Popular model/actress Yamada Yu (21) is paying the price for her new-found fame, ¥4 million to be exact. That’s how much she lost in cash and jewellery when her familiy’s home in central Tokyo was burglarized last weekend. Nobody was home on Saturday evening when the security alarm went off, notifying local police. They arrived to find a window broken and ¥2 million in cash and the same amount in watches and jewellery missing. Yamada’s face is everywhere these days but the fact that she still lives at home and that the cash was all in ¥500 coins suggests that she still has her feet on the ground despite her leap to stardom over the last year.
• Pop duo Chemistry will release a new album on November 16, their first in 21 months. “Fo(u)r” is also their first self-produced studio work. They will play a 5-city tour from next January and ten lucky fans will be invited to meet them backstage at each venue. Member Kawabata Kaname (26) is said to be a big fan of comedy star Laser Ramon Hard Gay, whose catchphrase “Foh-!” may not be the inspiration for the new album title but is likely to be heard on the tour.
• Veteran comedian Miyagi Kenji of the manzai duo W Kenji died at a Tokyo hospital this week of lung cancer. He was 81. His widow Toshiko (58) said he had been in and out of hospital since being diagnosed with terminal cancer last year. “He loved cigarettes and smoked three packs a day. I wasn’t able to ask him to quit,” she told the press. Together with his late partner Higashi Kenji, Miyagi was a popular comedian in the early 1960s. He continued performing up to November of last year.