Monthly Archives: July 2004

Rock singer Oguro Maki (34) and her husband, a 34-year old IT company employee, held their wedding ceremony at a central Tokyo hotel yesterday. The couple registered their mariage last November. The four and a half-hour reception was attended by over 250 friends and felow celebrities.

• Popular band Southern All Stars (known simply as “Sazarn”) had their first live TV broadcast in 26 years on Saturday night. The show was broadcast from a “live house” in Tokyo’s Ariake on the Fuji TV network from 12:30am, and ran until 2am. It is the only live event that the band – known for their summers shows and hits – will perform this season.

• At the weekend, actress Matsu Takako (27) admitted her relationship with guitarist Sahashi Yoshiyuki (42). It was the first time since the the pairing was revealed in March that Matsu has spoken about it. Sahashi is one half of the guitar duo Yamagen and also Matsu’s musical producer.

Fortune teller Hosoki Kazuko (66) is a hot item at the moment. Two recent variety shows featuring the straight-talking Tokyo woman have topped the viewer ratings, and she is to be rewarded with her own show alongside young pop idol Takizawa Hideaki (22). The show “Zubari Iuwayo!” (I’m Gonna Speak Frankly!) will start on TBS on August 10. Hosoki is the author of many books and has sold almost 40 million, and was reconized as the world’s best-selling author in her category by the Guinness Book of Records in 2001. She has studied many branches of Oriental fortune telling and divination.

Veteran actress Awaji Keiko (70) has finally given up on her deliquent son. Actor Yorozuya Kichinosuke (31), the youngest of her four sons, was handed down a 6-month prison sentence for breaking into her Tokyo home in May. He said at the time that he just wanted to see his mother, but he has a record of stealing from her home. Kichinosuke is the son of the late actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke, Awaji’s second husband whom she divorced in 1987. Their eldest son (Awaji’s third) Akihiro died in a car crash in 1990. Kichinosuke made his acting debut alongside his father at the age of six. He had been out of work in recent years and developed an alcohol problem. A tearful Awaji spoke to the press yesterday and said she had “no more love” for her son.

• The ex-husband of actress and model Umemiya Anna (31), named as Chiba Takashi (33), was arrested in Tokyo yesterday for running an illegal gambling operation (see Wednesday’s story for more details).

Otomo Katsuhiro’s acclaimed new animated movie “Steamboy” has received a special invitation to close the 61st Venice International Film Festival in September. It will mark the first time a Japanese anime has been chosen to open or close one of the major festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice). Otomo (50), director of the classic “Akira“, and main voice actress Suzuki Ann (17) both plan to attend the event. “Steamboy” was 9 years in the making and developed at a cost of ¥2.4 billion. Featuring 180,000 frames, it is set in England during the 19th-century industrial revolution. The movie opens in Japan on July 17.

The former husband of actress and model Umemiya Anna (31) has been issued with an arrest warrant for running an illegal casino. Named only as “C-san” (33) and self-employed, he is said to have made about ¥2.6 billion in just two months from the baccarat operation in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district. Umemiya’s office denied that the pair had been in contact recently and emphasized that there had been no financial disputes at the time of their divorce. The couple married in June 2001 and had a daughter the following January. They divorced in January 2003.

Actress Yamaguchi Tomoko (39) is to make her variety show debut at long last. She will be the special guest on SMAP’s annual Fuji TV summer special “SMAPxSMAP” on July 19. When I read that she is publishing a new book a few days later, the timing seemed obvious. But it appears she won’t be plugging her book or anything else on the show – a very rare case indeed. One of the most popular stars of the late 1980s-early 90s, she married actor Karasawa Toshiaki (41) in 1995. After that, her only drama role was in the 1996 hit “Long Vacation,” alongside SMAP’s Kimura Takuya (31), until a comeback this January. Otherwise, she has only been seen in TV commercials and has written some books.

Nomura Yojuro (photo, 38) will become the new head of the traditional kyogen family of Nomura Manzo next January. The role had been designated for his elder brother Mannojo, who passed away last month at the age of 44. Their father Nomura Man (74) announced the new successor during a funeral service for Mannojo in Tokyo. Yojuro will become the ninth actor to take on the Manzo name.

• Pop diva Matsuda Seiko (42) sang the national anthem at a stadium for the first time to open the second Sanyo All-Star baseball game yesterday. Accompanied by comedian Ishibashi Takaaki (42), she was clearly very nervous and couldn’t hold back the tears after her rendition of “Kimigayo.”

It seems that the relationship between the Seibu Lions’ star pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke (22) and Nippon TV announcer Shibata Tomoyo (29) may be getting more serious. After Matsuzaka had been named the MVP for the first All-Star game yesterday, he appeared on the show “Sportsu Urugusu”, on which Shibata is one of the hosts. Both seemed nervous and could hardly look at each other. Asked why he had seemed so calm as starting pitcher, Kintetsu Buffaloes hurler Iwakuma Hisahi (23) quipped “Well, I guess ‘cos I’m married!” The remark was followed by an uncomfortable silence. A relationship between the pair was first rumored by gossip magazine Friday almost 4 years ago.

Comedian Katagiri Jin (photo right, 30), one half of the duo Ramens, has become a father. His wife, former model Murayama Yuki (25), gave birth to a baby boy at a Tokyo hospital yesterday. Katagiri was performing at a stage production but managed to arrive in time for the delivery. The couple married in February of last year.

Actor Nezu Jinpachi (56) collided with a cyclist while driving in Meguro, Tokyo yesterday morning. The 67-year old unemployed man suffered a severe head injury and died later in hospital. Police are investigating Nezu for negligence. Nezu became a successful stage actor in the early 1970s and later moved into movies. He developed a reputation as a talented actor in a host of films, including two by the legendary director Kurosawa Akira. He has won two Japan Academy Awards. The fatal accident is the first involving a showbiz personality since Ohtake Makoto (55) hit a motorcyclist in 1996. Ohtake was back at work two weeks later.