Commentator Kusayanagi Fumie was found hanged at her luxury high-rise apartment in Tokyo in the early hours of Tuesday morning. She was 54. Police say they found a note and are treating it as a suicide. Kusayanagi’s mother awoke on Tuesday morning and became concerned when she couldn’t find her daughter. She and a security man found her in her pajamas and hanging by the neck from the balcony of their 46th-floor apartment. She had been having medical problems for more than a year and underwent surgery in May 2007. While still a student at Aoyama University, the former Miss Tokyo began appearing as a commentator on NHK’s educational channel in 1975. After graduation, she worked as an emcee and reporter on TV and radio, wrote essays and books, and appeared on a government policy committee. She married and later divorced the top shogi player Manabe Kazuo, who died late last year at the age of 55. Her father was the famous journalist Kusayanagi Taizo (1924-2002).
• Scottish actor Gerard Butler (38) arrived in Tokyo yesterday on his third visit to Japan. He flew into Narita Airport, after having attended the Toronto International Film Festival, and was greeted on arrival by about 150 fans. He will attend the Japan premiere of the movie “P.S. I Love You” in the capital tonight. Butler is best known for his portrayal of the Spartan king Leonidas in “300.”
• Umemiya Momoka, the six-year-old daughter of divorcee Umemiya Anna (39), made her debut as a fashion model yesterday. With her mother and grandmother in the audience, she showed no nerves as she modeled three outfits in the new Yumi Katsura Girl range. The Umemiya family, led by actor Tatsuo and his American wife Claudia, seem unable to draw a line between public and private life, so it comes as no surprise that they would put their granddaughter on stage so young. We can only hope that Momoka can develop a healthier taste in men than her mother.
• Kato Chihiro (60) is to step down as the main commentator on TV Asahi’s “Houdou Station” news show, a post he’s held since the show started in April 2004. He will be replaced by Isshiki Kiyoshi (57), the former chief editor of “Aera” magazine and a fellow editorial committee member at the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.
• Yu-ki (43), a member of the pop-dance unit TRF, has dropped out of an upcoming stage show due to neck problems. Since the end of August, he has been suffering from pain and numbness in his shoulders and arms due to problems with his cervical vertebrae. As the show is due to start next Monday, producers of “Kokoro no Kakera” have decided to write Yu-ki’s part out rather than try and replace him.