Popular comedian Ota Hikari (47) recently received a written warning from an extreme rightist group. One half of the comedy duo Bakusho Mondai, Ota has brought his more serious face to the variety show circuit and often discusses political and social issues with intelligence and insight. His Tokyo management agency revealed on Friday that the chief of the Nagasaki-based rightist group Seikijuku visited them in April and delivered a one-page A4 letter. The letter condemned an anti-Japan remark supposedly made by Ota on the radio. It turned out the remark was never made and was the fabrication of a poster on an online forum. A bodyguard was assigned to Ota and police patroled the area around his agency in Suginami Ward. The Seikijuku chief was imprisoned for 12 years for the attempted murder of the mayor of Nagasaki in 1990 following a remark that the emperor had been responsible for Japan’s entry into World War II. Such “uyoku dantai” rightist groups are thinly veiled political organizations run by the yazuka.
• Actor Hayami Mokomichi (21) got a double shock on Friday. The weekly gossip magazine Friday published a story revealing a romance with a young actress. Mokomichi later in the day admitted was a good friend, though nothing more, from his college days. What he claims he didn’t known was that she is an AV (porno) actress. He said she probably hadn’t told him because she feared he would no longer want to be seen with her as his career is just taking off. He insisted that he has no intention of breaking off their friendship.