14-year old Ishibashi Anna is the newest idol on the block. She was chosen from over 38,000 hopefuls at the 31st Hori Pro Scout Caravan, an annual event held to find the young female stars of the future. She joins a long list of celebrities who have made their debuts this way with the major Hori Pro talent agency, including Sakakibara Ikue (47), Imori Miyuki (38), Fukuda Kyoko (24) and more recently Ishihara Satomi (19). Hori Pro describe Ishibashi as being the brightest hope of the last few years and having a “perfect face”, and say they plan to turn her into a top actress. Still a second-year student at a public junior high school in her native Fukouka Prefecture, she won a trophy, ¥1 million in cash and a trip to New Caledonia. But more importantly, she has a major role in next February’s TV Asahi drama series “Shissou Holiday”.
• Kanda Uno (31) is clearly an old-fashioned girl at heart. At a press conference this morning to formally announce her engagement to business tycoon Nishimura Takuro (36), she told how she and her fiance had held the traditional “yuinou” or ceremonial exchange of nine engagement gifts. Dressed in a gorgeous red furisode (long-sleeved) kimono and gold obi, she also showed off her new 5-carat diamond engagement ring to the media at a posh Italian restaurant in downtown Tokyo.
• Talento Iijima Ai (34) has cancelled appearances on several of her five regular weekly shows with what is described as “a cold”. It may be just a coincidence that the popular former porn star revealed on her blog at the weekend that she was once swindled out of a considerable sum of money by her management. She didn’t reveal the amount or other details, though she did mention the figure of ¥100 million. Sources say the incident dates back about two years.