Monthly Archives: February 2004

Actress Miyaji Mao (photo, 20), star of the current NHK morning drama series “Manten,” is head over heels in love. Her hearththrob is described in today’s Friday magazine as a “wild, long-haired” 27-year old musician. The couple are said to have been dating since July of last year and spend most of their time together at Miyaji’s Tokyo apartment.

• The Mainichi Broadcasting Saturday morning show “Shinju no Kobako” is to end its record-setting 45-year run. The show started in March 1959 and introduced the sights and history along the routes covered by the Kintetsu Railway Company in western Japan. It has been hosted by a huge range of TV personalities, musicians, and academics. The final show, set to air on March 27, will be the 2,314th.

B’z guitarist Matsumoto Tak (photo left, 42) has formed a new rock unit with some big US names. Tak Matsumoto Group (TMG) features the man himself on lead guitar, Mr. Big vocalist Eric Martin, Night Ranger frontman and bassist Jack Blades, and Brian Tishy on drums. They will release their first single “Oh Japan – Our Time is Now” on March 31, though it is already being used as TV Asahi’s sports theme song for 2004.

• NBS presenter Tashiro Yumi (36) made a surprise announcement on a recent show that she plans to marry a 39-year old doctor on Valentine’s Day. One of the station’s more popular “announcers,” she is also a former Miss Keio University runner-up.

Popular TV Asahi news presenter Katsu Keiko (37) has married Ebihara Takaaki (47), editor of the “Shukan Post” magazine. The couple had been going out for two and a half years. Katsu was previously married for seven years to a TV station director. She got her TV start as the weather presenter on “News Station” while still a student at Gakushuin University.

Actress Matsushima Nanako (30) is expecting her first baby in June. The pregnancy was rumored but denied late last year. Matsushima has not appeared in any TV dramas since last spring but plans to return to work after her maternity break. She married actor Sorimachi Takashi (30) in 2000, making them one of Japan’s bigger showbiz couples.

• Transvestite TV personality Carousel Maki (61) revealed that she has broken up with her 26-year old boyfriend of six months. She was interviewed at the 64th birthday party of friend Dewi Sukarno, who expressed disappointment that she’ll have to wait for Japan’s first same-sex marriage. Maki was arrested for marijuana possession in 2001.

Actor Chii Takeo (61) has married a former model twelve years his junior. The couple spent last year with his 28-year old daughter at her New York home. Chii lost his former wife to cancer in 2001, a tragedy that eerily echoed the role he was playing at the time in the classic drama “Kita no Kuni Kara”. He went through a period of deep depression following his wife’s death and met his current wife after she wrote a letter of consolation to him. Identified only as “A-san,” she is a divorcee with a 24-year old son.

21-year old singer songwriter Utada Hikaru made her first live appearance in three and a half years at the Budokan in Tokyo yesterday. She was obviously nervous and flubbed the words to several of her songs. The 10,000 fans didn’t seem to mind, and if anything it seemed to reinforce her image of the ordinary girl turned pop star. It was also announced that her first greatest hits album will go on sale on March 31. “Single Collection Vol.1” will feature all 15 singles released over the last five years, including 8 million-sellers. All the tracks have been remastered by US engineer Ted Jensen. Hikki plans to launch her US career in April under the name Utada.

Actress Itoh Misaki (26) is to play a Bond girl in a new video game. In “Everything or Nothing” she plays lab assistant Miss Nagai. The game will be available this month for PlayStation and GameBoy. Itoh is one of the TV commercial pitch girls (the others are Hasegawa Kyoko and Takeuchi Yuko) who hava taken over the scene in the last few months.

• Rock band Queen have another No.1 album in Japan, only 27 years after their last one. “A Day At the Races” reached the top of the Oricon charts back in 1977 and now the hits album “Queen Jewels” has repeated the feat. This breaks the 23-year 5-month record previously held by the Beatles. One big reason for the new album’s success is the use of the track “Born to Love You” as the title song for the Kimura Takuya drama “Pride,” currently in the Monday 9pm prime slot.