Actor Hosoka Naoki (39) has entered the priesthood. Yesterday, he underwent the initiation ceremony to become a monk with the major Shingon sect of Buddhism. Wearing a pure white kimono, he took part in a series of rituals over the course of several hours at the Rokusuiin temple in Kumamoto Prefecture. He took on the new name Shouyou, given to him by the temple’s head priestess Shimo Yoshiko, whom he first met on a variety show a year ago. Hosaka said yesterday he wants to re-start his life. However, unlike many new monks, he didn’t shave his head and received only the slightest of haircuts. He plans to continue his showbiz career and hopes to be someone that other celebrities can come to with their troubles. The twice-divorced Hosaka has led the kind of romantically adventurous life typical of many handsome actors. In 1990, along with Hagiwara Masato (35) and Fukuyama Masaharu (38), he was referred to as one of the “pretty boy trio of the Heisei Era”. Soon caught up in an affair with married Ginza hostess and former talento Kashimoto Tomoko, the two were briefly married. Hosoka then had a widely publicized relationship with actress Matsuyuki Yasuko (34) before marrying again in 1996 to actress Takaoka Saki (34). They were often portrayed in the media as an ideal couple, but extra-marital affairs led to divorce in 2004. After the split they revealed that they had only stayed together as long as they did for the sake of their two children. Hosaka said he wanted to spare his children the kind of childhood trauma he suffered as a result of his own parents’ suicide. He didn’t say whether it was a coincidence that yesterday was the 33rd anniversary of their death.
• Actor Maeda Koyo (38) and comedienne Unabara Tomoko (35) have had their first child. Unabara, one half of manzai duo “Unabara Yasuyo Tomoko” with her younger sister, gave birth to a baby girl at an Osaka hospital yesterday. The couple married in August of last year when Unabara was already two months pregnant. Both she and Maeda, a former member of the Johnny’s pop idol group Otokogumi, are in their second marriage. Unabara Yasuyo (31) is married to Orix Buffaloes pitcher Miyamoto Daisuke.
• It didn’t take Oshio Manabu (28) long to go astray, according to today’s issue of weekly gossip magazine “Friday”. The actor and singer got married to popular actress Yada Akiko (28) just last November, but last week a reporter spotted him entering the Tokyo apartment of a single 25-year-old “OL” (office lady). The magazine speculates that as the lights were soon turned off, Oshio must have spent the night. His management insist the woman is the girlfriend of a friend of Oshio’s and all three were in the apartment.