Freelance TV announcer Watanabe Mari (41) revealed yesterday that she is married. She and Fuji TV producer Takai Ichiro (45) tied the knot at the end of August just two months after they started dating. Watanabe, who the local media pointed out isn’t pregnant, plans to continue her television career using her maiden name. She held a press conference after filming a TV Asahi medical variety show hosted by Kitano “Beat” Takeshi, who in his usual zany style insisted on crashing the occasion and promoting his latest movie. “Give me back my youth!” he cried in a fit of faked jealousy. “Whatever happened to the love we had between us?!” Watanabe and Takai were introduced by a mutual friend back in May and registered their marriage on August 27. As their witness they chose close friend and actress Higuchi Kanako (47), who co-stars with Kitano in his movie “Akiresu to Kame” (Achilles and the Tortoise), currently competing at the Venice International Film Festival.
Watanabe joined the TBS network in 1990 and was a co-anchor on the “Chikushi Tetsuya News23” show before going freelance in 1998. She became a co-anchor on TV Asahi’s “News Station” but recently works more as a co-presenter on variety shows. Takai joined Fuji in 1987 and has worked on several of the networks most successful drama series.
• Rock band Shakalabbbits are performing their first ever overseas concerts in Canada this week. This year marks the band’s tenth anniversary and earlier this summer they performed in Japan with Canadian band Junior Achiever. That led to this week’s shows at the Drake Hotel Underground in Toronto. For Wednesday’s audience of 300 they performed a set that included hits such as “Monster Tree” and “Walk Over the Rainbow.” After a total of four shows, they’ll be returning to Japan and have a domestic tour kicking off in November.
• Actor Takashima Masanobu (41) said yesterday that he and model Mion (29) will register their marriage on September 8. The couple held a wedding ceremony on August 31 but chose next Monday to make it official as it marks six months since they decided in March to get married.