Model Katsuno Nanami died at a Tokyo hospital yesterday, after a 5-month battle with lung cancer. She was 29. Though not a smoker, Katsuno (photo center) was diagnosed with the disease in February, just three months after she married a hip hop dancer (29) on November 11. One of three children of actor Katsuno Hiroshi (59, photo right) and half-Hawaiian designer Kathy Nakajima (57, photo 2nd from right), who announced her daughter’s death on her blog, Nanami made her modeling debut in 2006. Known to fans by her given name, she was also a singer and had forged a successful career with her popular jewelery designs. She and her husband ran a jewelry shop in the Tokyo suburb of Sangenjaya, where they also sold the Hawaiian quilts that her mother is known for. Her brother and sister (photo) are both actors.
Hollywood star Richard Gere (59) was in Tokyo yesterday to meet the “star” of his latest movie. He visited Shibuya station and the statue of Hachiko, Japan’s most famous canine and now the hero of the Lasse Hallstrom-directed “Hachiko: A Dog’s Story.” It is the first Hollywood adaptation of one of the most famous stories in contemporary Japan. It will open here on August 8 as “Hachi, Yakusoku no Inu.”
Earlier story:
Aoyama Teruma Records Hachiko Theme (June 9, 2009)