Happy news for a pair of established actresses. Management for Shinohara Ryoko (34, photo left) informed the media by fax yesterday that she gave birth to a baby boy at a Tokyo hospital on Saturday. Her husband, actor Ichimura Masachika (59), was present for the birth and expressed his happiness saying, “God sent us an angel!” The couple have been married since December 2005. Meanwhile, actress Sakai Miki (30, photo right) is engaged to marry a 34-year-old doctor, she informed the media by fax on Friday. She and her fiance first met in New York four years ago and started dating after meeting again last summer. Sakai says they had their formal yuinou (exchange of engagement gifts) in January and plan to hold a wedding and reception in the autumn. She also says that she is not pregnant and plans to continue her career. When she was based in New York in 2004, Sakai was romantically linked with New York Yankees baseball star Matsui Hideki (33), who got married in March.
• While such happy news is no surprise for such beauties, the announcement from comedienne Minowa Haruka (28) that she finally has a boyfriend came out of the blue. The lanky half of duo Harisenbon, whose comedy is largely based around their physical unattractiveness, Minowa revealed on a variety show at the weekend that she has been dating an assistant TV director for about six months.
• Singer Izumiya Shigeru (60) is already regretting his decision to give a marathon all-night concert in the autumn. Meeting the press before a show in Tokyo yesterday, his birthday, he wore the red “chanchanko” clothes traditional worn to commemorate the landmark occasion. He joked that he was having second thoughts about the October “60×60” show at Zepp Tokyo in which he has said he will perform 60 songs.