Singer Kitade Nana (18) is hoping to create a “gosukawa” boom. The expression is an abbreviation of “gothic kawaii”, and combines “kawaii” (cute) with the “gosuloli” fashion that mixes the stark black and white of Gothic with the frills and lace of Lolita girls. The name Nana is pronounced the same as the word for “seven”, so Kitade is releasing a new song on every day that has a seven in it over the next four months. The first, “Moonlight Densetsu” is a cover of the Sailor Moon theme song and is due for release on April 27. There will be 13 releases in all up to August 27, though they will only be available as ¥100 “chaku-uta” (songs downloaded to mobile phones). The idea is similar to marketing tactic used by singer Koda Kumi (23), who released a single a week over 12 weeks at the end of last year and saw huge combined sales, while also coining the phrase “erokawa” (erotic kawaii).
• Popular Fuji TV announcer Sasaki Kyoko (33) announced on live TV yesterday that she recently got divorced. The “Tokudane!” morning wide show co-presenter, who married TBS announcer Ikeda Hiroyuki only in May of last year, broke the news on her return from a two-week foreign location shoot. It seems she registered the divorce before she left on April 8. Ikeda is a presenter on the TBS show “Evening Five”.
• The band Godiego are to get back together for the first time in seven years. It’s been 30 years since they started and they are well past their heyday. They are best known for a couple of theme tunes, the Saiyuki theme “Monkey Magic” and “Ginga Tetsudo 999”. Saiyuki has been enjoying a revival with a new updated version doing well on TV this year. Godiego first split in 1985 and there was a brief reunion in 1999.