Monthly Archives: August 2006

Veteran movie director Yamada Yoji (74) has said that he won’t be making any more samurai movies. After spending the best part of a career directing comedies at the helm of the record-breaking “Otoko wa Tsurai Yo” series, he took a radical change of direction with 2002’s “Tasogare Seibei” (The Twilight Samurai). He followed up that huge success with two further period dramas, with the third part of his “trilogy” based on novels by Fujisawa Shuhei, “Bushi no Ichibun”, due for release in December. Yamada made his announcement this week at a PR event for the movie with former Takarazuka actress Dan Rei (photo, 35), who makes her big screen debut in the film alongside SMAP star Kimura Takuya (33). Yamada described her as a “breathtakingly beautiful acress”. She retired from the all-female Takarazuka theater troupe in January 2005.

• Some old news from singer/songwriter Hiramatsu Airi (42), who revealed this week that she and producer Shimizu Nobuyuki (46) divorced in August of last year. They married in 1994 and had a daughter two years later.

• Happier news for actor Uchino Masaaki (37) and actress Ichiro Maki (41), who revealed this week that they got married at the end of July. Ichiro, like Dan Rei a former top Takarazuka star, is expecting a baby within the year. The couple met in 2000 when they co-starred in the stage musical “Elizabeth”. Ichiro is currently taking a break from work, while Uchino is set to appear in next year’s taiga historical drama series on NHK.

• Talento Seto Catherine (29) also announced this week that she is married. Her 26-year old husband is a Japanese company employee, whose work means that he’s based in Edmonton, Canada. Seto didn’t reveal how long they have been married, only that they first met eight years ago.

Johnny Depp has a rival in Hong Kong. Japanese movies don’t tend to fare too well in that particular market, but the manga adaptation “Death Note” had an impressive opening day that was almost on a par with the latest in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series. Starring popular young actor Fujiwara Tatsuya (photo, 24), it pulled in over a million Hong Kong dollars on August 10, far more than any Japanese movie of recent years. And on a per-screen basis it did even better than the Hollywood blockbuster. The success isn’t so surprising in light of the fact that the original manga sold over 12 million copies, and the Chinese translation also did well in Hong Kong. Several companies are said to be sniffing around Nippon TV, producers of the project, and a Hollywood remake is definitely on the cards. The movie is the first of two parts, with the second scheduled to open in October. (More about the movie in an earlier story)

• Actor Maeda Kouyou (38) has remarried, this time to comedienne and fellow divorcee Unabara Tomoko (34). The pair tied the knot yesterday, Maeda’s birthday. He is a former member of the Johnny’s Jimusho group Otoko Gumi, which debuted in 1989 and broke up in 1993. He married actress Nakamura Yumi in 199, but they split in 2003. Nakamura married an American 16 years her senior in April. The Osaka-based Unabara was married to a TV producer from 2000 to 2003.

• The career of actress Kinoshita Ayumi (23) is coming along nicely. Best known for her role as Deka Yellow in the Deka Rangers TV series, she has her first starring role in the upcoming movie “Master of Thunder”. The movie also sees action legends “Sonny” Chiba Shinichi (67) and Kurata Yasuaki (60) facing each other for the first time. At a recent PR event for the flick held in the geek mecca of Akihabara, a fan of Kinoshita got so excited that he was arrested after a fight with a security guard.

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.

Yoshimoto Kogyo talento Sumitani Masaki (30) stepped out of character yesterday just long enough to announce that he is now married. As he is better known as Razor Ramon HG (Hard Gay), some fans may have been surprised by his August 8 marriage to fellow talento Suzuki Anna (23). Such is the popularity of the HG character that has been almost constantly on the variety show circuit over the last couple of years. But according to his new mother-in-law, the whooping, hip-thrusting character couldn’t be further from Sumitani’s true self. When he asked for her daughter’s hand, “he spoke so quietly that he had to repeat himself three times before I could hear him.” The couple met last autumn and started dating around the end of the year when they found they had a similar sense of humor and a shared interest in pro wrestling. They plan to hold a modest wedding ceremony in the fall.

• Also going for the modest approach were musician and Hello! Project founder Tsunku (37) and his wife, a former model (25), who held their wedding ceremony at a Kyoto temple yesterday. The couple were accompanied only by their parents and the weding is thought to have cost about ¥300,000. As Tsunku is a follower of the Jodo Shinshu sect of Buddhism, they chose to have their ceremony at the Nishi Honganji temple. The couple were first introduced by a mutual friend last summer and registered their marriage in June.

• Singer Oginome Yoko (37) gave birth to a baby girl at a Tokyo hospital yesterday. It is the third child for the former idol singer and her husband, former pro tennis player Tsujino Ryuso (37). The couple married in 2001.

“Dirty Old Man” is the title of the latest single from Southern All Stars, and it’s sure to be yet another hit for Kuwata Keisuke and his veteran band. But a good publicity stunt never did hurt the sales figures. Yesterday, Tokyo’s Shibuya district saw the arrival of a group of 10 guys wearing the same mysterious outfits as on the single’s jacket cover – watermelon heads, skin-colored body suits, and straw hats covering their crotches. The fruit is one of the familiar symbols of summer here in Japan and plays a part in a popular beach game known as suika wari, or “split the watermelon”. SAS are due to take part in a summer special on Fuji TV on August 20 and will appear at a two-day outdoor festival at Hamanako Garden Park in Shizuoka Prefecture on August 26-27.

• Pop duo Tackey and Tsubasa made an unannounced appearance at Jingu Stadium yesterday. They performed their new single “Ho! Summer” before the start of the Yakult Swallows-Yomiuri Giants baseball game. They also took part in the ceremonial opening pitch, with Imai Tsubasa (24) pitching to Takizawa Hideaki (24). Veteran player/manager Furuta Atsuya (41) was behind the plate and called the count for a strike. The Giants went on to beat the Swallows 8-4 for their first string of three consecutive victories in two months.

Actor Murata Takehiro (46) is to tie the knot with an actress 20 years his junior. He announced at a press conference held at the TBS studio in Kanagawa that he is engaged to marry his “Wataru Sekken wa Oni Bakari” co-star Nakae Rika (26). They haven’t set any date for a wedding, but plan to register their marriage when they have a break from work in October. The two actually met when working on a different drama four years ago and started dating seriously two years later. Murata didn’t say how he had proposed but talked about how Nakae had cared for him while he was sick last summer. “Marriage then seemed a natural extension of our relationship,” he said.

• SInger Nokko gave birth to a baby recently at the age of 42. The former Rebecca vocalist made the announcement on her official website. She married New York-based music producer Goh Hotoda in 2002, having previously been married to musician Kogure Takehiko (46) from 1990 to 1993. Goh has worked with such big names as Duran Duran, Janet Jackson, Madonna, and Sakamoto Ryuichi.

The female Yoshimoto Kogyo employee who was assaulted by comedian Shimada Shinsuke back in 2004 has taken both him and the company to court again. The case nearly ended the career of one of Japan’s biggest stars and he gave a tearful apology on live TV, even offering to retire if that was what she wanted. She later said that was exactly what she wanted, but Shinsuke has been as busy as ever on the variety show circuit. The woman took the matter to the Osaka Summary Court and was awarded ¥300,000 last December. She is said to have been suffering PTSD and was receiving regular medical attention. She now says she was fired by the major talent agency in June and has sued for ¥44 million in compensation.

• The recent TBS broadcast of Kameda Koki’s successful bid for the WBA light flyweight crown scored a huge 42.4% average audience rating, peaking at 52.9%. It’s the highest figure for a boxing program since Gushiken Youkou defended his world crown in 1978. The highly touted Kameda, eldest of three boxing brothers, wasn’t as impressive as many had expected and the fight went to a decision. TBS received many complaints from viewers, some saying the decision was questionable, others unhappy about the length of the pre-fight program.

• Freelance announcer Ariga Satsuki (40) faces prosecution after causing a traffic accident in central Tokyo, it was revealed yesterday. On July 26, the car she was driving collided with a light motor vehicle, causing minor injuries to the driver. According to police, her foot slipped off the brake when she tried to retrieve something in the car as she approached a traffic signal.

• Actress Okazaki Yuki (53) announced on her website this week that she recently divorced after 20 years of marriage. She wed Morita Akio, son of the former Sony chairman, in 1978 and they divorced in 1981. She married musician Iwakura Kenji in 1986.

Johnny’s Jimusho artists continue their impressive run of chart topping achievements. “Pop Up! SMAP”, the fivesome’s latest double album, has entered the Oricon charts at No.1 as expected. It’s the third time they’ve topped the charts with a double or bigger album, moving them out of a tie with Southern All Stars for the most ever. meanwhile, atop the latest singles charts are fellow Johnny’s stars Kinki Kids. “Natsu Moyo” (Summer Pattern) is their 23rd single in a row to go straight to No.1. That’s every single they’ve ever released, and the feat means an update to their existing entry in the Guinness Book of Records.

• A busy schedule seems to have taken its toll on Korean talento Yoon Sona (30). She was taken to hospital during the studio recording of an NHK show in Tokyo yesterday after feeling faint. One of the relatively few stars to avoid any rumors of romantic liaisons, she only recently announced her engagement to a Korean entrepreneur. Today the media immediately started speculating on whether she was pregnant, but this was quickly denied by her management. They said she had been overworking and was suffering from anemia.

• The recent incident involving the assault of a teenage girl by comedian Yamamoto Keiichi (38) continues to be investigated by police in Hakodate. Fired two weeks ago by the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency after the story was all over the media, the rotund funnyman was questioned again by police yesterday, and criminal proceedings are likely. Yamamoto was in the Hokkaido city to take part in a baseball game as a member of the Ibaragi Golden Goals amateur team run by veteran comedian Hagimoto Kinichi (65). “Kin-chan” briefly threatened to dismantle the team after the incident, which also involved two other tema members.