We reported here on Japan Zone just yesterday about the romance between young baseball star Darvish Yu (20) and actress Saeko (20). Well it turns out they’re engaged to be married. Saeko is two months pregnant and they plan to tie the knot after the baseball season finishes. With the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters currently on top of the Pacific League, it’s likely that Darvish and his team-mates will have to defend their Japan Series title in the playoffs first. The young half-Iranian pitcher takes the mound tonight against the Rakuten Golden Eagles at the Fighters’ home stadium of Sapporo Dome, and he plans to make a formal announcement after the game.
• The growing popularity of talento Oizumi Yo (34) seems to have exposed his past illegal activity. Oizumi is now an up and coming star on the national networks but was for years known only in his native Hokkaido. The weekly “Suiyou wa Doudeshou”, originally shown only on HTB in Hokkaido, sent Oizumi and Suzui Takayuki on silly adventures in various locations around Japan and abroad. On one such trip to western Japan in 2000, the pair helped themselves to sand from the famous Tottori Sand Dunes. Only seven years later, when the show was broadcast in the region, did it come to light that what they had done is illegal as the dunes are designated as a National Monument. HTB has made a formal apology to Tottori City and the show will not be broadcast anymore.
• NTV announcer Suzuki Natsuko (30) may lose her job after a weekly magazine published compromising photos of her with comedian Taka (31). One half of the popular duo Taka and Toshi, he is living with his girlfriend of eight years, so the reported relationship with Suzuki is a no-no. The two were spotted at a hotel near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at the end of July. Suzuki has already been reprimanded by NTV and was dropped from her regular slot on the network’s “wide show” yesterday. Ironically, she usually reports on the “off duty” activities of celebrities.
• Sakaguchi Kenji (34) is to revive his popular role as doctor Asada Ryutaro in “Iryu 2”. The Fuji TV hospital drama (whose title translates as “Team Medical Dragon”) was a hit in the spring of 2006 and won an award for best drama series. The sequel starts in October and will deal with serious issues such as the growing national shortage of doctors and the closures of many maternity and pediatric units.