Model and talento Mie (25) and Japan’s top international pro surfer Tajima Teppei (23) are engaged to be married, it was revealed yesterday. They plan to hold a small wedding ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday. Tajima heads off to compete overseas next month, but Mie is likely to stay behind as she’s currently four months pregnant. Last week she took part in the Tokyo Girls Collection, a major fashion event that will be her last job as a model. A “JJ” magazine cover girl while a student at Aoyama Gakuin University, she has also worked as a presenter on TV shows such as Fuji TV’s “Mot-Supo!” and TV Asahi’s “Warai no Kin Medal”. A scheduled appearance on Fuji’s “Tamacchi!” on Monday will be her last. Fluent in English, she plans to support her husband’s career on the international surfing circuit. A pro since he was 16, last year Tajima became the first surfer to win four World Qualifying Series events in a row and is now the No.1 surfer in Asia. On hearing that Mie was pregnant, he proposed to her on the same Chiba Prefecture beach where they first met in July of last year.
• Also currently riding a wave of success is British singer Leona Lewis (22), who yesterday announced her first visit to Japan. Her debut album “Spirit” topped the charts for seven weeks and sold over 2 million copies in the U.K. at the end of last year. The single “Bleeding Love” has been getting a lot of airplay here, and recently entered the U.S. chart Top 10. “Spirit” is released in Japan on April 23 and Lewis will support the album with a live tour in early May.
• Details of the upcoming tribute concerts to the late X Japan guitarist hide were announced yesterday. May 2 will be the tenth anniversary of his death at the age of 33, and the two shows at Ajinomoto Stadium, in the western Tokyo suburb of Chofu, will be held May 3&4. In addition to his old bandmates, the concert will feature some 20 acts including Dir En Grey, Luna Sea and T. M. Revolution. The main organizer of the “Hide Memorial Summit” is hide’s younger brother and personal manager, Matsumoto Yuji.
• The Hokkaido town of Yubari celebrated the re-opening of its International Fantastic Film Festival yesterday. Actress Ayase Haruka (22) was on hand for the screening of her latest movie “Boku no Kanojo wa Saibogu” (My Girlfriend is a Cyborg). The event, which was launched in 1990, missed a year in 2007 due to the town’s bankruptcy, which drew nationwide attention.
• Hip hop artist Kreva (31) held a show last night to commemorate the reopening after four and a half years of the Akasaka Blitz live house in central Tokyo. He performed all sixteen tracks from his hits collection “Kreva no Bestban”, which went on sale Wednesday.
• According to the latest survey by chart company Oricon, Fuji TV’s Takashima Aya (29) remains the country’s most popular announcer. She clinched the top spot for the fourth year in a row, holding off her “Mezamashi Terebi” co-presenter Nakano Minako (28).