Actor Nakamura Ryu (29) revealed on his official website yesterday that he recently got married. He and model Takuma Yui registered their marriage on January 23 and held a wedding ceremony in a church on the Hawaiian island of Oahu during Golden Week. Still a fairly minor name, Nakamura had a supporting role in the Fuji TV drama series “Hakusen Nagashi”, which has aired on and off since 1995. In addition to his acting career, he has been a professional surfer since 2000. Takuma runs her own fashion apparel company.
• Hollywood-based actor Watanabe Ken (46) showed off his English skills to the foreign media yesterday. Just the third Japanese actor (after Mifune Toshiro and Ikebe Ryo) to meet the press at the Foreign Correspondents Club in Tokyo’s Yurakucho, Watanabe introduced himself in English. Though he answered questions in Japanese, he was largely able to understand them without an interpreter. The Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee spoke about his roles in such films as “The Last Samurai” but was there largely to promote his new film “Ashita no Kioku” (Tomorrow’s Memories). “I wanted to bring to foreign audiences a Japanese movie that didn’t have samurai or ninja!” The movie, expected to open in the US at the end of this year or early in 2007, is a drama that tells of one man’s struggle with early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease. Watanabe is the star and also executive producer.
• Publishing company Kodansha yesterday announced the winners of its 30th annual manga awards. Winning the general category was “Mushishi” by Urushibara Yuki, which has appeared in the “Gekkan Afternoon” manga since 1999. It has also been made into an anime by Fuji TV. The award for boy’s manga went to “Air Gear” by Oh!Great (Ogure Ito), while for girl’s it was “Life” (Suenobu Keiko). The children’s section award went to “Kicchin no O-Hime-sama” (Kobayashi Miyuki & Ando Natsumi).