Monthly Archives: June 2006

Actress Ishihara Marie (42) is to make her TV drama comeback after 15 years in “the wilderness”. She will resume using her stage name of Ishihara Mariko, actually her real name which she abandoned shortly after she left Japan to live abroad 15 years ago. She is set to star in a TBS drama series planned for the autumn. She appears on tonight’s episode of NHK’s English language learning show “Eigo de Shaberanaito” and talks about her years away from showbiz. After making her debut in 1980, Ishihara became one of the country’s top actresses following the success of the drama series “Fuzoroi no Ringo-tachi”. But with an image as being outspoken and following a series of scandals, she left for Los Angeles in 1991. In 1993, she published a book of nude photos called “Marie!” She lived briefly in Paris before returning to the US. During those years she studied astronomy and psychology at college. She finally came back to Japan in 2004 and, finding that country had changed a lot, decided to stay.

• Actress Amami Yuki was recognized this week for her contributions to broadcasting last year. In its annual Galactic Awards, the Japan Council for Better Radio and Televesion chose Amami for the individual award following her starring roles in four separate TV drama series in 2005. In particular, her role as the “demon” teacher in “Jo no Kyoshitsu” on the NTV network was hugely successful. The award for best TV show went to the TBS drama “Tiger & Dragon”.

The members of pop group SMAP got quite a surprise last night when Michael Jackson made an unannounced visit to the studio where they were recording the Fuji TV show “SMAPxSMAP”. Jackson arrived on the set in the middle of a performance, catching the five local superstars completely by surprise. Group leader Nakai Masahiro (33) could only gape, wide-mouthed, while Katori Shingo (29) fell laughing to the floor at the sight of “nama Maikeru”. After they recovered, they exchanged high fives and Jackson chatted with them for about ten minutes and praised their singing (well, as a guest I suppose you have to be polite!). His appearance will be included on the episode that airs on Monday, June 5.

• Not such good news for TBS on another front. Almost a thousand cases of health problems have been reported by viewers of a show that promoted a diet based on white kidney beans. Of the total, over 100 people have had to visit hospital. The “Piikan Body” show was broadcast on May 6 and featured a way of losing weight by adding ground roasted kidney beans to rice. Th chairman of TBS has publicly apologized and sent letters to all of the reported victims.

• Singer Nakashima Mika (23) made a guest appearance at yesterday’s concert by Elvis Costello. Costello was playing at a church in Shinagawa, Tokyo with legendary blues pianist Allen Toussaint (68), who in turn produced Nakashima’s latest single. “All Hands Together” was recorded in New Orleans. Toussaint described the Japanese star as having a “heavenly voice”.