I thought talento Sugita Kaoru had been too quiet recently. Well she lived up to her fiery reputation by invading the studio of NTV’s live afternoon show “The Wide” yesterday. The show had been looking at her ongoing divorce proceedings and showed a video of her arguing with the lawyer for a publishing company and being restrained by a security guard. Sugita happened to be in the Nippon Television Network building filming a different show when she saw the live broadcast. She burst into the studio saying she was “looking for a fight with (presenter) Kusano Hitoshi” (62). She complained that the video was “over the top” and misleading and then she left the studio. A former child star, Sugita has a history of drunken, abusive and sometimes violent behaviour. But her outspoken manner has also brought her many fans. She took the showbiz world by surprise with her sudden marriage to wealthy heir Ayukawa Junta (45) in January of last year. But the marriage ended quickly and acrimoniously.
• 400 students of Keio University got a rare treat yesterday when Hollywood star Watanabe Ken gave a special lecture as part of the school’s Mitasai festival. The actor spoke of his experiences making the Clint Eastwood-directed “Letters From Iwo Jima” and said he wanted to help the students understand the horror of war. He told them he hoped they would watch both his film and its companion piece, “Flags of Our Fathers”, and see the infamous WWII battle from both sides.
• Meanwhile, on the same campus, 20-year-old Takeuchi Yoshie was chosen as this year’s Miss Keio. Over the last 23 years, the contest has been a launching pad for several showbiz careers, including that of popular Fuji TV announcer Nakano Minako (26). Takeuchi has already had offers from four networks and looks set to join the eight other contest winers who have gone on to be Tv announcers or weather ladies.