X Japan do like to play publicity games, and I have to wonder if their hugely loyal fans treat it as a game or not. Yesterday, just two days before they are scheduled to play two nights at Tokyo Dome, the band finally announced that bassist Heath will take part. Any issues between Heath and the other members of the band – they are all with separate management – have been put aside for the moment. The official story was that he was having an “internal struggle about the direction of his musical career” and he cut himself off from everyone. One real casualty of this was a pair of scheduled shows in Korea on March 21-22, which were indefinitely postponed. With the show said to be costing ¥3 billion to stage and all 100,000 tickets selling out within minutes of their release in March, a cancellation would have sent fans into a frenzy. Meanwhile, the worst-kept secret in J-rock was put to rest as former Luna Sea guitarist Sugizo (photo, right) was formally announced as the official sixth member of the band. The first stage of his integration was in March last year, when he was a support member for their reunion gigs at the Dome. And in April he stood in for sick band leader Yoshiki at a press conference. He has big boots to fill, with the late guitarist Hide still idolized by fans, but he has been part of the X Japan “family” since Luna Sea’s debut in 1992.
Meanwhile, singer Iwasaki Hiromi (50) announced that she and stage actor Kon Takuya (40) got hitched on Wednesday. The two first met when they appeared in “Les Miserables” in 1998 and have been living together for the last seven years. Sentimental types that they are, they decided to get married last November 12, their shared birthday, and registered their marriage at 11:12am. Iwasaki, who became a star in the mid 1970s while still in high school, was married from 1988-95 and her two teenage sons are being raised by their father. She released a new album in April and will make her return to TV drama for the first time in ten years later this month.