on June 29, as happened with the latest Star Wars release. Both Spielberg and Cruise were slated to appear at the event along with 7,000 lucky applicants to a magazine contest. Instead, they will both attend an arena event on the 13th at the trendy Roppongi Hills.
• Singer-songwriter Oda Kazumasa (57) started a national tour in Shizuoka yesterday. With 41 arena shows and a total of 290,000 seats, it’s a record-breaking tour for an over-50 solo artist. But Oda’s powerful performance belies his age, as he runs up 500m during the course of a single song.