Ten years after the death of actor Asami Kiyoshi, a recording he made almost 30 years ago is to be re-released. Asami will forever be remembered for his role as Tora-san in the “Otoko wa Tsuraiyo” movie series, the longest running series in the world. The movies had various themes but traveling salesman Tora-san always returned to his shitamachi (dowtown) home. The Asakusa district is the capital’s most famous shitamachi and the song “Asakusa Nikki” recalls Tokyo in a bygone age. The 1977 recording has been remastered as a duet between Asami and Kaguyahime member Yamada Panda (59). Asami died in 1996 at the age of 68, having made 48 movies as Tora-san under the direction of Yamada Yoji.
• Talento Fujimori Yuuko (37) is five months pregnant. The former member of sexy group C.C. Girls married the 38-year old president of a TV production company in 2004. She will the first of the group’s original members to become a mother.
• Actress Lee Reisen (64) has won her libel case against a magazine publisher. The mother of actor Otsuru Gitan (35), she took the publisher Shufu to Seikatsusha to court for an article that appeared in its Shuukan Josei magazine. The article claimed that a typical bad “yome shuutome” (bride versus mother-in-law) relationship between Lee and singer Marcia (37), led to her son’s divorce. Lee sought ¥5.5 million in damages and was awarded &1.1 million by the Tokyo District Court. Otsuru and Marcia split in 2004 following another of his extra-marital affairs, for which he apologized during a live press conference. The Tokyo-born Lee is the daughter of ethnic Koreans and was married to actor Kara Juuro (real name Otsuru Yoshihide) from 1967 to 1988. Marcia (real name Nishiie Kazue Marcia) is a Brazilian of Japanese descent.