Actress Matsushima Nanako (32) has her first major movie role since starring in the horror classic “Ringu” nine years ago. She was in Tokushima City recently as filming started on “Bizan”, based on the novel by singer/songwriter Sada Masashi (54). Last week’s location shot saw 2,500 Tokushima residents join several hundred extras in a recreation of the city’s famous Awa Odori festival dance, which features in the movie’s closing scene. The drama centers around a daughter and mother (Miyamoto Nobuko, 61, in her first movie in 10 years) who is battling with terminal cancer, and a young doctor, played by Osawa Takao (38). Matsushima herself became a mother in 2004, when she and actor Sorimachi Takashi (32) had their first child. “Bizan” is scheduled for release next summer.
• Talento and opera singer Mori Kimiko (47) says she will split her time between work and caring for her hospitalized husband (50), who was recently involved in a traffic accident. Mori revealed during a TV interview on Thursday that her husband had been in a crash late on the night of August 13, when his car collided with a motorbike and resulting in a serious head injury. He was taken to the intensive care unit at a nearby hospital in central Tokyo. He and Mori have been married since 2001.
• Russian pop duo tATu angered Japanese fans when they failed to turn up for a scheduled performance yet again. The pair were suppose to appear at a small live house in Nagoya on Friday night. But when they reached the 300-capacity venue and found that only about 50 fans were waiting, they drove away. The incident was a reminder of a similar “dotakyan” (sudden cancellation) back in June 2003. (See earlier story)