Today is the Keiro no Hi (Respect for the Elderly Day) national holiday.
• Talento Oizumi Yo (32) is to get his first starring dramatic role. He will play the lead in the Fuji TV drama series “Okashina Futari” (The Odd Couple) at the end of the year. The drama tells of an unemployed divorcee (Oizumi), his ex-wife (Takaoka Yuki), and the people who live in his apartment building. One of the best-known names on TV in his native Hokkaido, Oizumi became a star on the local network show “Suiyo wa Doudesho” (How Do You Like Wednesday?), which has a big cult following that has started spreading nationwide. Over a decade on the show, he and co-star Suzui Takayuki (43) went on many wild and whacky adventures, including riding the length of Vietnam on a 50cc Honda, and crossing the Australian outback in four days. Traveling with just a director and a cameraman, the show’s “home-made” style and Oizumi’s unscripted humor made it a big hit. Oizumi made his national network debut in a Fuji drama in January, though he had an even bigger, though less visible, role a few years earlier – he was one of the voice actors in Miyazaki Hayao‘s 2003 Academy Award-winning animated movie “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away).
• Speaking of Hokkaido, pop star Hamasaki Ayumi (26) was in Sapporo yesterday doing PR for her latest single, “Heaven.” A huge crowd of 5,000 fans turned out to catch a glimpse when she appeared at a local radion station, 5 times the number that came to see local boys Glay the last time they were in town. Security officials were almost overwhelmed by the crowds, which they say were bigger than even the ones they handle at the annual Snow Festival. Fans were disappointed last month when Ayu had to pull out of the Hokkaido leg of the Avex “A-nation ’05” tour due to illness and were delighted that she kept her promise to come back soon.