Just in time for Valentine’s Day, today’s issue of the weekly magazine “Friday” reports that SMAP member Inagaki Goro (37) has romance in his life. He and ‘former talento‘ Okayasu Mariko (25) are said to have been dating for about two years and Okayasu has been spotted spending time at his Tokyo apartment. Okayasu, who was with one of the major talent agencies (which also represents top talento Ueto Aya) until the end of last year, is said to be aiming to restart her career and the publicity of being involved with Inagaki will certainly do no harm.
It’s the first report of a love interest for Inagaki since he and actress Kanno Miho (33) ended their long relationship at the end of 2008. The pair had started dating after they appeared together in a TV drama series, and as they were seen repeatedly in public and traveling overseas, there was talk of marriage. But the weekly magazines reported several times on Inagaki’s affairs during that almost decade-long relationship.
As well as being part of Japan’s most popular and successful “boy band” Inagaki makes regular acting appearances, such as in last year’s acclaimed samurai flick “13-nin no Shikaku” (13 Assassins). Okayasu was a participant in the inaugural Internet Beauty Contest in 2006 but has remained very much a minor celebrity.