Hollywood star Steven Seagal (55) is in town at the moment, promoting not only his latest movie but also a new CD. The actor appeared on the Tokudane wide show this morning, speaking fluent Japanese and doing a pretty good PR job. His latest action film, “Into the Sun” was filmed entirely in Tokyo and Seagal’s dialog is almost all in Japanese, and Kansai-ben no less! He is married to a Japanese and has two children working in the entertainment business here as well as his own aikido dojo. But his American roots are there to see in his new CD, a blues album called “Songs From the Crystal Cave.” He collaborated on the album with such major names as Stevie Wonder. Asked during the Tokudane show for a comment on Sylvester Stallone’s new “Rocky 6” project, Seagal grinned as he said that Sly obviously didn’t get much work these days.
• Seattle Mariners star Ichiro has provided plenty of drama in his career, but he is soon to make a dramatic debut of a different kind. He will play himself in a 3-night special of the popular Fuji TV detective series “Furuhata Ninzaburo,” which will air over the New Year. In typical Ichiro fashion, he will be trying to pull off the perfect crime. The outfielder is said to be a huge Furuhata fan and has all the DVDs of the series. Since 1994 there have been three series and five specials, with big-name celebrities playing the villain each time (basically a ripoff of the Columbo concept). Star Tamura Masakazu (62) is perhaps one of the most impersonated actors on Japanese TV.
• Congratulations to baseball’s Chiba Lotte Marines, who won the Pacific League playoffs and will be in the Japan Series for the first time in 31 years. Managed by the popular Bobby Valentine, the Marines are a fairly low-profile team but have former MLB star Benny Agbayani. In the Japan Series they will be up against the fanatically supported Hanshin Tigers.