Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan (53) joined local actor Sanada Hiroyuki (46) on the red carpet for yesterday’s Japan premiere of “Rush Hour 3”. Several hundred fans turned at for the event, held at the Roppongi Hills complex in central Tokyo. Though the pair have been friends for some 20 years, it’s the first time for them to work together. Sanada has been building up a presence in Hollywood features in the last couple of years and is becoming more of a box office draw. He and Chan met up at the Shanghai International Film Festival last year and decided to do something together. “I’d like to work with Takakura Ken, with Kitano Takeshi,” said Chan. “I never had a chance to work with Kurosawa Akira. So now when I want to work with someone, I do it right away.” He had hoped to get Sanada on board for a new movie to be shot in Tokyo in October (provisionally titled “Shinjuku Jiken”) but was turned down due to a busy schedule. “Rush Hour 3” opens here on August 25.
• Actress Sakurai Atsuko (34) announced yesterday that she gave birth to her first child on Saturday. She married a TV Asahi producer in 2003.
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On Saturday, pop diva Hamasaki Ayumi (28) made her first public appearance since her split with Johnny’s Jimusho star Nagase Tomoya (28). At a PR event for the movie “Kaidan”, for which she provides the theme song, “Fated”, she wore a sleeveless top that would normally have revealed the “pair look” tattoo she and Nagase had on their right shoulders. But her tattoo has either been removed or was covered up with foundation.