Monthly Archives: January 2010

Comedian Tamura Atsushi (36, photo left) was all smiles yesterday as he formally acknowledged his reported romance with J-pop star Amuro Namie (32). Tamura spoke to reporters in the lobby of the Yoshimoto Kogyo offices in Shinjuku, Tokyo, shortly after his return from a vacation with Amuro in the U.S. “We really stimulate each other. And I feel very relaxed when we’re together,” he said. Asked if they had plans to marry, he pointed out that their relationship had only just started but added in his usual frank style, “As things develop, if those kind of feelings grow…” Amuro of course has been down that road before and has an 11-year-old son from her marriage to TRF member Sam (47), while Tamura has been involved in a string of romances with other celebrities. Some commentators have described the couple as “unbalanced” but they have both matured into solid careers and Japan Zone wishes them all the best.
Earlier story:
Atsushi, Amuro Get Some Sedona Healing (Jan. 6, 2009)

• Actress Yakushimaru Hiroko (45, photo right) gave her first concert in almost 20 years at the Grand Prince Hotel Akasaka in central Tokyo last night. Some 1,000 fans were treated to such hits as “Sailor-fuku to Kikanju” and “Tantei Monogatari” from her early 1980s heyday as one of Japan’s top idol singers. She was also joined by actor Toyokawa Etsushi (47) and director Yukisada Isao (41) to talk about their upcoming movie “Kondo wa Aisaika.”

Tokyo Joshiryu (aka Tokyo Girls’ Style) are the latest tween idol group on the block. The five members of the new group were named, one per days, over the first week of January and their website officially launched on Wednesday. The group is the latest creation from Avex, the record company behind such major J-pop superstars as Hamasaki Ayumi and Koda Kumi. It’s the record company’s first new girl group since SweetS in 2003. The group consists of leader Yamabe Miyu, Konishi Ayano, Arai Hitomi, Nakae Yuri, and Shoji Mei, all between the ages of 11 and 13. They will make their live debut February 7 at Shibuya O-Nest in Tokyo. Though they have no CD release scheduled as yet, they will be active in social media, with a blog and accounts on Twitter and the biggest Japanese SNS site, Mixi.

• NHK has announced details of the new morning drama series that will air from September. “Teppan” is the story of a teenage girl who, with the help of her grandmother, decides to open an okonomiyaki restaurant. It will be set in the cities of Osaka and Onomichi in Hiroshima Prefecture. Onomichi is famous for a trilogy of movies made in the 1980s by Ohbayashi Nobuhiko (71), and is where Ozu Yasujiro’s 1953 classic “Tokyo Monogatari” was filmed. Auditions will be held until March for the lead role and filming is expected to start in mid-May.

World-renowned conductor Ozawa Seiji has canceled future performances after he was recently diagnosed with esophageal cancer. His management office announced this morning that he has decided to cancel all performances for the next six months while he undergoes treatment. Ozawa received the news at the end of last year and the cancer is said to be in its early stages, so surgery will be the first step. He and his doctor are scheduled to give a press conference in Tokyo this evening.

One of the first Japanese classical music figures to become widely recognized in the west, Ozawa (74) led the Boston Symphony Orchestra for almost 30 years. In 2002 he became the first Japanese conductor to be named musical director of the the Vienna State Opera, though he was due to step down from that post later this year. He has also made efforts to revitalize the classical music scene in Japan, establishing the annual Saito Kinen festival in the city of Matsumoto in 1992.

J-pop star Amuro Namie (32, profile) and Yoshimoto comedian Tamura Atsushi (36) are the latest Japanese showbiz “power couple,” according to today’s issue of women’s weekly magazine “Josei Seven.” Though they left Japan on separate flights to Los Angeles at the end of December, the pair were spotted on a flight to Phoenix. From there they headed to the spectacular scenery of Sedona, Arizona. During their 9-day trip, the couple were seen holding hands and cuddling so there is little doubt that they are in a relationship, but their respective management agencies refused to comment. One half of the comedy duo London Boots No.1 No.2 (profile), Tamura has been popular with the ladies for many years and has had romances with the likes of talentos Fujisaki Nanako (32) and Wakatsuki Chinatsu (25), and actress Nakagoshi Noriko (30). A relationship with an “ippanjin” (someone not in showbiz) ended last September. He and Amuro met at a mutual friend’s house party last summer. Amuro has had a roller coaster career, starting at the Okinawa Actors School before she hit her teens. She rode the Eurobeat wave in the early 1990s and was at the peak of her solo success in 1997 when, at the age of 20, she became pregnant and married TRF dancer Sam (47). She continued her career, even overcoming the murder of her mother in 1999 and divorce in 2002. Her popularity has been resurgent in the last couple of years, helped partly by her image as a working single mother.

• In a world first, satellite channel Wowow have announced that they will be showing the entire James Bond movie series during the spring. Due to the complicated nature of the rights to the 22 movies, they have never been broadcast in one go. Wowow will show two movies every Saturday and Sunday afternoon from March 21 to April 28, and then the whole series continuously between April 29 and May 1.

Actor Ishida Junichi (55) and pro golfer Higashio Riko (34) headed off yesterday for a week in Los Angeles. The trip is described by the media as a “pre-honeymoon” for the couple, who recently got engaged. They have announced that they will be tying the knot in California in May and they are planning to visit the Napa Valley winery where they will hold their reception. Ishida has long been regarded as one of the playboys of Japanese showbiz. He has been married twice before and has a child from each marriage. His son Ishida Issei (35) is an established actor, while daughter Sumire (19) took a break from her modeling career last year to enter Carnegie Mellon University.

Also heading overseas are actor Oguri Shun (27, photo left) and actress Yamada Yuu (25, photo center). The couple have hardly been seen together since their romance was revealed in May 2008. Although they passed through Narita Airport separately yesterday, they were both headed for Hawaii. They denied reporters’ speculation that they are on the verge of tying the knot. Another showbiz couple vacationing overseas are model Ebihara Yuri (30) and Rip Slyme musician Ilmari (34), who are in Guam.

• On her third visit to Japan, young British “kawaii” ambassador Beckii Cruel (14, photo right) has filmed her first Japanese TV appearance. She will appear Wednesday evening on the Tokoro Joji-hosted NTV show “Jinruiga Akiramekaketeita Yume.” She will display some of the J-pop-inspired dancing skills that made her a huge hit on YouTube last year.
Earlier story:
Don’t Be Cruel! (Oct. 26, 2009)

• More details of who got the best ratings during the recent “Kohaku” broadcast. The ratings for the New Year’s Eve concert peaked at 50.1% with the headline performance of Dreams Come True, but the show was dominated by SMAP and other Johnny’s Jimusho artists. The show was co-hosted by SMAP leader Nakai Masahiro, the group’s performance segment had a rating of 44.6%, and their tribute to Michael Jackson reached 49.6%. Those figures are both higher than the ratings for VIP guests Susan Boyle and Yazawa Eikichi.

Oshio Manabu (31, photo left) has been arrested again today in an ongoing case of sex, drugs and death. The (now “former”) actor has already been tried and convicted for using MDMA (ecstasy) and received an 18-month prison sentence, suspended for the maximum five years, in early November. He was indicted again shortly before the New Year for supplying the drug on August 2 to 30-year-old Ginza bar hostess Tanaka Kaori, who died shortly afterward at the Roppongi Hills apartment of a friend. His latest arrest is for failing to take appropriate action to save Tanaka – when she lost consciousness, Oshio called his manager rather than the police and an ambulance wasn’t summoned until some three hours after she went into convulsions.

• Singer Yoshimura Yumi (34, photo right, seated) revealed on January 2 that she got married on New Year’s Eve. One half of the J-pop duo Puffy, she announced on their website that she and a 29-year-old entrepreneur had tied the knot after a 4-month relationship, though they had been friends for about 7 years. Yoshimura was previously married to singer Nishikawa Takanori (39), also known as T. M. Revolution, from 1999 to 2002. More recently, she was in a relationship with actor Omori Nao (37) until they broke up last summer. Her musical partner, Onuki Ami (36), has been married to Glay vocalist Teru (38) since 2002.

• Internet marketing company Cyber Agent announced this morning that the blog IDs and passwords of some 450 celebrities were recently hacked. Clicking on images of such stars as Fujimoto Miki and former wrestler Jaguar Yokota allowed viewers to download an Excel file containing the account details. Cyber Agent contacted police, who are still investigating how the data was leaked, but the accounts were all updated on January 1.

NHK are probably happy with the audience ratings for “Kohaku Uta Gassen,” the network’s New Year’s Eve song spectacle. In its golden age, the show was compulsory viewing for the whole nation, but with the increase in satellite channels, online distractions and competition from the other networks, its ratings have been in steady decline. NHK have tried various means to reverse the trend, and a show that keeps the ratings above the 40% level has to be deemed a success. The second half of Friday’s 60th anniversary show (9:00-11:45pm) featured VIP performances by Susan Boyle (48) and rock legend Yazawa Eikichi (60, photo right), but the 40.8% rating was lower than last year’s 42.1%. The show also included the Kohaku debut of hugely popular Johnny’s Jimusho idol group Arashi; the first appearance in 16 years by popular actor-singer Fukuyama Masaharu (40) in a satellite hookup from his hometown of Nagasaki; child stars Ohashi Nozomi (10, photo left), who sang last year’s “Ponyo” theme, and Kato Kiyoshiro (8, photo left), who has already been in more than 20 TV dramas and, most notably, a series of TV commercials for Toyota; and a powerful and emotional performance by singer Ayaka (22) in her final show before taking an extended break to battle Graves’ Disease.

Meanwhile, despite heavy promotion of this year’s taiga drama series and its star, NHK saw just average ratings for last night’s first episode “Ryomaden.” The latest dramatization of the life of 19th-century samurai Sakamoto Ryoma, it stars Fukuyama Masaharu, who has been working the TV circuit to help promote the series. Last year’s taiga, “Tenchijin,” started with an audience rating of 24.7% in the Kanto region, while 2007’s “Atsuhime” only managed 20.3%.

• Comedian Chihara Junior (35) has broken up with actress Uchida Yuki (34). The Yoshimoto comedian let the news slip during a comedy variety show aired on Saturday. The pair’s relationship was first revealed in the gossip magazines back in the spring of 2007. Uchida was previously married to actor Yoshioka Hidetaka for three years until they split in 2005.