Actress Yonekura Ryoko (30) is to start doing “hanayome shugyo,” or training in the homemaking arts, according to the women’s fashion magazine Miss. Usually a sign of impending marriage, in this case it’s actually a series of articles in which the popular actress will learn things like cooking and cleaning from experts. The series, the first in the magazine to feature an actress, will run for a year from the February edition. Speculation about a possible marriage might have been rife except for the fact that Yonekura just recently split up with popular kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo (28).
• Singer Gackt put on a one-off spectacle at the Tokyo Dome on Christmas Eve. The “Diabolos” show is said to have cost ¥500 million to put on. It started with the singer and four band members, dressed as medieval knights entering the arena on horseback and at full gallop, for which Gackt spent the last six months learning to ride. The show also featured Gackt hanging suspended 20m in the air and disappearing in a sudden puff of smoke from the stage.
• Actor Oshio Manabu (27) has issued a denial on his official website that he and actress Yada Akiko (27) are planning to get married. The couple made a very public show of their romantic relationship on the way to Hawaii for the Christmas break, and the media speculated that they might get hitched on December 23, Yada’s birthday.