Monthly Archives: June 2005

In spite of his fame and recent success in Hollywood, actor Watanabe Ken (45) has never had the starring role in a movie. That’s finally about to change. He’s been chosen as the lead in the movie adaptation of the book “Ashita no Kioku” (Memories of Tomorrow), in which he will play a man stricken with early-onset Alzheimer Disease who battles the disease with the support of his wife, to be played by Higuchi Kanako (46). The project is being directed by , who was the man behind such recent TV drama hits as “Trick” and “Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu.” Filming is set to begin on June 20, and the movie is scheduled for release next year. Watanabe was to play the lead in Kadokawa Haruki’s “Ten to Chi to” (Heaven and Earth, 1990) but while on location in Canada, he was diagnosed with leukemia. He overcame the disease with the support of his wife Yumiko (45), whom he recently divorced.

• Actress Ayase Haruka (20) continues her role as the image character for Pocari Sweat. The young actress, who made her breakthrough in the above-mentioned drama series, “Sekai no Chushin…,” sheds her high school girl sailor uniform from the last commercial and takes to the crystal waters of Hawaii.

• Also having a change of clothing is actor Matsudaira Ken (51). He has turned in the glittering gold kimono of last year’s mega-hit “Matsuken Samba” for a pirate’s outfit in a TV commercial for glasses maker Megane Top. And the music to go with the new image? Over the next few months prepare to be inundated with the “Matsuken Mambo”! The commercial airs from June 21.

Actor Kubozuka Yousuke (26) is showing no signs of fear on the location of his latest movie project, “Onaji Tsuki wo Miteiru” (Looking at the Same Moon). Following a fall last June from the balcony of his 9th-floor apartment (earlier story), he could be forgiven for thinking twice about doing dangerous stunts. But the eternal optimist does all his own stunts, including one where he rescues a child from a burning building, saying, “I approach it as if I’ve already died once.” This despite the fact that physically, he says he has only recovered about 60% from his horrendous injuries. “I was scared when I left the hospital, but not anymore. I can play with my kid on the veranda now!” The new movie, scheduled for release in November, is directed by Fukasaku Kenta and is currently filming near Lake Kawaguchi.

• Rize, one of Japan’s best hard rock bands, are making a comeback. They appeared at a Tokyo hotel yesterday to present a 40-minute video based on their upcoming new album, their first original release in over two years (they put out a hits album “Fuck’n Best” in March). The 4-piece never quite achieved real stardom, despite their breakthrough with the excellent single “Music” in January 2001, and put the band on ice two years ago. They have high hopes for the new album “Spit & Yell,” which they are releasing on their own newly-formed label. Mohican-haired guitarist/vocalist Jesse (24) had a go at what he sees as a lack of craftsmanship in the music being churned out by other artists in Japan. He has the support of labelmates Def Tech, the duo who first appeared on the 2003 Rize single “Vibration” and had this year’s first million-seller.

NTV’s late-night show “Uta-Sta!!” has chosen its next music star. The audition show chose Kamita Mika (22) from over 4,000 hopefuls looking to break into the professional music business. Kamita will release her debut single “Kirei ni Naru Watshi” on the Pony Canyon label in the near future. The show teamed up with a major karaoke service to allow singers across the country to audition from their local karaoke box. Kamita appeared on the show on April 25 and performed Matsu Takako’s song “Koishii Hito” in front of the panel of five songwriters. She chose Komorita Minoru (46), who has penned such hits as SMAP’s “Lionheart,” to write her debut song. He was very taken with her strong and slightly husky voice, comparing it with that of veteran star Takeuchi Mariya. A strong athlete in her school days in Nagasaki Prefecture, Kamita came to Tokyo after graduating high school. She has worked in a variety of part-time jobs while trying to make a name for herself as a singer. she hopes to emulate the success of Dream Comes True vocalist Yoshida Miwa.

• Actress Kuga Yoko (31) is to leave for Korea today to get married. Her fiancee is described as in his 30s, and not involved in showbusiness. Kuga became the first Japanese actress to play the lead in a Korean movie in 2003 ‘s “Venus.” She has done filming on Chejudo, Korea’s largest island, and liked it so much she decided she wanted to get married there. She was romantically linked with singer Noguchi Goro back in 1999.

• Rock star Yazawa Eikichi (photo, 55) lost his case against a pachinko machine maker at the Tokyo District Court. Yazawa claimed that a character used on Heiwa’s machines was a rip off of his image and demanded a published apology. The machine’s LCD display shows a rock star with a towel over his shoulders and striking a pose with the mikestand, but doesn’t use Yazawa’s name.

Kick The Can Crew member Little (photo, 29) is surprisingly releasing his debut solo album a week ahead of schedule. It’s surprising because all three singles he has released since the hip hop unit decided to take an extended break last June have come out about a month late. He’s been working late nights in the studio to get the album out early, as the group only wanted the break to last a year. Little will support the new album with 4 live shows across the country in July.

• SMAP members Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (30) and Katori Shingo (28) are to be the main presenters of this year’s 28th 24-hour TV marathon on TV Asahi. The show will air from the evening of August 28. It’s their first time for SMAP members to take part since 1995. Katori has designed the official logo t-shirts for the show.

• Comedy duo Cream Stew are to appear in TV commercials for the upcoming release of the remake of the Disney classic “The Love Bug” about a Volkswagen Beetle with a life of its own. The new version, “Herbie,” is scheduled for release on July 30. The original was the biggest US box-office money maker in 1969.

The world premier of “War of the Worlds” will be held under the strict security of a war zone. Attendees will have to go through search and identification checks and will only be alowed to bring valuables into the screening. Even cigarette lighters and mobile phones will have to be checked in. The 900 or so guests will be surrounded by 400 security personnel and will have to pass through metal detectors and show photo ID. Among the very few people likely to be able to avoid all the hassle will be director Steven Spielberg and stars Tom Cruise and Dakota Fanning, who arrived at Narita Airport yesterday. The security measures are to prevent any pirating of the ¥14-billion blockbuster such as that which happened prior to the recent release of the final “Star Wars” movie. The event will be held tonight at the Ropongi Hills complex in central Tokyo instead of the 7,000 seater Nippon Budokan as had been planned. The worldwide official release date for the movie is June 29.

• The movie “Koshonin Mashita Masayoshi” (Negotiator, Mashita Masayoshi) looks to be the kind of success you’d expect from its pedigree. A spinoff from the hugely successful “Odoru Daisosasen” (Bayside Shakedown) movies, it’s set to become a series in its own right starring Yusuke Santamaria (photo, 34) and Mizuno Miki (30). As with yet another spinoff, “Yogisha Muroi Shinji” (Suspect, Muroi Shinji), scheduled to open in August, all the movies are produced by Fuji TV and set in the same Odaiba Tokyo bayside location as the company’s famous headquarters. The two “Odoru” movies are among the biggest ever domestic box office hits.

Orange Range, one of the hottest bands in the country right now, are having to use a replacement drummer following an injury to member Katchan (21). He is said to have an inflammation of a tendon in his left hand and is resting in his hometown of Okinawa. He is expected to need two to three months to recover.

• Rock band Janne Da Arc have a new tactic to get to the top of the charts – use a granny. The band used 80-year old Asami Chiyoko in the video for their latest single “Diamond Virgin.” Asami has become popular as the character that contestants on a popular variety show have to kiss if they lose various games. In the band’s video, she appears in a schoolgirl’s sailor uniform. The single, taken from the new album “Joker,” entered at No.3 on the Oricon charts.

• TV Asahi scored with its recent coverage of the Japan-North Korea soccer game. With Japan clinching a place at next year’s World Cup, the network got a staggeringly high 58% rating. That represents 73 million people tuned in. Even the average for the whole game was a respectable 43.2%, the third-highest figure ever recorded by the network. By contrast, the struggling Yomiuri Giants baseball team had an all-time low of just 6.1% for their game the same night.

Congratulations are in order.

Japan’s national soccer team beat North Korea 2-0 in an eerily silent Bangkok stadium last night to gain a berth at next year’s World Cup in Germany. The game, officially a home game for the Koreans, was held at a neutral venue and without spectators following violence on the pitch and riots off it after they lost to Iran in their previous game. Japan’s goals were scored by Yanagisawa Atsushi, who plays with Italian side Messina, and J-League top scorer Oguro Masashi. Though the Supachalasai Stadium was empty, many Japanese fans could be heard chanting outside, while 20,000 gathered at the National Stadium in Tokyo for a live braodcast. The success means that manager Zico looks to have held on to his job for the time being despite broad criticism of his qualifying campaign tactics. TV Asahi expects the viewer ratings for its live broadcast of the game to better its own record of 47.2%, reached when the home game against North Korea was shown on February 9.

Japan’s biggest-selling rock group B’z have recorded the theme song for the upcoming Fuji TV marine drama series “Umizaru.” The ballad “Ocean” is the first drama tie-up for B’z in five years and is sure to be one of the big hits of the summer. The group, who are currently in the middle of a 27-city national tour, got permission from the Maritime Self Defense Agency to film the promo video on board one of their ships. The TV series is a followup to the successful movie version. A sequel , “Umizaru – The Next Stage,” is scheduled for national release next spring.

• Kusano Masaichi, president of Shinko Music Entertainment, died on Monday of cancer at a Tokyo hospital. He was 74. Under the pen name Sazanami Kenji, he translated many popular hits of the 1960s into Japanese, including “Vacation” by Connie Francis and Del Shannon’s “Runaway.” Hhe also wrote the Japanese versions of “The Mickey Mouse March” and “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

• Popular acapella group Rag Fair played a mini concert to open yesterday’s soccer game between FC Tokyo and visiting Serie A champions Juventus. The game was held at FC Tokyo’s home at Ajinomoto Stadium in the western Tokyo suburb of Chofu.

Actor turned singer Matsudaira Ken (photo, 51) looks likely to have another money-spinning year ahead. The man until recently best known as the “Abarenbo Shogun” in the samurai drama series of that name, had a complete career and image change with last year’s hit single “Matsuken Samba II.” With people from 5 to 95 across the nation singing the catchy tune and an appearance on NHK’s New Year “Kohaku” song spectacle, Matsudaira tripled his usual income last year. No doubt this helped ease the heartache of his divorce from beautiful actress Daichi Mao. This week he released his first photo book. And this summer, he’s set to release “Matsuken Samba III.” It probably won’t cause the same level of media frenzy, but should earn the star a few more yen.

• Pop diva Matsuda Seiko (45) kicked off her 25th anniversary national tour on Sunday at the Saitama Super Arena. During the concert, she spoke for an unprecedented 15 minutes about the rumored split with her 18-year old daughter Sayaka. She told her 15,000 gathered fans that things are cool between them and that it’s just a case of a young bird wanting to fly the nest. She says she respects her feelings and understands her need to start out on her own, adding that she herself left Kyushu to pursue a showbiz career in Tokyo at the age of 18. In response to questions about a rumored romance with a much younger man, the twice-divorced Seiko said she is not thinking of marrying again.

Rock band Tube represent summer like no other artist in Japan, so it makes sense that they’ve become popular in Hawaii. Currently celebrating their 20th year, on Saturday (Japan time) they played their first official gig in Honolulu in five years. 8,000 fans gathered to watch the 3-hour show as the sun set off Waikiki Beach. Some 3,000 had traveled from Japan and most of the rest were Japanese living locally or Americans of Japanese descent. The band put out a single every summer and it usually becomes one of the biggest hits of the season. They played Aloha Stadium in 2000, when June 1 was named “Tube Day” and released a single in English that was only available locally. Vocalist Maeda Nobuteru (photo, 40) said he hopes to stay healthy long enough to play there again for their 40th anniversary. Maeda was until recently married to actress Iijima Naoko.

• It was revealed at the weekend that veteran rock singer Uchida Yuya (65) underwent emergency eye surgery at a Tokyo hospital on May 31. A blocked retinal artery meant that failure to operate would have led to blindness in the eye. The surgery was a success. Uchida was a leading light of the rock and roll scene in the 1960s, fronting top band the Tigers.