A couple of celebrity daughters made the news yesterday. The name Akimoto Kozue (above, left) may not ring any bells, but the 21-year-old who made her debut as a model drew plenty of media attention as she is the daughter of sumo legend Chiyonofuji (below, right). Now known as Kokonoe Oyakata, his muscular figure dominated sumo in the 1980s, when he was popularly known as The Wolf, and he is regarded as one of the sport’s finest ever yokozuna (grand champion). The media ran through all the sumo metaphors to describe his daughter yesterday as the university senior launched a career of her own. The fashion show event, to promote TV Tokyo’s airing of American TV show “The Hills” from next month, was appropriately held at the Roppongi Hills complex in central Tokyo. Akimoto showed no nerves as she took to the catwalk, her waist-length black hair accentuating her slender figure. Like her father, she is above average height but not a towering figure. In January she signed with the LesPros Entertainment agency, which represents such stars as Aragaki Yui and Yoshikawa Hinano.
Meanwhile Kimura Hikari (28, top right) remembers clearly her new fiance’s shock when she told him who her late father was. Yokoyama Yasushi (1944-96, above left) was one of the most famous, but also troubled stars of Japanese comedy. He and his partner Nishikawa Kiyoshi (62) created a manzai boom that helped Yoshimoto Kogyo (profile) become one of the most powerful forces in showbiz. Alcohol derailed his career and killed him at the age of 51, but his tragic end didn’t stop his daughter from following in his footsteps. Kimura is one half of the manzai duo Sayumi Hikari, and she plans to continue her career after marriage. Her mother died a year ago yesterday and, according to custom, she waited until the first anniversary before getting engaged. She and her fiance, a Buddhist monk (30), held a formal engagement ceremony at her family home in Osaka.
• American pop-punk musician Scott Murphy seems to have found his niche in Japan. The Chicago-based former member of ALLiSTER and The Get Go performed in Tokyo yesterday in support of his latest album of Japanese pop covers “BattleGround.” Murphy’s previous three cover albums have sold a combined 500,000 copies here and he has toured with some prominent local musicians including members of Ellegarden and Polysics. The new album includes high-energy covers of Ozaki Yutaka’s “15 no Yoru” and Makihara Noriyuki’s “Donna Toki Nimo.” Murphy is scheduled to play at Shibuya Ax on July 21.
