Hollywood star Tom Cruise (43) spoke to members of the Japanese media recently and offered them some world exclusive tidbits. First off, he revealed that Tokyo is the main contender to be the location for “Mission Impossible: 4”. He also gave the first official word that he and fiancee Katie Holmes (27), currently expecting their first baby at the beginning of April, are to have a wedding ceremony in September. Cruise, who shook everyone’s hand and congratulated the Japanese reporters on Arakawa Shizuka’s recent gold medal at the Winter Olympics, promised that he would visit Japan with his new family. He also revealed some details about “M:i:3”, currently in production after delays of several years – his character, Ethan Hunt, is retired from active service and working as an instructor at IMF, but gets caught up in an incident where he has to come to the rescue of a pupil and his own fiancee, played by Michelle Monaghan. Filming has taken place in Italy and China as well as the US, and total production is said to have run to $150 million. It is scheduled to open in the US on May 5 and here on July 8. Meanwhile, Cruise won just one of the three Golden Raspberry awards he was nominated for, taking the newly introduced “most tiresome tabloid target” award. Asked about the awards by the Japanese press, he said he disliked their negativity and the fact that they make fun of people.
• Mai, the talented daughter of musician Hisaishi Joe, is to make her recording debut. She will release a cover of “Sakura ga Saita Yo”, written by her father in 1994, on March 8. The new single will be available only from the iTunes website. Hisaishi Snr. is famous for his work on the movies of Kitano Takeshi and anime features by Studio Ghibli. For the 1984 classic “Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind”, he used the young Mai’s voice for the wel-known “Lan-lan-lalaa” melody. Her interest in singing was sparked again years later while studying in the US.