Comedy made a surprise visit to the Imperial family on Sunday. Popular young comedy duo Oriental Radio were the celebrity guests at NTV’s 26th national high school quiz, recorded at the Jingu Stadium in Tokyo. Fujimori Shingo (photo right, 23) was in the baseball stadium with 6504 high school students from the Kanto area as announcer Suzuki Takashi gave out the first question. Contestants had two choices, “maru” (true) or “batsu” (false). The correct answer was to be given by Fujimori’s comic partner Nakata Atsuhiko (photo left) landing in the “maru” space by parachute. Accompanied by an instructor, Nakata jumped from a helicopter at about 2,000m, but the pair were caught by a sudden gust of wind and blown off course. The instructor aimed for the nearest open space about a kilometer away, which unbeknownst to him was inside the Akasaka Imperial Palace grounds. The palace is home to the Crown Prince and his family, making a intrusion a serious breach of security. But the pair got away with a stern warning from the Imperial Guards. Meanwhile, back at the stadium, home of the Yakult Swallows baseball team, dance/vocal unit AAA were performing the quiz’s theme song “Q”. The show will air on NTV September 1.
• The Yoshimoto Kogyo travelling comedy roadshow hit Los Angeles at the weekend and got a rousing reception. The troupe, led by Imada Koji and including other stars like Higashino Koji, Yamada Hanako and Razor Ramon HG (Hard Gay), performed a new two and a half hour show called “Sapuraizu Darake no Uedingu” (Wedding Full of Surprises). It was the first show by a Japanese theatrical group at the famous Kodak Theater, home of the annual Academy Awards show. The audience of 2,600 was made up almost entirely of Japanese living in the city, but the arrival of the show got a 2-page spread in the L.A. Times that asked, “Will Japanese Humor Travel Well?”
• “Limit of Love”, the sequel to the successful movie “UmiZaru” (Sea Monkeys), was recently shown at the N.Y. Asian Film Festival, and it was announced yesterday that a major Hollywood studio is interested in remaking the original. The story of romance and friendship among a group of Japan Coast Guard trainees was one of the big summer hits of 2004 and made a star of Ito Hideaki. Its sequel has done equally well this year, so far pulling in ¥6.5 billion at the box office.