Talento Bobby Ologun (39) is to be punished by his management agency for his recent outburst. The Nigerian K-1 fighter started a fight at the office of R&A Promotions on January 26, after a dispute over his salary. Agency boss Ito Kazuyuki (55) claimed that Ologun and his Bangladeshi manager have been directly pocketing appearance fees to the tune of ¥10-15 million, in breach of a contract that splits fees 50-50 between the agency and employees. Ologun got into a fight with the 2.1m tall John Muwete Muluaka (44), a fellow talento from Congo and former assistant to politician Suzuki Muneo. The two appeared together at a press conference several days later, with Ologun looking suitably tearful and repentant and Muluaka making the lame excuse that these kinds of things “happen a lot in Africa.” Ito announced yesterday that Ologun will not be allowed to work until the end of March. Until April, the only shows to be aired featuring him will be those recorded before the incident. he will also be visiting the local police station again soon for further questioning on the matter.
• Composer Ifukubei Akira has died of multiple organ failure at a Tokyo hospital. He was 91. he was best known as the composer of the music for the original Godzilla movies, but also wrote scores for the “Daikmajin” and “Zatoichi” series. In 2003, he was recognized by the government as a person who has made outstanding cultural contributions.
• Hip hop unit Def Tech are going global later this year. The duo performed at a PR event yesterday for Sony Ericsson’s latest keitai (mobile phone) model. They announced that will play their first national tour during the summer, including two dates at the venerable Nippon Budokan, before embarking on a world tour that will take in Asia and Europe and may also include dates in the US.