The all-female Takarazuka theater company has reached another major milestone. The 1,630th performance of “Berusaiyu no Bara” (Rose of Versaille) yesterday saw the total audience reach 4 million. The lucky audience member, a 15-year old girl from Yokohama, got a bouquet of flowers and had her photo taken on stage with the stars of the show. The lavish production has been running since 1974 at the Takarazuka theater in the city of the same name in Hyogo Prefecture.
• Yesterday’s issue of weekly magazine Friday published more photos “proving” the romance between actor Tsumabuki Satoshi (25) and actress Shibasaki Kou (24). The photos, taken at the beginning of this month, showed the couple in Tsumabuki’s car after a dinner date in Tokyo. The two have been rumored to be dating for several years, since they co-starred in the drama series “Orange Days” in 2004. Shibasaki was spotted leaving Tsumabuki’s Tokyo home last September and the two recently spent a month in New Zealand filming the movie “Dororo”. Tsumabuki has previously been linked with talento Yuka (25), while Shibasaki has been said to be involved with Da Pump vocalist Issa (27).
• The winners of this year’s music video awards from cable channel Space Shower TV were announced yesterday. Winning in the pop category was Hirai Ken (34) with his appropriately titled hit “Pop Star”. The video featured him dressed up as various characters, including a racoon. Koda Kumi (23) continued her award winning streak, taking the Music Video of the Year for her collaboration with Soulhead.