Young actress Kaneda Mika (23) and J-Leaguer Nakazawa Sota (24) couldn’t keep their relationship hidden for long. The game was given away when they both posted the same dinner date photo on their respective blogs. They have to make do with a long-distance relationship, as Kaneda lives in Tokyo, while defender Nakazawa is based across the country with Gamba Osaka. Kaneda made her name as a high school student in the popular long-running TBS drama “3-nen B-kumi Kimpachi Sensei” in 1999. She is currently a regular on several variety shows. Nakazawa joined Kashiwa Reysol in 2001, but was a regular for only one of his six seasons with the team. He moved to FC Tokyo in 2006 and transferred to current league leaders Gamba this season. Several years ago, while he was with Reysol, Nakazawa was romantically linked with former Morning Musume member Yoshizawa Hitomi.
• Actress Toda Keiko (49) is to revive her singing career after 30 years. She will release a new album, “Actress”, on September 5. The announcement came on the opening day of her new musical, “The Hit Parade”, in which she co-stars with comedian Harada Taizo (37) of the trio Neptune. It also came just days after the revelation that her 16-year marriage to actor Inoue Junichi (48) came to an end last December.
• Actor Yoshikawa Ginji (42) is the latest to be arrested in the ongoing extortion case involving talento Haga Kenji (45). Yoshikawa is said to have been present, along with a member of the yakuza and a former world boxing champion, when a real estate company president was coerced into signing a document that released Haga from almost ¥400 million in debts. A minor name, Yoshikawa appeared mainly in so-called V-Cinema movies, the direct-to-video industry that appeared in Japan from the 1980s.