Japan Entertainment News - January 2004
The Year of the Samurai | January 28, 2004 |
 This is turning out to be a good year for samurai movies. Watanabe Ken (43) has added to his Golden Globe nomination as Best Supporting Actor for "The Last Samurai" with an Oscar nod. And "Tasogare Seibei," a multi-award winner in Japan last year has been given a surprise nomination as Best Foreign Film. Released in the US as "The Twilight Samurai" it stars Sanada Hiroyuki (43) - who also appears in "The Last Samurai" - and Miyazawa Rie (photo, 30). The Yamada Yoji period feature is the first Japanese movie to be nominated in the category for 22 years.
• It was announced yesterday that former Fuji TV announcer Kondo Sato (35) remarried on December 24 and is expecting a baby in the summer. It is her second marriage. She divorced kabuki actor Bando Yasosuke (47) in 1999 after less than two years, citing differences over having children. Her partner this time is event producer Imaoka Hirokazu (42).
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Matsudaira, Daichi Split | January 27, 2004 |
 Actor Matsudaira Ken (50) and actress Daichi Mao (47) announced recently that they divorced at the end of December, saying that they had grown apart. Daichi, one of Japan's most beautiful actresses, retains the huge and luxurious Minato Ward, Tokyo home they shared. Residents of the area said they had heard rumors of the couple living apart for several years. Daichi was a former star of the famous all-female Takarazuka theater troupe. Matsudaira made his debut under the legendary Katsu Shintaro in his Zatoichi TV series in 1975. His most famous role is that of the Abarenbo Shogun in the series of that name, a part he played 830 times between 1978 and 2003.
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Sayonara Natchi | January 26, 2004 |
 Pop idol group Morning Musume said goodbye to one of its few surviving original members yesterday. The Hello! Project concert at the Yokohama Arena was the final appearance as an MM member for Abe Natsumi (22). Younger member Tsuji Nozomi (16) was so overcome by the situation that she collapsed. Thanking the 12,000 fans for their support over the last six and a half years, "Natchi" asked for them to help make her solo career just as successful. As perhaps the most popular member of the group, her future success is all but guaranteed.
• Yesterday, Watanabe Ken (43) didn't manage to become the first Japanese actor to win a Golden Globe award, for Best Supporting actor in "The Last Samurai." The award went to Tim Robbins for his role in "Mystic River."
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Good Luck, Ken! | January 24, 2004 |
 Actor Watanabe Ken (43) headed off for Los Angeles yesterday to attend Sunday's Golden Globe Awards, to be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. He is the first Japanese actor in 47 years to be nominated for an award. Watanabe co-starred alongside Tom Cruise and Sanada Hiroyuki in "The Last Samurai," a fictional epic tale of honor lost and found in the early Meiji era. By coincidence, he shared first class with several of the cast of "Lord of the Rings," in Japan on a PR trip. The final episode in that movie saga opens here on February 14.
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Mama Miho | January 23, 2004 |
 It was announced yesterday that actress Nakayama Miho (photo, 33) gave birth to her first child on the 17th of this month in Paris. She and her husband, musician Tsuji Jinsei (43), have named their new son Juto. Nakayama is said to be planning to return to work within the year.
• Veteran actor Nishida Toshiyuki (54) was a first-time winner at this year's Blue Ribbon movie awards. He won for his lead roles in "Tsuri Baka Nikki 14" (Diary of a Fishing Fool) and "Geroppa" (think of James Brown's hit Sex Machine to work out the 'meaning'). You may remember Nishida as Pigsy in the classic TV series Monkey. Other Blue Ribbon winners were actress Terajima Shinobu, who also starred in the Best Film "Akame Shijuyataki Shinjumisui," and flavor of the month Watanabe Ken, who won a special award for "The Last Samurai."
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NHK Sued Over Musashi | January 22, 2004 |
 The family of the late Kurosawa Akira are suing NHK over last year's hit taiga drama series Musashi. They claim that the story and eleven scenes from the first episode of the yearlong period drama were lifted directly from Kurosawa's 1954 classic film "Shichinin no Samurai" (Seven Samurai) and are demanding ¥150 million in compensation. Musashi was yet another tale of the life of legendary swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, perhaps Japan's most famous samurai. It starred kabuki actor Ichikawa Shinnosuke (photo, 26) in the lead role.
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Dark Water | January 21, 2004 |
 Oscar winning actress Jennifer Connelly (33) is to star in a Hollywood remake of the Japanese horror movie "Honogurai Mizu no Soko Kara" (From the Depths of the Gloomy Water). In "Dark Water" she will have the role, played by Kuroki Hitomi (photo, 43) in the 2001 original, of a mother protecting her young daughter from an evil spirit. Other names associated with the project include Tim Roth, John C. Reilly and Pete Postlethwaite. Filming of the movie was scheduled to start in Toronto this week.
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Representing Korea..Uh, Japan... | January 20, 2004 |
 South Korean pop singer BoA (17) has been invited to perform at the MTV Asian Awards as a representative of Japan, where she is based and hugely successful, as well as her home country. The double invitation is unprecedented, especially given the long-standing ban in Korea on Japanese pop culture. It has only been in the last couple of years, and more so since the World Cup was co-hosted in 2002, that there has been a thaw in Korea's stance. BoA has been something of an ambassador between the longtime rivals. She is also considered to have a good chance of being invited to perform at the US MTV Awards. The Asian awards show will be broadcast from Singapore on February 14.
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A Mother, But Not a Haha | January 19, 2004 |
 Former TV personality Mukai Aki (39) is the proud mother of baby twin boys. But she may not be recognized as such under Japanese law. Mukai and her husband, former pro wrestler Takada Nobuhiko (41) last weekend announced the names of their boys, Banri and Yuta, born to a surrogate mother in the US (named simply as Cindy) last November. The family recently returned from the US and must register the births at their local city office. The US birth certificates name Mukai as the mother but the new parents said at a press conference that they were unsure how the local bureaucracy would deal with the issue of surrogate birth, not legally recognized in Japan. Having been born in the US, the children are also entitled to American citizenship, a right they might not be granted in Japan.
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Hajime Pregnant, Married | January 16, 2004 |
 Singer Hajime Chitose (25) is six months pregnant and married. Hajime, who is from the southern island of Amami Oshima and sings in the unique style of the region, made her name with the 2001 hit Wadatsumi no Ki. She met her husband - named only as TK (27) and also from Amami Oshima - several years ago in his dining-bar in Tokyo. They were rumored to be going out two and a half years ago, but Hajime was soon romantically linked with singer Yamazaki Masayoshi (32). But it seems her heart was with TK and they registered their marriage yesterday. She is said to want to be a full-time mother, meaning she will have to put her blossoming carer on hold.• Meanwhile actress Hirosue Ryoko (23) and her designer husband Okazawa Takahiro (28) are to hold a small wedding ceremony tomorrow at a Tokyo wedding hall. The couple married in December and are expecting a baby in May.
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Sanma, Masami Still Tops | January 14, 2004 |
 There were no big surprises in the latest NHK survey of viewers' favorite TV personalities, announced today. At the top of the male rankings for the sixth year running was comedian Akashiya Sanma, who seems to be on TV every night of the week. He hasn't been out of the Top 10 for 19 years. He was followed by the usual suspects, comedian, actor and movie director Kitano "Beat" Takeshi and all-rounder Tokoro Joji. Other familiar names included musician Fukuyama Masaharu, comedian Tamori, and SMAP. The only new face was young actor Tsumabuki Satoshi.
Funny woman Hisamoto Masami (photo) was at No.1 in the female rankings for the third year in a row. Next were beautiful actresses Matsushima Nanako and Kuroki Hitomi. Kuroki, who looks a lot younger than her age and appears in a host of TV commercials, was up from last year's No.21 spot. Another new entry was Yoshimoto comedy troupe member Yamada Hanako.
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Booze Beckons Becky | January 13, 2004 |
 TV personality Becky (19) attended a coming-of-age ceremony at a Kawasaki shrine yesterday, Seijin no Hi, like many young women dressed for the day in a new kimono. The national holiday is the day when those turning 20 attend formal - and in recent years often rowdy - ceremonies to mark their entering adulthood. The feisty variety show regular, who is half-Japanese and half-British, joked that on the eve of her March 6th birthday she plans to have a countdown before downing a beer on the stroke of midnight. She'll follow this up with a real drinker's beverage - imojochu, a spirit made from potatoes. She also announced that she would be taking Japanese citizenship. She must make the choice as Japan does not allow dual citizenship.
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Tying a Giant Knot | January 11, 2004 |
 It was announced yesterday that TV personality and one-time sumo Ozeki (Champion) Konishiki (40) married his girlfriend of two and a half years Iijima Chie (28) on January 7. The Hawaiian-born giant, the largest man ever to enter the sumo ring, retired from the sport in 1997. He was married for almost nine years to former model Shioda Sumika, who he divorced three months after starting his relationship with Iijima in 2000. He is a regular guest on variety programs, in dramas, and on NHK's "Nihongo de Asobo" educational show. He also recently opened his own restaurant in central Tokyo.
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The Kohaku Effect | January 09, 2004 |
 The New Year's Eve show may have been a relative flop, but NHK's Kohaku song spectacular can still give a boost to CD sales. Though the show had its lowest TV ratings ever, a full quarter of the Top 100 in the latest Oricon singles chart is taken up by songs performed on the show. And of those, 21 have moved up the chart since the show aired. Recovering the No.1 spot, and up from No.7, is SMAP's "Sekkai ni Hitosu dake no Hana." Also moving up, from No.14 to No.3, is another of 2003's big hits, "Sakura," the breakthrough single for Moriyama Naotaro (photo, 27).
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The Life and Loves of a She Devil | January 08, 2004 |
 She's not really beautiful, but she certainly is striking and you're sure to have noticed her in one of her magazine or TV commercial appearances. And now, top model Tominaga Ai (21) is set to make her acting debut. She will play a villain in the upcoming movie version of the popular manga and anime "Devilman." The 178cm tall model says that she is "the only one who could play the part" of the she-devil Sirene.
• Luna Sea vocalist Kawamura Ryuichi (33) yesterday claimed that he was visiting Hawaii alone to attend a friend's wedding. But the media knew that the unidentified beauty boarding the airplane a few meters behind him was not just another passenger. The pair left Honolulu airport in the same car.
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Under the Spell of a Masked Man | January 07, 2004 |
 TV personality and former idol singer Hayasaka Yoshie (28) recently married Spell Delphin (36), the president of an Osaka wrestling troupe. It was announced yesterday that the couple tied the knot on Christmas Eve. Delphin is a masked wrestler who made his debut in Holland in 1989. He has tied the management of his troupe to the Osaka-based Yoshimoto talent agency, best known for its stable of comedians.
• Fuji TV presenter Umezu Yaeko (27) is romantically linked with rugby player Uriu Yasuharu (23), who plays for Suntory, one of the country's top company teams.
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Takenouchi Falls For Aloha Beauty | January 06, 2004 |
 Heart-throb actor Takenouchi Yutaka (photo, 33) is romantically involved with Hawaiian beauty Brenda (31). And who can blame him - the stunning Japanese-Korean is a top model, who was scouted as a 17-year old. She regularly graces magazine covers, and is perhaps best remembered as Wacoal's "Good Up Bra" girl. She has one marriage behind her, having divorced her model husband thre years ago. She and Takenouchi have been friends since he himself was a model in his early 20s. His agency says the pair have no plans for marriage at the moment.
• The jury is back with its verdict on the New Year TV ratings - Kohaku had its worst showing ever. The NHK song spectacle pulled less than 50% for the fourth year running, and was even overtaken momentarily by the all-too-brief Akebono-Bob Sapp fight on TBS (43%). As soon as the fight was over, the ratings were reversed.
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Kohaku KO'd | January 05, 2004 |
 The jury is back with its verdict on the New Year's Eve TV ratings - Kohaku had its worst showing ever. The NHK song spectacle pulled less than 50% for the fourth year running. During the first appearance in 13 years by rocker Nagabuchi Tsuyoshi (47), the figure dropped to 35.5% and was overtaken momentarily by the all-too-brief Akebono-Bob Sapp fight on TBS (43%). As soon as the fight was over, the ratings were reversed. The highest rating of the night went to idol group SMAP, in their 12th Kohaku appearance. Leading the White team to victory, SMAP scored a 57.1% rating.
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Happy New Year! | January 01, 2004 |
 Among the highlights of NHK's 54th "Kohaku" New Year's Eve song spectacle was the first live TV appearance by popular singer Kuraki Mai (photo, 22) from the Kondo hall of Toji temple in Kyoto. Another was the failure of Kobayashi Sachiko's (50) elaborate stage costume. Every year, she and drag queen Mikawa Kenichi (57) try to outdo each other with their over-the-top, Vegas-style outfits. Kobayashi's routine this time included 13m wings that failed to open. She didn't realize until she finished her performance and saw the disappointed looks on the faces of the staff backstage. The song contest, between red and white teams, was won by the Whites, led by pop group SMAP in their 12th appearance, to even the record at 27 wins each.
• Battling Kohaku for ratings were three separate fighting events. The most hype was probably for the bout between former NFL lineman Bob Sapp (31) and lumbering former sumo Yokozuna Akebono (34). Sapp, for once made to look small, easily won the contest and immediately threw down the gauntlet to video guest Mike Tyson. Also appearing as a guest before the bout was Stevie Wonder, who gave a harmonica rendition of the US national anthem. • A New Year's Eve landmark was set by pop duo Kinki Kids when they played a concert to 55,000 fans at Tokyo Dome for the sixth year in a row. They eclipsed the five-straight record set by rock group X Japan in the mid-90s.
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