Hollywood star Tom Cruise (43) took to the high seas yesterday. Well not quite. He’s in town to promote his latest movie, “Mission Impossible 3”, and did so in style. He arrived by private jet at Haneda Airport around 5am and attended an afternoon press conference at the Meiji Kinenkan, where Japan’s Meiji Era consitution was drawn up. In the evening he used a motorboat to make a grand entrance across Tokyo Bay, landing at the Odaiba beach area. Dressed in a white suit, he signed autographs for the 1500 fans that lined the red carpet to the movie premiere. The 10-minute trip across the bay is said to have cost ¥200 million, as all shipping had to be stopped temporarily. The stunt was based on a scene from the movie. Today he’s travelling by “private” shinkansen (bullet train) to attend a fan event in Osaka, and flies out from Kansai International Airport tonight. Cruise promised fans on his last visit in March that next time he’d bring his wife, actress Katie Holmes (23), and their new daughter Suri. But as this trip is only a day and a half, it was impractical. He reassured fans that he was still hoping to make a movie in Tokyo and that the whole family would be here for a week, a month or longer.
• Singer/actor Fukuyama Masaharu and pin-up girl Yasu Megumi are the ideal marriage partners, according to chart ranking company Oricon. With June considered by many the ideal month to get married, Oricon recently carried out a survey that asked which celebrity people would most like to marry. Fukuyama, who also topped a recent poll looking for the celebrity most people would want to perform at their wedding, appeals to many women with his laid back manner. He was followed in the rankings by three Johnny’s Jimusho stars: Kinki Kids duo Domoto Tsuyoshi (#2) and Domoto Koichi (#4), either side of V6 member Okada Yuichi (#3). And in fifth place was actor Tsumabuki Satoshi. Meanwhile, the guys chose popular pin-up girl and variety show regular Yasu, who is considered an “iyashi-kei” or “healing/stress-relieving type”. She was followed by singer Otsuka Ai, pin-up girl Yasuda Misako, and actresses Konishi Manami and Ueto Aya.
• SMAP leader Nakai Masahiro (33) missed the afternoon Fuji TV show “Waratte Iitomo” yesterday for the first time in 13 years. He has had trouble with his right eye for several days and was diagnosed with conjunctivitis, a contagious eye infection commonly known as pink eye. Nakai is resting at home and will also miss recording of several other regular shows this week.