Folk duo Kobukuro have topped the Oricon album charts for the fourth week in a row. Sales of their double hits album, “All Singles Best”, have topped 1.8 million making it the year’s best seller. It has been almost two and half years since Utada Hikaru (23) kept the No.1 spot for four straight weeks, and the last male artist to do it was rock band B’z in 1998. Kobukuro received a message of congatulations and thanks from L.A. Dodgers pitcher Saito Takashi (36). Saito, who had a successful season in the MLB, said he owed some of that success to Kobukuro’s music. “I always listened to it before a game. It always got me fired up. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them top the chart for ten weeks!” Kuroda Shunsuke (29) and Kobuchi Kentaro (29) first met in Osaka in 1998 when both were performing as street musicians. At the time of the major label debut in 2001, they were compared to fellow “Neo-Folk Duos” Yuzu and 19 (Juku). The name Kobukuro comes from the first four letters of their family names.
• Newscaster Yamamoto Mona (30) has officially been kicked off the TBS late-night news show “News23”. Just days after she started on the show at the end of last month, it was revealed that she was having an affair with handsome but married politician Hosno Goshi (35). Hosono is a member of the Minshuto opposition party, and ironically Yamamoto’s first report was on the Minshuto party conference. At first TBS refused to comment on what they called a private matter, but Yamamoto went on indefinite “sick leave” after just a week on the show. She apologized through her management agency, who suggested she plans to continue her media career, presumably after an appropriate period out of the spotlight. The political career of Hosono, who has a wife (31) and one child, is likely to carry on as usual.
• Model Mori Izumi (24) is romantically involved with a former Johnny’s idol. The weekly women’s magazine Josei Jishin identified him simply as 27-year-old former Johnnys Jr. member “T-san” and said that he works in the import business. The pair are said to have been dating since before Mori’s modeling debut. She is the grand-daughter of fashion designer Mori Hanae (80).