Monthly Archives: January 2008

National broadcast network NHK has seen a recovery in license fee revenues, according to the financial report submitted to the government yesterday. Total operational revenue for 2007 was ¥657.5 billion, of which ¥635 billion was from license fees, an increase of ¥220 million from the year before. Operational expenses also increased, to ¥647.2 billion. Revenues began dropping in 2005 when almost a million households refused to pay the fees following a series of scandals at the network. From October 1, NHK will stop visiting homes to collect fees and will broaden the scope of exemptions for the disabled. From February of next year, discounts will be given to businesses and expanded for families. Last year chairman Hashimoto Genichi (photo, 64) and executives tried to introduce a reduction of up to ¥100 in the license fee, but the decrease was by denied the management committee. No such proposal was mentioned this time.

• The latest romance rumor about popular actress Yonekura Ryoko (32) comes as a bit of a surprise. Previously connected with younger handsome guys like kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo (30) and soccer star Nakata Hidetoshi (30), this time she seems to have gone for a goofy comedian. Today’s issue of women’s weekly “Josei Seven” says she was spotted in Roppongi at the end of December with Tamura Atsushi (34) of the popular duo London Boots. Atsushi is said to have pursued Yonekura since she appeared last February as a guest on the variety show “London Hearts”.

• Bunraku master Yoshida Bungo died of liver cancer at his Osaka home yesterday. He was 73. A veteran of the Japanese puppet theater, he started in the early 1950s and spent more than 20 years operating female puppets. While standing in for the ailing Kiritake Kanjuurou, he mastered the “tachiyaku” or leading male role and switched to his final stage name in 1982. He was briefly married to the American talento Edith Hanson (68).

Actor and singer Oshio Manabu (29) made his first public appearance in almost two years in Tokyo yesterday. He was in the capital to promote the brand Bodymaker, a line of training goods for combat sports. He did about a month of intensive physical training to get in shape for the photo shoot for posters that show him topless, though for yesterday’s event he wore a somber gray suit. In his first appearance since a movie PR event in March 2006, he spoke about his new baby. His wife, actress Yada Akiko (29) gave birth to their son Liam on November 19. Oshio said he chose the name, but that it has no special meaning. He seemed somewhat more relaxed in front of the media than he has been in recent years. He has yet to speak publicly about why he abandoned a promising acting career to pursue music. He and his family now live in the U.S.

• Chico Honma, a member of the band Los Indios, died last Christmas, it was reported yesterday. Real name Honma Yasuyoshi, he was 67. He is said to have died after falling from the balcony of his apartment in Tokyo’s Nakano Ward. With their Latin American sound, Los Indios had a string of hits in the 1960s but have remained active. Their last big hit was 1980’s “Wakaretemo Sukina Hito” with the singer Sylvia. Honma was the guitarist in the band, and also pioneered the use of such Latin instruments as the arpa in Japan.

• “Bara no Nai Hanaya”, the latest Monday night drama series on Fuji TV, has got off to a good start. The show stars SMAP junior member Katori Shingo (30) as the widowed manager of a small flower shop and Takeuchi Yuuko (27), and is written by the Nojima Shinji (44), the man behind a string of major hits. The first episode got an average audience rating of 22.4% according to Video Research. The show’s strong start follows the success of last season’s “Galileo” in the same 9pm Monday time slot, called “gekkyu” and considered the best for drama.

• Also enjoying high ratings is the latest sumo basho. The 15-day events are always broadcast live every afternoon by NHK. But with the sport in decline in recent years, a rating of over 15% is now a rarity even in the closing stages. The highly anticipated return of yokozuna (grand champion) Asashoryu (27), after being suspended for two bashos, saw ratings reach a peak of 23.8% on Monday as the defeated Mongolian left the ring after the final bout of the day.

Olympic judo gold medallist Inoue Kosei (29) and talento Higashihara Aki (25) held a press conference today to announce their marriage. Their engagement was announced to the media yesterday and they filed their marriage registration this morning. They then appeared before the press at Inoue’s alma mater, Tokai University. Inoue became a national hero when he won the gold medal in the 100-kilo weight class at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. As 3-time and reigning world champion, his quarter-final defeat in Athens four years later came as a huge shock to fans in Japan. He and Higashihara started dating not long after, having met on a TV show. Last year, Inoue failed to clinch a spot for this summer’s Beijing Olympics but will be hoping to make the national team with the support of his new bride. To do that, he needs to win the national championships in April. Higashihara, who made her debut in 2003 as a poster girl for Asahi Beer, made her name as an announcer with Fuji TV for its coverage of K-1 events. More recently, she has been a presenter on the horse racing show “Umanade”.

• Hip hop musician Kreva (31) recently got married, it was revealed yesterday. He got hitched on January 3 to a 32-year-old office worker after a relationship of more than four years. They have already held their wedding ceremony. Originally a member of the group Kick the Can Crew, in 2006 Kreva became the first solo hip hop artist to reach No.1 on the Oricon chart. His met his new bride when she was working as secretary to the president of a concert and event company.

• Some more cast announcements for the live-action adapatation of popular 70s anime “Yatterman”. With the lead stars already named, the roles of the main villains fell to: Fukuda Kyoko (25) as the sexy and scantily clad Doronjo, Namase Katsuhisa (47) as the effeminate tech wizard Boyacky, and Yoshimoto comedian Kendo Kobayashi (35) using his Kansai dialect in the role of Tonzler. The movie, to be directed by Miike Takashi, is due for release in the spring of 2009. A new version of the anime started yesterday on the NTV and Yomiuri TV networks.

• Popular fashion model Hasegawa Jun (21) and Maki Daisuke (32), a member of top J-pop group Exile, have broken up. Maki, known by his nickname MakiDai, will be appearing in NHK’s morning drama series “Hitomi” from March.

Comedian Takahashi Kenichi (photo left, 36) is back at work, according to a statement from his management agency. Arrested last July for molesting a high school girl on a crowded Tokyo subway train, the case was closed at the end of December without any prosecution. One half of the manzai duo King of Comedy, he denied the charges from the start but submitted to “jishuku”, the Japanese custom of apology followed by reclusion when caught misbehaving.

&$149; Impersonator Ishiyama Tatsuhiro (42) is locked in a legal battle with rock star Yazawa Eikichi (58), whose fame he makes his living from. Ishiyama was sued by Yazawa to the tune of ¥10 million for using his name. But after reviewing the documents with a lawyer, he has decided to counter-sue. He’s to give a press conference today to explain the case.

&$149; Folk duo Kobukuro are really riding on a wave of popularity these days. They recently took the award for last year’s best record at the Japan Record Awards with “Tsubomi”. And their 2006 album “All Singles Best” continues to see brisk sales. Having topped the 2.7 million sales mark, it’s overtaken Chage & Aska’s 1992 release “Super Best 2” as the best-selling album ever by a Japanese duo.

&$149; Photographer turned movie director Anton Corbijn (52) attended a press conference in Tokyo yesterday to promote his first feature film, “Control”. The biopic of late Joy Division vocalist Ian Curtis, the critically lauded movie opens here in March.

&$149; TV Asahi announcer Nomura Maki (32) revealed on the network’s website yesterday that she is seven months pregnant with her first child. She married an advertising company employee in 2004.

Johnnys Jimusho idol group NEWS played their first solo Tokyo Dome concert in front of 55,000 fans yesterday. The show featured the group arriving on stage from the 30m-high ceiling in a gondola; a fountain that measured 50m wide, 8m tall and used 50 tons of water; and a surprise appearance from their “sempai” Kondo Masahiko (43) and Question?, his backing band made up of members from Johnnys Jr. The first of two shows, it was the first time for a Johnnys concert to be held at Tokyo Dome on a weekday. The shows were added to the schedule for their NEWS Pacific Winter Tour due to popular demand. The group performed 35 songs, including the latest single “Weeeek” and the first live version of “Taiyo no Namida”, from their second album “Pacific” and due for release on February 27. The group are back in top gear after the loss of two members punished for underage drinking: Uchi Hiroki (21) in July 2005 and Kusano Hironori (19) a year ago. Having started out with nine mebers in 2003, they are now down to six. The youngest two, Tegoshi Yuya and Kato Shigeaki turned 20 last year and will be celebrating their coming of age this month. Kondo is in the 28th year of his career but this was the first time for him to appear as a surprise guest for a junior group. He performed his latest single, “Mezamero! Yasei”, which is released later this month.

• “Kaabee”, the latest movie from director Yamada Yoji (76) is to be entered for competition at the 58th Berlin International Film Festival. Starring Yoshinaga Sayuri (62), the movie will be shown abroad as “Kabei – Our Mother”. Set in 1940, it tells of a woman raising her two children while awaiting the return of her imprisoned anti-war husband. Yoshinaga, a hugely popular veteran actress who is considered an iconic Japanese mother figure, will be visiting the festival for the first time in 15 years. It will be Yamada’s sixth entry at the festival, but he has failed to win a prize with his three competition entries: “Downtown Heroes” (1989), “Tasogare Seibei” (Twilight Samurai, 2003), “Kakushi-ken: Oni no Tsume” (The Hidden Blade, 2005). This year’s festival will be held from February 7-17.

• American rock band Bon Jovi landed at Narita Airport yesterday for their 14th Japan concert tour. Flying in on three separate American Airlines flights, they were greeted by about 100 fans. The band play Nagoya Dome on January 11 before heading to Tokyo Dome for two shows (Jan. 13 & 14) and finally Kyocera Dome Osaka (Jan. 16).

• Talento Wakatsuki Chinatsu (23) seems to be constantly fighting off rumors. The latest is that she is planning to head off and spend an unspecified length of time traveling the U.S. She sent a fax to the media yesterday denying the rumor. She says that next month she plans to launch a new online store selling vintage clothing, and is going to the U.S. simply to buy items for the website. Wakatsuki is the author of Japan’s most popular celebrity blog.

It seems that The Police have little faith in the charitable nature of Japanese people. With the British rock trio playing their first shows in this country since 1981, demand for tickets is sure to be as huge as it has been on the American and European legs of their world tour. While those shows brought in over $130 million in ticket sales, four front row seats for each of the 100 shows were auctioned off and the proceeds given to charity. Buyers got to meet the band and received signed instruments. The tickets sold for about ¥600,000 apiece and that money went to Water Aid, which helps provide safe water supplies in developing countries. For each of their February shows there will be two pairs of charity tickets, with ticket holders receiving goods such as a signed tour brochure and a visit to the band’s dressing room. But rather than by auction, the tickets will be sold (by lottery if there is demand) at a fixed price of ¥550,000 per pair. Asked why the price was set at half of what buyers were prepared to bid by auction in other countries, local organizers said that fake auction bids tend to be a problem in Japan and that the fixed price was decided by the band and their management. Vocalist Sting (56) has in the past canceled an endorsement contract with a Japanese company due to their poor environmental record. Still, the ¥275,000 price per person is a record for a Japanese concert ticket and more than four times the ¥65,000 that fans paid to see The Rolling Stones in 2006. Anyone wanting to apply for tickets needs to send a postcard to Ticket Pia by January 21. The Police play Osaka’s Kyocera Dome on February 10 and Tokyo Dome on February 13 & 14.

More than 2,500 fans turned out to see Johnny Depp (44) in central Tokyo last night. The Hollywood superstar originally planned to arrive for his fifth visit to Japan on Monday. But he landed at Narita Airport yesterday afternoon, and just hours later was at the Roppongi Hills complex for the local premiere of “Sweeney Todd” along with director Tim Burton (49). Depp was in a plaid shirt, jeans, sunglasses and hat on arrival at Narita, and changed into a black suit for the evening event. He leaves Japan for London after this morning’s press conference. In addition to the premiere, his intense schedule packed 16 media meetings into a brief 30-hour stay.

• Talento Sakashita Chiriko (31) announced yesterday that she is to get married today. In a fax sent to the media, she said that her fiancee is not in showbiz and so she wouldn’t give his name or personal details. Sources say he is a 29-year-old cameraman working for a TV production company. The two were photographed on a date back by one of the weekly magazines back in 2004. They chose today, his 29th birthday, to register their marriage. They don’t currently have plans for a wedding ceremony.

• Also engaged is former TBS announcer Yamamoto Fumio, and at 73, he is thought to be the oldest celebrity ever to get married. His fiancee is a 43-year-old divorcee and mother of two. Yamamoto, whose wife of 34 years died in 1995, was emcee for her wedding 14 years ago and the two met again last year.

Call it the “Kohaku Bounce”. The latest weekly singles chart ranking from Oricon shows that exposure on NHK’s annual New Year’s Eve song spectacular does wonders for sales. It’s no surprise to see superstars SMAP enjoying their third week at No.1 with “Dangan Fighter”, the live performance of which drew the peak audience rating of 43.9% on Kohaku. But for the first time in Oricon’s 40-year history, the No.2 and No.3 spots are also “Kohaku songs”. In second spot is the enka ballad “Waremokou” (cover above) by Sugimoto Masato (58), a successful songwriter but almost totally unknown as a singer until last month. The single was released in February 2007 and never really made an impact on the chart until Sugimoto performed on Kohaku. He’s followed at No.3 by Akikawa Masafumi (40), whose “Sen no Kaze ni Natte” enjoyed a similar boost last year. It went on to became last year’s biggest-selling single, and the first ever million-selling classical single, after the opera tenor appeared on Kohaku at the end of 2006. The jump back up the charts proves that, in spite of its continually declining audience, an appearance on Kohaku can still make a career. (By the way, waremokou is the name of a wild flower, known in English as a burnet)

Not a good start to the year for Hamasaki Ayumi (29). The singer revealed on her official fan club website at the weekend that she has lost the hearing in her left ear. She says doctors told her last year that it was too late for surgical treatment of a problem that dates back almost to the beginning of her career. In 2000 it caused her to postpone part of a national concert tour. With this year marking the tenth anniversary of her debut, she remains upbeat and says she will continue singing as long as she can hear in her right ear. She just released her latest album “Guilty” on New Year’s Day and has a 19-show concert tour starting in early April. The bad news came shortly after her ex-boyfriend, Tokio member Nagase Tomoya (28), was romantically linked with up-and-coming young actress Aibu Saki (22). Ayu and Nagase ended their 7-year relationship just last July.

• Last year’s live-action adaptation of the popular Mizuki Shigeru manga “Gegege no Kitaro” made over ¥2.3billion at the box office, so it’s no surprise that a sequel has been announced. Young idol Wentz Eiji (22) will again play the lead role of monster-boy Kitaro. Actress Inoue Mao (20) won’t be back as the heroine, but the rest of the supporting cast return, with the addition of such top stars as Ogata Ken (70), Terajima Shinobu (35) and Sano Shiro (52) taking on ghoulish roles. Motoki Katsuhide (44) is again directing and the movie is due for a summer release.

• NHK’s yearlong taiga drama kicked off on Sunday, with about average audience interest. “Atsu Hime”, with young actress Miyazaki Aoi (22) in the title role, drew an audience of 20.3% for its opening episode. The historical drama tells of a young girl from Kagoshima who joins the Edo Period court of the Tokugawa shogunate. Miyazaki joined about 5,000 people on Sunday for the opening of a tie-up exhibition at a trade facility in Kagoshima City.

Popular music producer Kobayashi Takeshi (48) and former My Little Lover vocalist Akko (34) divorced on New Year’s Day. They had been separated for some time but decided to make the split official, though they will continue to work together. Akko, real name Akamatsu Akiko, retains custody of the two children born during their almost 12-year marriage. Kobayashi, Akko and guitarist Fujii Kenji (38) formed the band known to fans as “MaiRaba” in 1995, with Kobayashi formally becoming a member for the album “evergreen”, which sold over 3 million copies. Fujii left the group in 2002. Kobayashi has produced hits for such artists as Mr. Children and Remioromen. In January of last year, he was romantically linked with singer Hitoto You (31), though he has denied he has any plans to remarry.

We reported yesterday on the various “Kohaku” highlights on New Year’s Eve, and now the official audience figures are in. The second half of the show, always more popular than the first, managed a slight improvement on last year’s record low of 37.6% but was still the second-lowest ever at 39.5%. Remember that this is in comparison to the show’s heyday when over 80% of households nationwide tuned in. Admittedly, the nations public network hasn’t seen a figure over 80% since 1972, and the 50% barrier was broken in 1989, the first year of the current Heisei Era. And with NHK being a non-commercial network, the figures are more a matter of pride than a financial concern. But with a battered reputation, pride is about all NHK has left and some very big names, including top rock names B’z and Yazawa Eikichi, had been bandied about for the latest show and when they failed to sign up, the worst was feared. In the end, the decision to focus more on the songs and some free publicity surrounding a few of the celebrities on the show probably saved the ratings from hitting an all-time low.

Meanwhile, on the other networks: “K-1 Premium 2007” on TBS got an audience of 14.7%; NTV’s comedy-variety show “Downtown no Gaki Tsukai ya Arahende!!” managed 12.4%; “Yoiko Mujinto ¥0 Seikatsu” pulled in 11.8%; and “Hustle Matsuri 2007” on TV Tokyo struggled to get 4%. But Fuji TV had the worst time, managing a mere 3.2% for its drama “Ichiokubun no Ichi no Otoko”.

• Young Johnny’s idol singer Uchi Hiroki (21) is to make his TV comeback, two years and seven months after he was punished for underage drinking. He will appear in the Fuji TV drama “Isshun no Kaze ni Nare”, which will air over four nights from February 25. Formerly a member of the groups Kanjani8 and NEWS, Uchi returned to the stage last summer for the musical starring Johnny’s veterans Shonentai. As with Kusano Hiroyuki (19), who was also caught indulging in the booze, he is now a solo performer.