Romance has blossomed between actor Tamaki Hiroshi (29) and actress Yoshitaka Yuriko (20) according to today’s issue of weekly women’s magazine “Josei Seven.” The pair, who first worked together during the TBS drama series “Love Shuffle” in January, were spotted vacationing together in Aomori Prefecture earlier this month. Tamaki is currently starring in the movie “Manatsu no Orion” (Midsummer Orion), while Yoshitaka is appearing in the Fuji TV series “Shiroi Haru” (White Spring). Management for both stars refused to comment on the relationship, with Tamaki’s office saying only, “He’s almost 30 so we leave such things to him.”
• NHK are always thinking well ahead when it comes to their annual taiga drama series. Yesterday they announced the first details of their 50th yearlong historical drama, to be aired from January 2011. Titled “Gou – Himetachi no Sengoku,” it will be based on the life story of Gou, official wife of Tokugawa Hidetada (1579-1632), the second shogun of the Tokugawa dynasty. Gou was related by either blood or marriage to the three key warlords (Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu) of that tumultuous period of Japanese history. The series will be scripted by Tabuchi Kumiko, who also wrote last year’s taiga “Atsuhime.”