Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp (42) arrived in Japan on Saturday for his first visit in ten years. Depp arrived in the afternoon by private jet at Narita Airport. The time of his arrival hadn’t been announced, but there were still about 2,000 fans waiting for him when he left customs and he seemed taken by surprise by the size of the crowd. He arrived in town to promote “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” his latest collaboration with director Tim Burton. The movie will have its Japanese premier tonight. Dressed in a cowboy hat and chocolate colored suede jacket, looked quite different from his latest Willy Wonka image, sporting the scruffy beard that he needs for the sequel to “Pirates of the Carribbean.” Depp’s first and only previous visit was in 1995 to promote “Deadman.”
• Yasuoka Yutaka (31), a member of the popular acapella group Gospellers, got married recently. He made the announcement on Saturday on his official website, saying he was very happy but offering no further details.
• Press reaction to Kitano “Beat” Takeshi’s latest movie has been mixed. After its first ever screening at the Venice International Film Festival on Friday, Kitano (58) himself seemed to think maybe he’d gone too far in making such an obscure film in “Takeshis’.” He commented drily that he didn’t think he was in the running for a second Golden Lion award and would go back to making a more orthodox movie next time. The Italian papers, while giving mixed reviews, consider Kitano a big enough star to give their reviews of the movie top billing.