Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Up and coming J-pop singer MiChi (24) said she was “hugely embarrassed” yesterday as she performed a mini concert for just one lucky fan. The PR stunt was for the single “You,” 10,000 copies of which came with a message card but just one with an invitation to a studio for the special live event. MiChi performed four songs for her minimal audience, a 24-year-old woman from Hyogo Prefecture.

Born in the UK city of Birmingham to a British father and Japanese mother, she moved to Kobe when she was 2 years old. However, the family moved back to the UK after the Great Hanshin Earthquake of 1995. At the age of 18 she was on the verge of entering art college in Manchester, but decided instead to return to Japan to try her hand at a singing career. Within a year she was working with producer Matsuzawa Tomokazu and in June 2008 she released her first indie album. The album topped the iTunes chart and three tracks (including “Fxxk You and Your Money”) took the top three slots on the iTunes dance chart. Before the end of the year she had made her major label debut with the album “PROMiSE” on Sony Music. This year has seen her touring, taking part in summer festivals and making several TV commercial appearances.

• Comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi (46) is a father, it was revealed yesterday. His wife, former TV weather girl Ihara Rin (26), gave birth to a baby girl on October 6. Ihara had a solid career, working on three regular weekly shows, when she announced her retirement in September of last year. Matsumoto, one half of the comedy duo Downtown and more recently a movie director, announced their marriage plans and the pregnancy in May. He is currently in South Korea, where his second movie “Shimboru” is being shown at the Pusan International Film Festival.

Earlier story:

Downtown’s Machan Married (May 18, 2009)

Popular actress Fukada Kyoko (26, photo left) is getting serious with actor Shimizu Ryotaro (21), according to today’s issue of women’s weekly magazine “Josei Seven.” The third son of talento Shimizu Akira (55), Ryotaro has been seen frequently at Fukada’s Tokyo apartment. In a statement, her management agency said only that Shimizu is “a close friend.”

Meanwhile the same magazine reports that romance seems to be over between SMAP’s Nakai Masahiro (37) and J-pop diva Koda Kumi (26). A friend of Koda’s told the magazine that she had felt the relationship was over at the beginning of the summer. Koda said she hardly ever heard from Nakai and decided to change her mobile phone. The pair’s relationship, though never officially acknowledged, was first reported back in August 2007. The couple were spotted together at Nakai’s apartment the following December, and were seen vacationing overseas together in May of last year.

• Actress Kikuchi Rinko (28, photo right) is to make her first TV drama appearance in eight years. The 2007 Oscar nominee will appear in the second season of Fuji TV’s “Liar Game,” which airs on Tuesday nights from November 10. Her last regular TV role was in the NHK morning drama “Churasan” in 2001. Kikuchi made her acting debut in Shindo Kaento’s “Ikitai” in 1999 and has worked mainly in movies ever since. She recently worked on the eagerly awaited Murakami Haruki adaptation “Noruwei no Mori” (Norwegian Wood), which will be in theaters next year. “Liar Game” is adapted from a manga that appeared in the “Shuukan Young Jump” magazine. It was adapted for TV – with Toda Erika (21) and Matsuda Shota (24) in the lead roles – in April 2007 and gained a big audience despite its 11pm time slot. A movie version is slated for release in February 2010.

Members of the all-girl pop idol group AKB48 performed yesterday at the opening party of the International Film and Programme Market for Television, Video, Cable and Satellite (MIPCOM) in Cannes, France. It was the third overseas performance by the group, following shows in Paris in August and New York last month. Wearing costumes in the style of Japanese high school girl uniforms, the 12 members sang in English. Doing their bit to promote Japanese tourism, they encouraged fans of pop culture to visit Tokyo and their “home base” in the capital’s Akihabara district. MIPCOM is held in Cannes every autumn and is an event for co-producing, buying, selling, financing and distributing entertainment content. It provides a networking forum to discover future global trends and in the area of pop culture, there is always a keen interest in what’s coming out of Japan. AKB48, the brainchild of producer Akimoto, was formed in 2005 and has dozens of members divided into three teams and a group of trainees. They perform daily – twice a day on weekends – at their own theater in Akihabara, the mecca of otaku culture. Every single they release is tied into a TV commercial, anime or drama series.

• Singer Kato Miliya (21) is to provide a song for a Hollywood movie for the first time. She wrote “Destiny” as the image song for “New Moon,” the second movie in the hugely successful teen vampire “Twilight” series. Directed by Chris Weitz, the movie is scheduled to open here on November 28. Heart throb star Robert Pattinson is due to visit Japan next month to promote the movie. Kato previously provided the theme song for the 2007 domestic movie “Bubble e Go! Time Machine wa Drum-shiki.”

Though a veteran of many hugely popular TV dramas, Fukuyama Masaharu is making his period drama debut in next year’s taiga series. In NHK’s yearlong historical drama for 2010, he will lead an all-star cast in an original biography of Sakamoto Ryoma (1836-67). “Ryomaden” is the first original taiga series since Mitani Koki’s version of “Shinsengumi” in 2004. One of the most important and best known figures that helped shape the future of Japan as it ended centuries of isolation, Ryoma was a native of Tosa, a region in the island of Shikoku. Fukuyama (40, profile) and other cast members, including Hirosue Ryoko, Sato Ken and Oizumi Yo, gave a press conference yesterday on a set (actually in Hiroshima) that recreated a Tosa village. The series is Fukuyama’s first on NHK and his first historical role. It comes on the heels of a 20th anniversary nationwide concert tour that finished at the end of September and included his first ever show at the Nippon Budokan. “Ryomaden” will air on Sunday nights from January 3, 2010.

Yesterday saw the world premiere of “Atomu” (Astro Boy) the CG update of Tezuka Osamu’s classic manga and anime. Actress Ueto Aya (24), who voiced the lead role, and Yakusho Koji (53) as Dr. Tenma were at the Shinjuku Piccadilly theater in Tokyo for the event. The movie, which has distribution agreements in 60 countries and will be shown on 3,000 screens in the U.S., is scheduled to open in theaters here on October 10. “Tetsuwan Atomu” was the first ever home-produced anime series and aired from 1963.

Every year sees a new team of masked action heroes on the TV Asahi network. Well now two of them are forming a team of their own. It was announced yesterday that actress Kikuchi Mika (25) and actor Kishi Yuji (39) are engaged to be married. Kishi was the Red Racer in the 1996-97 series Gekisou Sentai CarRanger, while the diminutive Kikuchi played the role of Deka Pink in the 2004-05 Tokusou Sentai Dekaranger series. They plan to hold their wedding and reception in December at the Tokyo Dome Hotel, next to the venue where both often appeared in action events. The couple met in 2007 when they were both appearing in the stage production “Les Miserables.” Kishi proposed in October of last year, after he finished a run of the musical “Miss Saigon.”

• Some happy news also for actress Sakai Miki, who it was revealed yesterday is expecting her first child next spring. Sakai (31) married a university hospital doctor (35) last October and her pregnancy was confirmed at the same hospital at the end of June. The baby is expected at the end of March. Sakai will appear as planned in the Osaka stage production “Hangyakuji” with kabuki star Nakamura Shido in November. She plans to take maternity leave from December and her management agency say she will combine her acting career with motherhood. Sakai and her husband met in New York in 2004 while she was volunteering in a campaign to support organ transplant patients.

I’ve been away for the last 10 days, and planned to do news updates on the road. As it turned out, it wasn’t possible. I apologize to all those readers who missed out on the most recent news. Here’s a brief summary of what’s been happening in Japan recently.

Narita Shoji (41, photo left), the former guitarist of the Johnny’s Jimusho rock group Otokogumi, is the latest celebrity arrested for drugs. He was arrested at his Shibuya home on September 27 for possession of several grams of marijuana. Otokogumi debuted in 1988 and won several music awards before “Time Zone” propelled to the top of the idol heap in 1989. They released 10 singles and 8 original albums before they split up in 1993. Narita left Johnny’s at that time but continued to perform solo mainly at live houses around the capital.

• There has been no mention of drugs being directly involved, but actress Sawajiri Erika (23, photo right) was fired by Stardust Promotion shortly before the top management agency became the first to announce that it would ask all its talent to undergo drug testing. The agency has said only that Sawajiri, who has spent most of the last six months overseas with her husband, was in “serious breach” of her contract. The news came shortly before she was to be announced to the cast of the major movie adaptation of “Uchusenkan Yamato” (Space Battleship Yamato). Stardust has over 350 celebrities on its books, including top actresses Tokiwa Takako, Matsuyuki Yasuko, Nakatani Miki and Shibasaki Ko, and actors Shiina Kippei and Ichihara Hayato.

• Singer Tsukui Katsuyuki died on October 2 of pancreatic cancer at a Tokyo hospital. He was 49. He was one half of the duo Class, whose debut single “Natsu no Hi no 1993” sold over 1.6 million copies and became a J-pop standard. The duo split in 1996 and had a brief revival in 2003. Tsukui’s cancer was discovered in February of this year and he underwent chemotherapy.

• Comedian Tanaka Yuji (44) revealed on October 2 that he got divorced the same day, announcing the news via his management agency’s website. He addressed the issue during this morning’s live “Sunday Japon” show, which he hosts with his Bakusho Mondai partner Ota Hikari (44). Tanaka said the divorce had been at the request of his wife, Natsumi (35). The couple were married for nine years but had no children. Tanaka had one testicle surgically removed six months after his wedding, a development he got good comedy mileage from. But rather than any physical problem, the cause of the marital split is more likely to be Bakusho Mondai’s increased popularity. The duo currently have a hectic work schedule that includes 11 regular TV and radio slots.

• Also divorced is actress Matsubara Chiaki (51), though the news was broken by her previous ex-husband as he announced his third marriage. Actor Ishida Junichi (55) gave a press conference on September 29 to formally announce his engagement to pro golfer Higashio Riko (33). Ishida and Matsubara had a daughter, model Sumire (19), in 1998 but split the following year. Six months later, Matsubara married an American divorcee (43) who happened to be her daughter’s English teacher. They lived in Hawaii and had a son (9) but that marriage ended at the beginning of this year. Matsubara is said to be planning to return to work in Japanese showbiz.

• A car salesman was recently arrested for swindling singer Nishikawa Takanori (39) out of ¥50 million. Better known as T.M. Revolution, Nishikawa loaned the money to Saito Yasuo (34) in April 2003. Nishikawa took the matter to police in November 2004 when Saito refused to make any repayments on the loan. The singer was originally a customer of Saito, who at the time had his own car sales business.

Comedienne Ima Kuruyo (62, photo left) collapsed during a performance at a theater in Osaka yesterday afternoon. As it happened in the middle of her comedy routine, the curtain was dropped as medical assistance was administered. Yoshimoto Kogyo issued a statement saying that the cause of her collapse, during the second of four shows, was as yet unknown but that she had been no-cholesterol-info.com to hospital. All immediate work engagements have been canceled. One half of the veteran manzai duo Ima Ikuyo-Kuruyo, she had seemed in good health when she performed in Tokyo the day before.

Ai has finally topped the album charts with her greatest hits collection. “Best Ai,” which includes her hits from the last nine years, is the latest No.1 on the Oricon album chart. Real name Uemura Ai Carina (27), she was born in Los Angeles and is quarter Italian on her mother’s side. Her family returned to Japan when she was three, but her mother encouraged her to attend Los Angeles County High School for the Arts. She later became the first female artist signed to Def Jam Japan. She has performed only rarely on the world stage beyond Japan, but her vocal range and versatility have elicited comparisons to Alicia Keys and Beyonce Knowles.

• Actress Yamamoto Mirai (34) is to be a mother for real. The daughter of the famous fashion designer Yamamoto Kansai (65), she and actor Shiina Kippei (45) are expecting their first child. Yamamoto, who plays the role of a mother in the current Fuji TV series “Otomen,” is five months pregnant. The couple have been married for six years but started dating back in 1995 when they appeared together in the TV Asahi drama “Black Out.” Shiina is currently appearing as warlord Oda Nobunaga in the movie “Katen no Shiro.”

Stars often appear all over a network for a day to promote a new movie or album, but Johnny’s Jimusho idol group Arashi are to take over NTV for a whole week. The group are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their debut in November. To mark the occasion, various members of the group will appear on an estimated 50 hours of programming during a seven-day period. They’ll make live appearances on the network’s most popular variety and news shows and will perform their hits during a special live concert. The final dates have yet to be announced.

With the members of fellow Johnny’s group SMAP now all into their 30’s, Arashi have a strong hold on the teenage and young adult fan base. But although they have a string of No.1 hits, it was only with the recent release of a greatest hits album, “All the Best, 1999-2009” that they had their first million seller. The upcoming “hijacking” of the NTV network is to show that they are now established as major stars and, perhaps more than anything else, make it clear to corporate sponsors that they are the group of the moment. The five members of Arashi have also maintained a clean image, unlike that of SMAP, which has become a little tarnished by incidents over the years. Arashi are Ono Satoshi (28), Sakurai Sho (27), Aiba Masaki (26), Ninomiya Kazunari (26) and Matsumoto Jun (26).

• The Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture villa of Sakai Noriko and Takaso Yuichi was destroyed by fire yesterday morning. The home is believed to be one place where the couple used drugs and it had already been searched by police in their ongoing investigation. Neighbors said they saw people they believed to be members of Takaso’s family removing items from the house in the days before the fire. Both Takaso and Sakai were released on bail last week.

The world of anime has lost two veteran figures this week. The body of a a man, believed to be manga-ka Usui Yoshito (51), was found in the mountains bordering Gunma and Nagano Prefectures by a climber on Saturday morning. The body was found at the foot of a cliff on Arafuneyama mountain, where Usui said he was headed when he was last seen a week ago. Usui is the creator of the popular manga and anime “Crayon Shinchan” (image right). The manga first appeared in 1990 and the anime has been shown weekly on TV Asahi since 1992. There has also been a big-screen version every spring during that time, indicating the continuing commercial success of the franchise. But while popular with kids, the character has always been one that parents hope they won’t emulate and the show has long ranked highly among those that parents won’t let their kids watch.

Earlier story:

Crayon Shinchan Creator Missing (Sep. 16, 2009)

• Meanwhile, veteran voice actor Kamiya Akira (63, photo left) says he is stepping down from his signature role. In a post on his blog on Friday, his 63rd birthday, he said he will no longer be the voice of Mori Kogoro in the long-running NTV anime series “Meitantei Conan.” He didn’t go into detail but the blog post suggested that he had been fired due to a contract dispute. The September 26 edition of the show will be Kamiya’s last. Over the years, Kamiya has provided the main voices in such major anime as “Kinnikuman”, “City Hunter” and “Hokuto no Ken.” he first ook on the Kogoro role in 1996.

• Happier news for singer/actress Tsuchiya Anna (25). She announced on her blog on Saturday that she is pregnant. The father is her 28-year-old stylist. Tsuchiya has a boy from a previous marriage.