Monthly Archives: August 2007

Even the rain couldn’t cool down the fans at yesterday’s “Matsuriina 2007”, one of the summer’s many outdoor music festivals. With blistering temperatures across the country, a lineup of eleven Sony Music acts led by Orange Range headed for the coast and the Riviera Zushi Marina in Kanagawa Prefecture. The event had started off under sunny mid-morning skies but turned cloudy and then rainy as a succession of young artists including Nakagawa Shoko (photo, 23), Kato Miriya (19) and Yui (20) took the stage. But the majority of the 5,000-strong crowd were there to see the chart-topping rock band from Okinawa, who are giving sales of their two recently released hits albums a bit of a boost. Five years after their debut, sales have cooled for Orange Range this year, and their last two singles “Ika Summer” and “Ikenai Taiyou”, failed to reach the top of the Oricon chart. The hits albums made No.1 and No.2, but combined sales are still short of half a million. Nakagawa is particularly popular among otaku, who call her “Shokotan”, and is referred to as the idol “Blog Queen”. She’s the daughter of the late singer Nakagawa Katsuhiko (1962-94), who as one of the few visual kei artists of the early 1980s was (generously, in my opinion) called the “Japanese David Bowie”.

• To mark the upcoming visit by Carole King (65), her entire album collection and a new hits collection are to be released in a Japan-only paper jacket format. Five albums, including the classic “Tapestry” will go on sale from September 26, and five more albums on October 31. A Japan-only collection of hits, “The Best of Carole King”, will be released on September 19. Together with Fergie (32) and Mary J. Blige (36), King will perform in the “Three Great American Voices” shows at Osaka Castle Hall, Saitama Super Arena and Nippon Budokan in November.

Several tabloid newspapers published a story yesterday saying that SMAP leader Nakai Masahiro (34) is dating sexy singer Koda Kumi (24). Management agencies for both stars refused to comment on the story, saying it was a private matter. The report coincided with the revelation that Koda had broken up with her long-term boyfriend earlier in the year. The relationship, which Koda made no attempt to hide, started before she made her breakthrough and became the country’s top-selling artist. The couple were last photographed together in December. But her extreme work schedule and his move to Osaka in May of last year put a heavy strain on their relationship. The 10-year age gap aside, the media would have a field day with a romance between Koda and Nakai. But with Johnny’s Jimusho controlling every aspect of its stars’ lives, it may be a while before the truth is out.

• Mori Masako (48) is to release her first new album in 21 years. “Ano Koro” is a collection of covers that is largely dedicated to her late father, who died in March of last year. It’s the latest step in a comeback that started with the release of two singles last summer after a bitter divorce from singer Mori Shinichi (59) in 2005. The new album is the first release since her retirement in 1986, when marriage put an end to one of the most successful idol careers of the decade.

• Japan Post has released a set of postage stamps marking the 30th anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. It will be the final set of commemorative stamps before the post office is privatized on October 1. In a world first, a combined set of stamps and a CD of Elvis’ hits compiled by broadcaster Ogura Tomoaki (60) goes on sale today.

Actor Kamikawa Takaya (42) is to play his first leading role in a drama on a commercial network. From October on Fuji TV, he will star as a 40-year-old office worker forced to get by on a ¥30,000-a-month allowance in “Swan no Baka”. The cast also includes Tanaka Misako (47) as his older wife and former office colleague, and Narimiya Hiroki (24) as the CEO of an IT company located in his office building. Kamikawa is often described as an “engiha haiyuu”, meaning an actor who can actually act (which doesn’t say much for the rest!). He admits that he has no experience of working as a “salaryman” but says that the gap between his own career and that of the nation’s company employees fascinates him. After dropping out of university to work in theater, Kamikawa first gained broader fame with the NHK drama “Daichi no Ko” 13 years ago. Last year he played roles ranging from the medieval warrior Yamauchi Kazutoyo in the “Koumyou ga Tsuji” taiga period drama on NHK to a gay doctor on the Fuji TV series “Hanazakari no Kimitachi e”.

• Comedian Chihara Junior (33) refused to comment yesterday on his rumored split with actress Uchida Yuki (31). The younger of the Chihara Brothers duo, he was appearing at a PR event for the French movie “Azur et Asmar”. Uchida divorced actor Yoshioka Hidetaka (37) in 2005.

The song “Sen no Kaze ni Natte” has made opera tenor Akikawa Masafumi (39) a household name. And now it has finally made him Japan’s first classical artist to have a million-selling release, according to sales data from Oricon. The song is based on an English poem by an unknown author called “Do not Stand at my Grave and Weep” and Akikawa’s version was released in May 2006, with the Japanese translation and melody by Arai Man. But after he sang it on NHK’s “Kohaku Utagassen” popular song concert last New Year’s Eve, sales started to really pick up and Akikawa started popping up all over the place on TV. It became the first classical recording to reach No.1 on Oricon’s singles chart and was named the best-selling single for the first half of 2007. The song was most recently used as the closing theme for a two-night Fuji TV special adaptation of “Hadashi no Gen”, the famous anti-war manga based on the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. With the ongoing decline in CD sales, million-selling hits are becoming fewer and further between, with only one a year in the last four years, compared to 14 in 2000 and five in 2001.

Director Kobayashi Masahiro (53) has won the grand prix at a major film festival. His innovative movie “Ai no Yokan” (The Rebirth) was awarded the Golden Leopard prize and 90,000 Swiss Francs on Saturday, the last day of the 60th Locarno International Film Festival. Kobayashi took on a leading role in his own film for the first time, playing the father of a girl who is murdered by her elementary school classmate, echoing a real-life incident that took place in Japan. Having lost his own will to live, the father escapes to Hokkaido, only to meet the mother of his daughter’s killer. Apart from an opening interview scene, the movie is completely unscripted. The feature was also awarded the Daniel Schmid Prize and was given a special mention by the International Art & Essay Cinema Confederation and by the Youth Jury. The recognition follows a pattern of acclaim for Kobayashi’s earlier works at European festivals. He has premiered three films at Cannes and won a special mention at Locarno in 2003 for “Amazing Story”. This year’s festival opened in the southern Swiss city last Wednesday with the world premiere of the Japanese anime feature “Vexille” by Sori Fumihiko.

• Defending Japan’s title at this year’s 12th Air Guitar World Championship in Finland will be Ichikawa The Rock. He won his place with a rendition of Mr. Big’s 1991 hit “Daddy, Brother, Lover, Little Boy” during the weekend’s Summer Sonic festival in Makuhari Messe convention center in Chiba Prefecture. Coming in third was green-suited kids’ character Gachapin rocking out to the B’z song “GiriGiri Chop”. Japan won the title last year when comedian Ochi Yousuke brought home the crown with his energetic take on Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl?”

Actress Kimura Yoshino (31) and actor Iseya Yuusuke (31) are taking their real-life romance to Hollywood. The pair have been in Canada since mid-July shooting the movie “Blindness”. The only Japanese among the cast, they play a married couple living in a town where everyone has been struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. Starring Julianne Moore and directed by Fernando Meirelles, the movie is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Portuguese Nobel prize-winner José Saramago. It is due for U.S. release next year. Kimura and Iseya first met when they worked together last year on the upcoming Miike Takashi movie “Sukiyaki Western Jango”. They spent more than a month filming in a remote mountain location in Yamagata Prefecture and started dating after their return to Tokyo. They will be in Canada until October, so no doubt the three months together on a foreign movie location is the perfect chance to deepen their relationship. Born in London, Kimura made her first movie appearance in the hit “Shitsurakuen” in 1997 and has since been in dozens of TV dramas and movies. Iseya is the step-brother of fashion designer Yamamoto Kansai. His movie debut was in 1999 and his credits include “Distance” (2001), “Casshern” (2004) and this year’s “Closed Note”.

Young Fukuda Mayuko (13) has been chosen from over 300 hopefuls for the upcoming “Death Note” spinoff movie. Provisionally titled “L”, the movie is being directed by Nakata Hideo, the man behind the “Ring” series. Regarded as a child prodigy, Fukuda was chosen for the key part of Maki and had her hair cut into a bob style for the role. Nakata said of her, “She has a strength of character that shows in her eyes. She’s been able to display a sensitivity and expressiveness beyond that of a child actress.” Filming started in Saitama Prefecture at the beginning of this month. Following the huge success in Asia of the first two Death Note movies, the latest spinoff will open in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan on February 9, 2008. It’s the first time for a Japanese movie to open in so many countries on the same day.

We reported here on Japan Zone just yesterday about the romance between young baseball star Darvish Yu (20) and actress Saeko (20). Well it turns out they’re engaged to be married. Saeko is two months pregnant and they plan to tie the knot after the baseball season finishes. With the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters currently on top of the Pacific League, it’s likely that Darvish and his team-mates will have to defend their Japan Series title in the playoffs first. The young half-Iranian pitcher takes the mound tonight against the Rakuten Golden Eagles at the Fighters’ home stadium of Sapporo Dome, and he plans to make a formal announcement after the game.

• The growing popularity of talento Oizumi Yo (34) seems to have exposed his past illegal activity. Oizumi is now an up and coming star on the national networks but was for years known only in his native Hokkaido. The weekly “Suiyou wa Doudeshou”, originally shown only on HTB in Hokkaido, sent Oizumi and Suzui Takayuki on silly adventures in various locations around Japan and abroad. On one such trip to western Japan in 2000, the pair helped themselves to sand from the famous Tottori Sand Dunes. Only seven years later, when the show was broadcast in the region, did it come to light that what they had done is illegal as the dunes are designated as a National Monument. HTB has made a formal apology to Tottori City and the show will not be broadcast anymore.

• NTV announcer Suzuki Natsuko (30) may lose her job after a weekly magazine published compromising photos of her with comedian Taka (31). One half of the popular duo Taka and Toshi, he is living with his girlfriend of eight years, so the reported relationship with Suzuki is a no-no. The two were spotted at a hotel near Tokyo’s Haneda Airport at the end of July. Suzuki has already been reprimanded by NTV and was dropped from her regular slot on the network’s “wide show” yesterday. Ironically, she usually reports on the “off duty” activities of celebrities.

• Sakaguchi Kenji (34) is to revive his popular role as doctor Asada Ryutaro in “Iryu 2”. The Fuji TV hospital drama (whose title translates as “Team Medical Dragon”) was a hit in the spring of 2006 and won an award for best drama series. The sequel starts in October and will deal with serious issues such as the growing national shortage of doctors and the closures of many maternity and pediatric units.

Young baseball pitcher Darvish Yu (20) has won over fans in Sapporo over his first couple of seasons, and now he’s won the heart of an equally young actress. The son of an Iranian father and Japanese mother, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher made his name as a high schooler when he threw a no-hitter at the annual summer invitational tournament at Koshien in 2004. His manager Trey Hillman has said of him, “How good do I think he can be? I think he can be the best in the world. He’s not there yet … but I think he can potentially pass a guy like Matsuzaka (Daisuke).” Tall and handsome, he looks like the hero of a baseball manga. And the hero always gets the girl, who in this case is actress Saeko (20). Currently a student in the human sciences school at the prestigious Waseda University, she has a supporting role in the upcoming movie “Closed Note”, starring Sawajiri Erika (21). Darvish’s father Farsa, who lives in Osaka prefecture, said the two were dating and that his son had introduced him to Saeko when he was playing in nearby Kobe.

Kano Kyoko (photo center, 44) has finally filed criminal charges against her younger sister. The elder of the “Gorgeous Kano Sisters”, Kyoko has been claiming since the start of the year that Oyama Harue (photo left, and her real sister as opposed to her usual sidekick Kano Mika, 39) absconded with jewelry, furniture and clothes worth hundreds of millions of yen. Her lawyer held a press conference yesterday and said Kyoko had filed embezzlement charges with Tokyo police on July 6, claiming the stolen items were worth ¥270 million and also that there was an accomplice involved. According to the lawyer, fraudulent appropriation by a non co-resident family member requires a formal complaint from the victim within six months in order to prosecute, meaning charges in this case had to be filed by mid-July. Rather than seeking the return of the stolen items Kyoko said, “I’ve never endured anything so hurtful as the suffering this case has caused. I want an honest explanation of why she betrayed me like this.” A lawyer for Harue, who worked as manager for the glamorous duo, said by fax that neither he nor his client had been contacted by police since February and that he did not think there were grounds for a criminal case against her. legal opinion is that, unless the charges are dropped, a court case is likely. Kyoko’s lawyer says that she and Kano Mika are prepared to appear as witnesses, and the possibility that the secrets behind the women’s mysterious wealth may come to light would make it the highest profile celebrity courtroom drama in years.

• Johnny’s Jimusho sure knows how to churn out the boy bands, and the hits. The latest teen act is Hey! Say! 7, so named as all members were born in the current Heisei era (2007 is Heisei 19). Their single “Hey! Say!” has entered the Oricon chart at No.1. With an average age of less than 15, they are the youngest male group to hit the top since fellow Johnny’s act Hikaru Genji in 1988. The group is actually made up of five members of the Johnnys Jr. troupe, who mainly perform as backing dancers for more established acts. As an indication of how big the youngsters could become, current superstars SMAP started out as backing dancers for Hikaru Genji.

• Speaking of SMAP, Kimura Takuya and fellow cast members walked a 50m red carpet yesterday at a PR event for the movie adaptation of his hugely successful TV drama “Hero”. The event was held at the Nippon Budokan and attended by 5,000 screaming – and very lucky – fans. Demand for tickets had been such that some 400,000 people were less lucky. First aired in 2001, “Hero” is the most popular drama series ever for Fuji TV and was revived for a special last year. The movie version will open on September 8 on something close to the record number of 461 screens nationwide currently showing “Saiyuki”, which stars fellow SMAP member Katori Shingo (30).

• The wife of lawyer and variety show regular Hashimoto Toru (38) has given birth to their 7th child. They now have three boys and four girls.

Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan (53) joined local actor Sanada Hiroyuki (46) on the red carpet for yesterday’s Japan premiere of “Rush Hour 3”. Several hundred fans turned at for the event, held at the Roppongi Hills complex in central Tokyo. Though the pair have been friends for some 20 years, it’s the first time for them to work together. Sanada has been building up a presence in Hollywood features in the last couple of years and is becoming more of a box office draw. He and Chan met up at the Shanghai International Film Festival last year and decided to do something together. “I’d like to work with Takakura Ken, with Kitano Takeshi,” said Chan. “I never had a chance to work with Kurosawa Akira. So now when I want to work with someone, I do it right away.” He had hoped to get Sanada on board for a new movie to be shot in Tokyo in October (provisionally titled “Shinjuku Jiken”) but was turned down due to a busy schedule. “Rush Hour 3” opens here on August 25.

• Actress Sakurai Atsuko (34) announced yesterday that she gave birth to her first child on Saturday. She married a TV Asahi producer in 2003.

• On Saturday, pop diva Hamasaki Ayumi (28) made her first public appearance since her split with Johnny’s Jimusho star Nagase Tomoya (28). At a PR event for the movie “Kaidan”, for which she provides the theme song, “Fated”, she wore a sleeveless top that would normally have revealed the “pair look” tattoo she and Nagase had on their right shoulders. But her tattoo has either been removed or was covered up with foundation.