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The onetime hugely popular comedienne (she was one half of the duo Othello) Nakajima Tomoko (42) went completely off the rails a few years back when she was brainwashed by a “mystic”, ran up millions of yen debts, and put on a huge amount of weight. We most recently reported on her situation back in February 2012 when she failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance.

Now, like some other fallen idols before her, she is getting back into showbiz via the porn industry. She held a press conference in Tokyo this week to talk about “Hachigatsu no Umi” (August Sea) her directorial debut for the female-oriented porn channel Girl’s CH. Geddit? Girls See Etchi!

Nakajima has a bit of a history, having done nude scenes and published books of nude photos and generally making a living from her better than average looks.

Keiko Fuji, a former enka legend and the mother of J-pop superstar Utada Hikaru, died yesterday after falling from the 13th-floor balcony of her Tokyo apartment. She was 62. Police are treating the case as an apparent suicide, though no note was found at the scene.

Fuji was the daughter of musicians and led a nomadic lifestyle as a child. She became a breakthrough star following her 1969 debut in the world of enka ballads. Her first single “Shinjuku no Onna” was typical of her dark and melancholy songs about women of the night, and her debut album of the same name spent 20 weeks at the top of the charts. The immediate follow up, “Onna no Blues” was also a huge hit, topping the charts for 17 weeks. No one has since broken that record of 37 consecutive weeks atop the chart.

Fuji married enka singer Maekawa Kiyoshi in 1971 but they were divorced the following year. Fuji’s musical decline began after she underwent surgery for a throat polyp in 1974. She went through a series of comebacks but never reclaimed her former glory. She announced her retirement in 1979 and moved to the US until making a comeback in 1981. She married producer Utada Teruzane (65) in 1982 and their daughter Hikaru was born the next year. The family formed a self-managed trio under the name U3 in 1995 and released a single on their own label.

Hikaru of course went on to become a huge star in her own right, but the family continued to be plagued by misfortune. Fuji and Utada divorced in 2007, a year after Fuji was held at JFK airport after more than $400,000 of cash were found in her luggage (the money wasn’t returned to her until 2009).

Japan Zone profile of Utada Hikaru

The world of kabuki has recently lost not just one but two of its major stars. The death on Monday of Ichikawa Danjuro XII (photo left) at the age of 66 follows the loss of Nakamura Kanzaburo XVIII at 57 in December. Both men died after prolonged illness. Ichikawa had been battling leukemia since 2004 but was able to continue his career until last December, when he was hospitalized with pneumonia. He was among the performers who brought kabuki to the stage of the Paris Opera House for the first time in 2007. Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga Yoshihide praised the late actor as a “pillar of the kabuki world” who deserved much of the credit for bringing Japan’s traditional theater to international audiences. That accolade must be shared with Nakamura, who also worked hard to bring kabuki to younger and overseas fans. Among his innovations was a collaboration with alternative rock musician Shiina Ringo. He died of respiratory failure in early December and, like his contemporary, he had battled cancer for some time. Both actors are survived by sons who have continued the family tradition and become major kabuki stars in their own right.

One sad aspect to the recent deaths is that neither actor will see the much anticipated re-opening in April of the Kabukiza theater in Tokyo.