Imai Eriko (20) of the defunct Okinawan pop group Speed is to marry 175R vocalist Shogo (24) next month. Imai is currently five months pregnant. Speed got their start as backing singers for J-pop queen Amuro Namie and became one of the top groups of the late-90s. They broke up in 2000 and Imai has pursued a solo acting and singing career.
• There will be two Japanese movies competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Oshii Mamoru’s anime “Innocence” and “Nobody Knows” by Koreeda Hirokazu are both entered for the Palme d’Or grand prize. Japan’s perennial #1 heart throb, Kimura Takuya (31) may also be in attendance, as he is a star of Wong Kar Wai’s “2046”, also selected for competition.
• “Free caster” Katsu Keiko (37) and magazine editor Ebihara Takaaki (47) got married at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Saturday.
• Baseball legend Nomura Katsuya (68) and his wife Sachiyo (72) have both written new books. They gave a simultaneous “sain kai” (book signing) in Tokyo yesterday. Widely hated TV personality “Satchi” has dropped out of the limelight since highly publicized libel and tax evasion cases put her under an effective “gag order”.