Shiina Ringo (26), vocalist and songwriter for rock band Tokyo Jihen, is to do her first TV show collaboration. The band have recorded the theme song for the latest run of the Fuji TV period drama series “Oh-oku, Hana no Ran.” Set to start on October 13, the drama is set in the time of the 5th shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and, as with the previous two series, focuses on the lives and loves of the women in the court. Written by Shiina, the title of the theme song is “Shurajo” (fighting scene, scene of carnage), typical of the dramatic and provocative images she uses in her songs. After a successful five years as a solo artist, Shiina announced while on tour in 2003 that she was starting the 5-member Tokyo Jihen. The group started working together full-time in May of last year and had their first tour in January. In July, two members quit and they have been replaced with a new guitarist and keyboard player for the latest single. So far, the group has put out two singles and the album “Kyoiku” (Education).
• This morning’s wide shows gave a lot of time to the financial matters of musician and super-producer Komuro Tetsuya (46). The story came to light as Komuro’s company Tribalkicks has failed to honor its financial sponsorship commitments to the J-League soccer team Oita Trinita. In 2002, Komuro married Keiko, the vocalist of his group globe, who is originally from Oita Prefecture. He agreed to sponsor Trinita last year, but the club’s latest financial report revealed it to be several hundred million yen in the red and facing insolvency. Komuro himself, while hardly poor, is far removed from his heyday in the late 1990s when he was one of the biggest earners in Japan, with earnings in the billions.
• Pin-up girl Kumada Yoko (23) has denied rumors of a romance with comedian Watanabe Ken (32) of the manzai duo Anjashu. The two were recently spotted at a “go-kon,” a popular word that was originally coined to describe parties with equal numbers of male and female college students.