Some of Japan’s biggest stars are at Cannes this week. Kitano “Beat” Takeshi (60) is there as one of the 35 directors who took part in a compilation movie to celebrate the Film Festival’s 60th anniversary. Takeshi’s 3-minute comedy segment, the second in “To Each His Own Cinema”, was well received. The short will be shown with Takeshi’s upcoming new feature, “Kantoku Banzai”, set to open on June 2. True to form, he turned up at the red carpet event wearing a traditional hakama and a silly “chonmage” wig. “In 60 years probably no one has done anything as stupid as that. Next I’d like wear a hakama to the Oscars, and when my name is called take it off and show my arse! If I get an honorary Oscar at the age of 90, I’ll probably soil myself and cause real mayhem.” Fellow comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi was visibly nervous at the first ever screening of “Dai Nipponjin”, his debut as a movie director. But the unique comedy got a standing ovation on Saturday night from the audience of 800, and it has already had distribution offers from ten countries. Also on Saturday night, two members of pop group SMAP were giving a party to promote their respective movies. Kimura Takuya (34) is plugging “Hero”, the latest spinoff from a hugely successful Fuji TV drama series. Bandmate Katori Shingo (30) is promoting the movie adaptation of his recent TV version of “Saiyuki” (Journey to the West, also known as Monkey). The party drew about 800 guests from some 12 countries.
• Top kabuki star Nakamura Kanzaburo (51) has been penalized by the Tokyo tax authorities for failure to declare some ¥70 million in income. The undeclared income was from a period of three years up to 2005 and was received during the course of parties and other events to commemorate his succession to his current stage name. His sons, Kantaro (25) and Shichinosuke (24) have also been investigated as their fictional expenses were allegedly used as tax write offs. Including penalties, Kanzaburo has been hit with a tax bill of about ¥30 million. He has disputed the audit results, adding that the official statements are defamatory. But he does have a history of run-ins with the tax man, the last dating to late 1999. At the time he fessed up and handed over some ¥6 million in taxes and penalties.