Monthly Archives: August 2005

Actress Sugita Kaoru (40) has finally put her brief and unhappy marriage behind her. She refused to speak to the media at the weekend but her lawyers issued a fax statement saying that her 7-month marriage to wealthy heir Ayukawa Junta (44) had ended in divorce. With her troubled past that started when she gained fame as a child actor, she was long considered destined to be a spinster. She even seemed to relish the image in recent years, as she fed off it on the the variety show circuit. So the showbiz world was taken by complete surprise when she announced her marriage to a very eligible and rich bachelor in January. But the honeymoon – and Sugita’s new image as a “celeb” wife – didn’t last long. Rumors circulated of fights between the two – who never even lived together – and Sugita started dropping bigger and bigger hints that things were not going well. During the summer she said she had returned her wedding ring (by parcel delivery!) and hadn’t even seen her husband in months. Divorce papers were submitted at the end of July and the final decision was handed down on August 11. Lawyers for Ayukawa said that there is no dispute over alimony and there will be no court case. It remains to be seen whether Sugita will use the experience to create a new “divorcee” showbiz persona for herself, or whether she’ll prefer to retire and live off whatever financial settlement she receives.

• Tanaka Misako (45) is making her comeback as an actress. She will star in the upcoming TBS drama series “Brother Beat,” her first major role in five years. It also marks her return to work after she had a baby girl in 2002. She will play the mother of three handsome sons in the so-called “home comedy.”

It was revealed recently that popular actress Tokiwa Takako (photo, 33) is romantically involved with actor Nagatsuka Keishi (30). The two met when they both appeared in the movie “Geroppa!” in 2002. Romance bloomed when Tokiwa took on her first stage role in May. Nagatsuka – the son of actor Nagatsuka Kyozo (60) – is considered one of the leading lights of the theater world, and works as a writer, producer and director as well as acting. These two are sure to be one couple the media will be watching closely.

• The illegitimate son of actor Matsukata Hiroki (63) and singer Chiba Maria (56) is to make his acting debut. Toeda Masahi (20) was born after an affair between the two stars. His father refused to acknowledge parenthood for many years and he was raised by his mother. The debut by the son of one of Japan’s most established samurai actors will be, naturally, in the leading role. Toeda, who says that becoming an actor was his “unescapable destiny,” will play the lead in “Ai no Kizuna” which is scheduled for release in September 2006.

• Tokita Shintaro (27), the piano-playing half of the popular duo Sukima Switch, revealed on his official website that he recently got married. There were no details about his new bride except that they met four years ago. That was around the time that Tokita and vocalist-guitarist Ohashi Takuya (27) started getting serious about playing gigs in the Shibuya and Shinjuku areas of Tokyo. In April, their single “Zenryoku Shonen” made No.3 on the Oricon chart.

• Japan Zone entertainment news updates will be off until next Monday. Have a great weekend!

They won the game but they couldn’t grab the limelight on a night like this. The Yomiuri Giants beat the Yokohama Bay Stars 1-0 last night to break a four-game losing streak, but the highlight of the game was a confrontation between two Kazuhiro’s. Yokohama’s Sasaki Kazuhiro (37) came on in the second inning to face just one batter in his final game in his hometown of Sendai. He struck out Kiyohara Kazuhiro (37) in four pitches before coming off the mound for the last time. The two embraced, with Kiyohara unable to hold back his tears as he saw the stellar career of his old friend come to an end. Sasaki — known as “Daimajin” after a monster movie character — is the career saves leader for both the Bay Stars and the Seattle Mariners, where he played for four years. He has been plagued by injuries since his return from the majors, and was recently in the news for a more personal reason. He divorced his former idol star wife kaori (36) in April of this year after rumors had circulated since late 2003 that he was having an affair with actress Enamoto Kanako (24). He married Enamoto in May, less than two weeks after she had given birth to a baby boy.

• Singer songwriter Utada Hikaru (22) is to make her European debut. She debuted in the US as Utada last October, with minor success. She’ll be hoping for better sales of the same album, “Exodus,” when it goes on sale in the UK and across Europe on September 26. The single, “You Make Me Want To Be A Man” goes on sale on September 19. The promo video for the single was directed by her husband, Kiriya Kazuaki (38).

Singer Hamasaki Ayumi (26) has topped the Oricon single chart yet again. “Fairyland/Alterna” is her 11th single in row to enter the chart at No.1, dating back to “Free & Easy” in April, 2002. It’s her 23rd No.1 altogether, putting her in a tie for 3rd place with Mr. Children. Which is good news for her, after she had to pull out of Saturday’s Avex-organized “a-nation ’05” tour event in Sapporo due to acute inflammation in her nose and throat. On top of the album chart are Johnny’s boy band Arashi with “One.”

• Police sent papers to prosecutors on Mineda Kazunobu (27), vocalist of the indie band Ginnan Boyz, after he bared all at last weekend’s “Rock in Japan Festival.” Mineda was charged with public indecency after he dropped his pants twice for several minutes in front of 40,000 people during the band’s performance on Sunday afternoon. Both he and his management agency were apologetic, especially as the event was the best possible exposure (pun intended!) for a band without a major label contract. The event also featured 65 of japan’s biggest rock artists, including the first performance at an outdoor festival in 22 years by Southern All Stars, who played 14 of their summer hits.

• Ditzy talento Yamaguchi Moe (28) denied rumors that she is close to getting hitched. The prospect of wedding bells for her and Ozeki Shigeo (30), president of IT company Zeel, has reportedly been getting closer, but Moe just laughed off the question at a recent PR event.

In one of the highest-profile showbusiness divorces of recent years, Mori Masako (46) is looking for a whopping ¥750 million settlement from her ex-husband Mori Shinichi (57), according to this week’s issue of the “Josei Seven” magazine. Both are popular enka singers and have often performed as a couple for many years. But their marriage broke down in March this year at a time when both of them had been having treatment in hospital, Shinichi for hepatitis that has dogged him for years and Masako for stress and fatigue. At the time, it was said that Masako didn’t want any alimony and sought only ¥200,000 a month in support for each of their children. Given his long-term health problems, Shinichi is said to have given his wife and kids money in the order of $yen;30 million every year. He is reportedly not happy about the latest demands and intends to fight them. It could be the beginning of a long battle.

• The latest trouble for talented singer songwriter Onizuka Chihiro (24) has been a stalker, it was revealed yesterday. A 38-year old unemployed man who has repeatedly turned up at her apartment showed up datehookup.dating, this time with a bunch of flowers, on July 26. He rang her doorbell for 30 minutes until he was arrested by police. Onizuka made a name for herself with songs such as “Gekko” but has been plagued by bad luck. In February 2002, she was in a traffic accident while riding on the back of a motorcycle, and two months later was hospitalized with acute enteritis. In September 2003, she had surgery for a polyp on her vocal chords. Then in 2004, her record company and management agency both severed ties with her. She changed to a new agency, but they cut her off last January. She is currently without representation, but is still making a very good living from royalties, something in the order of ¥60 million last year.

The popularity of five-man pop group SMAP shows no sign of abating. After recently kicking off their first national tour in two years, their new single and album releases both entered the Oricon charts at No.1, a first for the group (fellow Johnny’s Jimusho artists Kinki Kids did it for the second time in January, and Hamasaki Ayumi (26) has also pulled it off twice). The single, “Bang! Bang! Vacance!” is their 37th consecutive Top 10 entry, puting them in joint first place with The Alfee. The album, “Sample Bang!” is their first in two years and is a 3-CD set that includes a disc of solo releases and another of remixed hits in addition to the new material. The tour kicked off at the Sapporo Dome on July 30 and will continue across the country until Septemebr 29. By that time, they’ll have played 21 shows for over a million fans.

• And SMAP’s popularity has rubbed off on a previously unknown group. Moldovan pop unit O-Zone’s annoyingly infectious song “Doragostea Din Tei” has featured for several weeks in a segment of the “SMAPxSMAP” show on Fuji TV. Sung in Romanian, the Europop song has made No.5 in the Oricon singles chart and spawned its own “Japanese” soundalike lyrics (with the Japanese subtitle of “Koi no Myahii”) and an animation featuring a partying cat.

• Rock band Mr. Children will release “I Love You,” their first new album in a year, on September 21 and back it up with the first 5-dome tour. They will play domes in Osaka, Tokyo, Sapporo and Nagoya before finishing up at Fukuoka Yahoo! Dome on Christmas Eve. They are just the fourth band to play the five domes, following (of course) SMAP, B’z, and Southern All Stars. Vocalist Sakurai Kazutoshi (35) took an extended break from the group following a brain haemorrhage in the summer of 2002, and a planned tour was cancelled. But last summer, the band played their first national tour in three years. And Sakurai played 12 hours on stage over a recent 3-day festival event, so his health doesn’t seem to be a concern anymore.

Actor Wtanabe Hiroyuki (49) gave an “emergency” press conference in Yokohama yesterday to reveal that he had been one of the victims of a recent massive scam. He said he was one of over a thousand investors swindled by Gestion Privee Japon, asset investment consultants whose president has disappeared leaving the company bankrupt with debts believed to be in the order of ¥20 billion. The company was using investor’s money in currency trading but declared bankruptcy at the Tokyo District Court at the end of July. Watanabe met with the GPJ president in July of last year and decided to invest ¥120 million of his own money, plus an additional ¥8 million through his own company. Though the company said its investment scheme would yield 60% profits in just two months, Watanabe only got ¥9.4 million of his money back. In his ress conference, he said, “I was worried about the future as I’m in a career that has no guaranteed income. I was stupid to think this was security for my future.” He kept the investment secret from his wife, actress Hara Hideko (45), and only told her when news of the bankruptcy came out. The weekly magazine Flash this week revealed that Watanabe acted as emcee for an event held by GPJ in February, for which he received ¥8 million. He has flatly denied that he was a “poster boy” for the company. Watanabe first made his name in 1983 as one of the actors to appear in the famous “Faito! Ippatsu” series of macho TV commercials for Lipovitan D energy drink.

• The monthly TV ratings for Yomiuri Giants games hit another all-time low in July. In their home Kanto region, they managed a measly 8.5% average rating for the month as they continue to struggle in 5th place in the Central League.

Orange Range‘s popular drummer Katchan (22) has quit the group. He dropped out of a tour in June, citing an injury to his hand, but the reason given for quitting was the old cliche, “artistic differences.” He said that the time off had given him time to think about his career, and the decision was said to be agreed with the other members. The band will continue with its remaining five members, using a session drummer. They plan to go ahead with their scheduled appearance at the Summer Sonic festival on August 13. One of the biggest names in the young rock/hip hop scene and yet another to hail from Okinawa, Orange Range were the biggest selling artists of 2004. Katchan was perhaps the most popular member, and was chosen in a recent music show poll of young women as the artist they would most like to go to the seaside with.

• The Beach Boys played in Japan for the first time in 14 years yesterday. They were one of the biggest names on the bill for the third and final day of the Fuji Rock Festival in Naeba, Niigata Prefecture. The event was an even bigger success than ever, drawing over 125,000 fans to the idyllic mountainside venue, despite the growing popularity and number of other summer festivals.

• Talentos Fujii Takashi (33) and Otoha (24) cancelled a planned press conference to announce their wedding plans, due to the recent death of comedian Oka Hachiro. Oka was Fujii’s “sempai” (senior) at the Yoshimoto talent agency.