On Saturday rock trio Remioromen played an unusual venue fitting a band of growing stature – a runway. The group, who made their breakthrough with last year’s smash hit “Konayuki”, played to 30,000 fans at the Japan Aeronautical School in their home prefecture of Yamanashi. The stage was set up on the school’s 850m runway, meaning fans had no shelter from the summer heat. But a thunderstorm and heavy rain shortly before the show was scheduled to start soon dampened their spirits. There were doubts as to whether the show could go on, but after an hour the weather cleared and the band took the stage. They played a set of 21 songs including their other hit, “Stand By Me”. The elements came through for their encore as the clouds cleared enough for Mt. Fuji to show its face behind the stage. The group’s latest album “Horizon” has sold over 850,000 copies and they are set to go on a 9-city nationwide tour at the end of the year.
• Two men were arrested outside the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama on Saturday for trying to sell tickets to the SMAP concert. The young couple they were trying to sell to turned out to be plainclothes police officers. The “dafuya” (ticket touts) were trying to sell a pair of tickets at face value as the concert had already started. They were said to be “unemployed”, the usual description for yakuza, and from Tokyo.
• Violinist and talento Takashima Chisako (37) is pregnant with her first child. Married since 1999, the cousin of actor brothers Takashima Masahiro and Masanobu is expecting the baby next February.