Fashion model Marie (18) is to make her official showbiz debut this month. She will present the new “Oxala!” show on the Space Shower TV channel. The daughter of a Canadian entrepreneur and Japanese mother, she is also the grand-daughter of a late French movie producer and judge at the Cannes Film Festival. Her family have five homes around the world and her father, whose company makes oil for racing cars, has his own private helicopter and cruiser. Her “celeb” status has led the media to dub her a “celedol”, a combination of celebrity and idol. A regular in the fashion magazine ViVi, Marie is one of several models to make the shift to the small screen in the last few years.
• Former Yoshimoto comedian Matsumoto Ryusuke died from a brain haemorrhage on April 1 at an Osaka hospital. He was 49. He collapsed at his home on March 22 and had been in a coma since. The former partner of Shimada Shinsuke, who has become one of Japan’s most successful TV personalities, Matsumoto’s career had been on the skids for many years. (see our earlier story)
• Rock band SharanQ are to go on the road again after a break of more than five years. They will perform live on a spring special edition of “Hey! Hey! Hey!” on Fuji TV tonight and have announced plans for a national tour starting in Osaka in October. Vocalist Tsunku is the man behind the Hello! Project and its massive success with Morning Musume.