Monthly Archives: August 2009

The family of actress/singer Sakai Noriko (38) have asked Tokyo Metropolitan police to try and track down her whereabouts. No one has been able to contact her since her husband was arrested on Sunday night for possession of stimulant drugs. Aizawa Masahisa, president of the Sun Music management agency that represents Sakai, gave a press conference yesterday. He said she has not been seen at her home, which she also shares with her mother-in-law, and repeated calls to her mobile phone have gone unanswered. “I’m sure she is extremely distressed at recent events. But I would ask her not to try and deal with this on her own but to contact us as soon as possible.” There had already been rumors of a split between Sakai and her husband, pro surfer and business owner Takaso Yuichi (41), who have a 10-year-old son. The couple married in 1998. Sakai took maternity leave after the birth of her child but returned to work and has become a “Mama-san” role model in TV commercials and dramas.

• In the ongoing Oshio Manabu case, it turns out the woman whose naked body was found in a luxury Roppongi apartment was a top Ginza hostess in her 30s. A source said that the Gifu Prefecture native had started out at a “cabakura” (cabaret club) in the seedier Kabukicho district, later moved to a hostess club in Roppongi, before reaching the “elite” level of hostessing in Ginza. She is said to have known Oshio from her time working in Roppongi, and he has acknowledged that she was an “acquaintance.” Though Oshio is known to have been to the apartment frequently, it belongs to the president of an online lingerie business. The ¥400,000/month 1-bedroom apartment is said to be one of several in the Roppongi Hills Residence that were used as “play spots.” The company president has many friends in showbiz and the IT industry, and this week’s case could lead to the exposure of a major sex and drugs scandal. Meanwhile, management for Oshio’s wife, actress Yada Akiko, faxed a statement to the media yesterday. They said she was cooperating with the police investigation but pointed out that the couple have been living separately for the last six months. Yesterday, Oshio was transferred from the Azabu police station to the detention center at the Mita station.

Earlier story:

Oshio Manabu Faces Drug Arrest

Hot on the heels of talento Oshio Manabu’s arrest for drug use just last night, this morning it was revealed that pro surfer Takaso Yuichi (41) has also been detained by Tokyo police in an unrelated drug arrest. The husband of actress and former top J-pop idol Sakai Noriko (38), he was stopped for routine questioning in the Dogenzaka area of Shibuya late Sunday night. He was found to be in possession of stimulant drugs and was arrested on the spot. Takaso and “Noripi” met in 1998, when she was getting into marine sports and he was running a sports shop in central Tokyo. She got pregnant and they were married by the end of the year. After taking a year of maternity leave Sakai was back at work, now appearing more often in “Mama-san” roles. Takaso runs the “Core Side” ski and snowboarding store in Minami Aoyama. There had been speculation recently of a split between the couple.

It looks like talento Oshio Manabu (31) has got himself caught up in a very serious matter. Avex Management announced yesterday that they had cut him loose, saying only that he had broken the terms of his contract. It was later revealed that he has been arrested by Tokyo police for drug use and possible involvement in the death of a woman. Police at the Azabu station, responding to a call on Sunday night from a Roppongi Hills apartment building, found a naked woman dead on a bed. They are questioning the caller as well as Oshio, who is described as connected to the apartment. A urine test on Oshio gave a positive result for MDMA, better known as Ecstasy. He said he had received the drug from a friend but had taken it without realizing it was illegal. Oshi made his acting debut in 1998 and quickly developed a fan base through his roles in popular TV dramas. With a career that jumps erratically between acting and music, Oshio is mainly known these days for his 2006 marriage to popular actress Yada Akiko (30, photo right) and his surliness with the media. In May of last year he joined Avex, saying he was aiming to make it as an international actor. But the beginning of this year saw him revive his rock band LIV, who were supposed to be releasing an album within the year.

Actor Bessho Tetsuya (43) gave a press conference today after his management announced yesterday that he is engaged to be married and recently became a father. He and his fiancee, whom he has known for 20 years and who is not in show business, became parents on July 16. The baby was born very prematurely and is still in a neonatal intensive-care unit. The couple met in 1989 in the U.S. where Bessho was working on his big screen debut in the sci-fi clunker “Solar Crisis” (also known as Crisis 2050). His future bride, a Japanese American, was a student at UCLA at the time. She came to work in Japan after graduating college and they remained close friends.