Women’s fashion magazine Vogue yesterday announced its “Woman of the Year” award winners. Among the women chosen as having had the best 2006 were young actresses Sawajiri Erika (20) and Nagasawa Masami (19), who between them have been sweeping the newcomer awards for the last couple of years. Sawajiri, the daughter of a Japanese father and French-Algerian mother, received a host of awards for her role in last year’s “Pacchigi!”. She played the lead role in this year’s TBS drama series “Taiyo no Uta”, releasing a chart-topping album under her character’s name of Kaoru Amane. Nagasawa made her screen debut as early as 2000, but had her breakthrough with 2004’s hit romance “Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu”. At 29, Hoshino Aki (photo) represents hope for “older” women who are hanging on to their dream of becoming a pin-up girl. She has become a regular face on variety shows and TV commercials. Other winners included actresses Nakatani Miki (30) and Momoi Kaori (54) as well as Miss Universe runner-up Chibana Kurara (24).
• Talento Watanabe Megumi (42) recently married a model 14 years younger. The former member of the Yomekin Trio on Fuji TV’s popular afternoon show “Waratte Iitomo” married Hoshino Yoshinori (30), a popular model in men’s magazines, on November 22.
• Billy Joel (57) arrived at Narita Airport from Hong Kong yesterday and will kick off his first Japan tour in eight years tonight at Tokyo Dome. He told reporters that the set list is not fixed and will depend on the response from fans.