Daily Archives: July 28, 2010

Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie (35) is in Tokyo this week on her latest PR trip. She and her four children flew into Narita Airport on Monday, but dad Brad Pitt (41) was left at home this time. At a press conference held in a central Tokyo hotel yesterday, Jolie said she took the kids to a toy store to pick up some of their favorite Ponyo and Totoro goods. She was joined on stage by local actress Kuroki Meisa (22), who presented her with a bouquet. She later said she had been too nervous to look the Hollywood star in the eyes.

Jolie was in town to promote “Salt,” directed by Phillip Noyce, an all-out action thriller in which she plays a former CIA agent who just may be a Russian double-agent. The movie opens in theaters here on July 31.

In Blackjack the House Always Wins
To promote the DVD release of season 4 of the popular U.S. medical drama series “House,” marketers have teamed up with none other than the Father of Japanese manga. TV commercials and posters for the DVD feature “House” star Hugh Laurie (51) and manga physician Black Jack, one of the most popular creations of Tezuka Osamu (1928-89). It is the first ever collaboration between a Tezuka character and an overseas drama. The commercials will air from August 4.

NTV announcer Yamamoto Masumi was found dead in front of her high-rise apartment building in Sendai early yesterday morning. She was just 34. A suicide note addressed to her family was found and Miyagi Prefecture police are treating the death as such. Yamamoto’s death came as a shock to those who knew her, particularly as she married last year and had her first child in February. She took maternity leave last August and had done mainly narration work since her baby was born. It is not known whether motherhood or its effect on her career was connected to her suicide.

A graduate of the prestigious Gakushuin University, Yamamoto joined NTV in 1999 and worked as an announcer on a variety of sports and news shows. She was a reporter in Turin for the Winter Olympics in 2006 and was considered one of the few joshiana who could also handle the job of sports announcer. She also had a scuba diving license and it was through that hobby that she met her future husband.