Yearly Archives: 2009

The special investigation department of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutor’s Office yesterday announced the arrest of Makino Masaya (42), CEO of the former Avant-Garde talent management agency, on charges of tax evasion. The company is said to have hidden earnings of almost ¥1.2 billion over a period of three years up to the end of 2006, and evaded taxes to the tune of ¥345 million. Makino set up the company in 1989 and it became known as one of the largest stables of young, pretty, and largely disposable female talent. The dozens of girls and young women on its books would appear in magazines and manga, as pinup “idols,” race queens and a multitude of other decorative functions. In recent years the company represented such established celebrities as Ogura Yuko (photo, 25) and Manabe Kaori (28), and manipulating the increasing revenues generated from their growing popularity was done using an affiliation of paper companies. Over the last couple of years, the business underwent several changes of name in a game of cat and mouse with the tax authorities and is currently known as Ichi Estate Corporation.

The prosecution of actor Oshio Manabu (31) on drug charges began yesterday at the Tokyo District Court. He is reported to have acknowledged and apologized for lying to police about his drug use. It was also revealed that Oshio may have disposed of the the mobile phone belonging to the woman whose body was found dead in a Roppongi Hills apartment. Police found the phone in shrubbery near the apartment. Though Oshio was with the woman when she died, he has yet to to be charged in relation to her death. Like the actor, she was also found to have used MDMA (ecstasy). The timeline of that evening has been established as: the woman passes out and Oshio administers heart massage (6:30pm); Oshio calls his manager (7pm); the manager arrives at the Roppongi Hills apartment (7:45pm); the manager calls the police (9:20pm). Oshio left at this time and moved to another apartment in the same building, both owned by a friend. In a related development, movie distributor Astaire said that they had decided to shelve the movie “Dakara Oretachi wa, Asa wo Matteita.” The movie, which was scheduled for release in February 2010, stars Kato Kazuki (24) but Oshio played a key role which couldn’t be edited out.

Sakai Noriko’s husband has been re-arrested in the couple’s ongoing drug case. The new arrest follows the discovery of amphetamines at Takaso Yuichi’s villa in the Chiba Prefecture beach town of Katsuura. It will likely lead to a stiffer prison sentence and puts extra pressure on Sakai to come clean. It has become increasingly clear that she was trying to destroy or conceal as much evidence of her drug habit (avoiding a urine test, cutting and dyeing her hair, destroying her mobile phone) before turning herself in to police several days after they issued a warrant for her arrest. Since that time, her statements to police have conflicted with those of her husband, who was arrested six days before her. Though the couple have been living separately for some time, they continued to share their drug habit. Sakai has admitted that they did drugs on their visit to Amami Oshima island last month to watch the solar eclipse, a trip on which they were accompanied by their 10-year-old son. Sakai is known to have visited the Katsuura home several times. The house, which has become a tourist attraction, was painted with the obscure grafitti “BLES” over the weekend.

• Veteran rock ‘n’ roller Uzaki Ryudo (63) is likely to face prosecution for causing a minor traffic accident at the weekend. Uzaki was driving in the Tokyo suburb of Setagaya on Sunday evening when he into the back of a car waiting at a traffic signal. Two women sitting in the rear of the car suffered minor neck injuries.

Singer/songwriter Ayaka (21) was forced to drop out of a scheduled concert appearance at the weekend due to her ongoing medical problems. She has suffered from Graves’ disease, an immune disorder of the endocrine system known in Japan by the less common name of Basedow’s disease, since shortly after her debut. She and actor Mizushima Hiro (25) announced their marriage earlier in the year (photo) but Ayaka has been on an extended sabbatical as she continued her battle with her illness. She was to perform on Saturday in Tsugaru City in northern Japan at the Dream Summer Live in Chikyumura but canceled at the last minute on the advice of her doctor.

Earlier story:

Mizushima Hiro, Ayaka Married (Apr. 4, 2009)

• Several members of Akihabara idol unit AKB48 missed out on the group’s first ever shows at Nippon Budokan at the weekend after they came down with influenza. In all seven members were forced to miss the two shows at the 15,000-seat venue, but there was still not much room to move on stage. Backed up by the members of Nagoya-based SKE48, in all there were 74 singers, who performed 33 songs including their latest release “Iiwake – Maybe.” The flu also hit the popular all-female Takarazuka theatrical revue. Two members of the Star Troupe came down with a fever last week and had to drop out the show currently on at the Tokyo theater in Yurakucho.

Headlining the “a-nation” show at Ajinomoto Stadium west of Tokyo on the weekend were top Avex artists like Hamasaki Ayumi and Koda Kumi. But grabbing the headlines was the return of Komuro Tetsuya (50). At the center of a major court case earlier this year, the musician/producer received a suspended prison sentence in a ¥500 million copyright fraud case. The case has left him with huge debts and the only way he knows how to pay them back is by promoting his music. So it was that he, his wife Keiko and bassist Marc Panther were reunited onstage as globe, the J-pop group that had a string of hits in the late 1990s, and who joined the event as surprise guests. Dressed in a white suit and sitting at a piano center stage, Komuro began playing a medley of his many hits. Only when the big screens showed him up close did the 50,000 fans realize who it was. Then he and Keiko bowed and apologized for all the fuss and bother they had caused. Globe, who last performed at the same venue last year, played a couple of songs and were warmly applauded by fans. Komuro also performed with TRF, the pop/dance group for whom he wrote many hits. Komuro recently set up a new management agency and signed a contract with Avex. He is said to have demos of more than a dozen new songs.

Earlier stories:

More Details on Komuro Arrest (Nov. 5, 2008)

Komuro Gets Off With Suspended Sentence (May 11, 2009)

A former rakugoka is at the center of the latest drug arrest revelation. Ka Togan (52), who performed under the stage name Shofukutei Komatsu, was arrested at the end of June for use of amphetamines, it was revealed yesterday. He admitted to the charges and has already been tried at the Kyoto District Court. Ka first entered the world of traditional comic storytelling in 1972 but was kicked out in 1977. He spent several years as a manzai comedian before returning to rakugo in 1982. In 1997 he underwent surgery for stomach cancer and drew national attention as he walked the length of the country, performing in support of fellow cancer patients. He was arrested for stimulant drug possession later that year, but with the support of the popular Shofukutei Tsurube, he was able to return to performing. Financial problems surfaced in 2006 and he was let go by his management and effectively exiled from rakugo. The Kamigata Rakugo Association said that his erratic behavior had continued for several years. An ethnic Korean, Ka was born in Shiga Prefecture.

• Meanwhile it is becoming increasingly apparent that actress Sakai Noriko made calculated efforts to avoid the law up until her arrest on drug charges. Even as she went on the run following the arrest of her husband on August 4, her public image was such that the public had trouble believing that she could be a drug user. But as the facts of the case slowly emerge, it’s becoming clear that she not only lied to police but also took deliberate actions to hide or destroy evidence. The fact that she turned herself in 6 days after her husband’s arrest, which she blamed on a state of panic, ensured that a urine test was negative for drug traces. A later test on hair samples was positive, despite the fact that her hair was noticeably shorter than a week earlier. This is believed to have been in an effort to hide the length and regularity of her drug use, which she has claimed was infrequent and started just last summer. And her mobile phone, which she said she had thrown away after it broke, was found by police. They believe it was deliberately destroyed, and they are seeking her phone records from the mobile network operator.

TM Network guitarist Kine Naoto (51, photo right) was recently involved in a minor hit and run accident, it was revealed yesterday. The musician was driving in Minami Aoyama district of Tokyo on August 10 when his wing mirror hit a pedestrian. Kine said, when he went voluntarily to police on August 15, that he didn’t stop because he thought he had hit a lamppost. TM Network, made up of Kine, Komuro Tetsuya (left) and Utsunomiya Takashi (center), were a major pop band in the 1980s.

Rocker Yazawa Eikichi (photo left) may be on the verge of turning 60 but he’s trying to keep things fresh. Yesterday he performed the first ever in-store live show of his 34-year solo career at Tower Records in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. With a huge and loyal following, Ei-chan has no trouble filling the biggest venues – indeed he has a show lined up next month at Tokyo Dome. But as part of the promotion for “Rock ‘n’ Roll,” his first new album in four years, he chose to play for 300 fans on the roof of the record store. The album is the first released on the Garuru Records label that Yazawa set up in May 2008 after 20 years with EMI Music Japan. Yesterday’s 30-minute show, which he described as like a “second debut,” included the new single “Cobalt no Sora.” Though Yazawa has his landmark “kanreki” (60th birthday) on September 14, he drew an audience made up mostly of people in their 20s and 30s. Similarly, he chose to play last month’s “ap bank festival”, an outdoor rock event organized by Mr Children vocalist Sakurai Kazutoshi (39) and appealing to a younger crowd.

In the ongoing celebrity drug cases – a former Tokyo club hostess has said that actor Oshio Manabu’s sex and drugs lifestyle goes back well beyond his recent arrest. She told the weekly magazine “Friday” that she had visited Oshio (top right) in the U.S. where he was based. She said she had feared for her life when she passed out after several days of drug-fueled sex at his hotel. She claims that Oshio supplied the drugs and that she took them at his insistence. This runs contrary to his already inconsistent testimony following his arrest for use of MDMA (ecstasy). He has variously said that he got them from a friend, and that they were supplied by the woman who was later found dead at the Roppongi Hills apartment that Oshio regularly used as a “play spot.”

Meanwhile, in the case of actress/singer Sakai Noriko (bottom right), tests on hair samples have revealed traces of illegal drugs, though not enough to determine the length or regularity of her habit. She has already admitted to drug use, but she says it was infrequent and only started about a year ago. Her arrest on August 8 came after she had been missing for several days, by which time a negative urine test was inconclusive.

Here’s a quick roundup of the top news from the Obon holiday break.

A private funeral service was held yesterday for actor Yamashiro Shingo (photo top left), who died of pneumonia on August 12. He was 70. The funeral in his hometown of Kyoto was presided over by his younger brother as his daughter, actress Minami Yuka (42), chose not to attend. His only child, she became alienated from her father following his second divorce in 1999, when she said his womanizing had made her lose all respect for him. Yamashiro, once a major star in samurai and yakuza movies, entered a facility for the elderly in June of last year.

• Comedian Itao Itsuji (46, top center) is in a state of shock following the sudden death of his baby daughter. The cause of death of 22-month-old Emi is unknown. Itao is renowned as a doting father and he used a photo of himself and his only child on the cover of a recently published book. He and his wife have been married since 1998. Itao and his comedy partner HonKon debuted as the Yoshimoto comedy duo 130R in 1986. They found nationwide fame in the early 1990s on the “Downtown no Gotsu Ee-kanji” show.

• Comedian Hazama Kampei (60, bottom) has completed the trans-Atlantic leg of his Earth Marathon. An experienced endurance runner, he is seeking to be the first person ever to run and sail around the globe. He set off from Osaka last December, running about 600km to Tokyo before sailing the Pacific and then running across North America. He landed at Le Havre in northwestern France on August 16, after 33 days at sea during which he turned 60. He will set off across northern Europe on the 22nd and aims to be in Copenhagen in October when the venue for the 2016 Olympics is announced. Tokyo is one of the candidate cities.

• Actress Komura Hiro (43) was on live TV this week talking about her divorce from actor Fuse Hiroshi (51, top right). The couple were married for 17 years and have three sons. Tono Nagiko (29) didn’t manage to last quite as long. The actress announced on her blog this week that she and her company employee husband (27) divorced last month, just 72 days after tying the knot. Former top Takarazuka actress Suzukaze Mayo (48) has declined to comment on rumors of her ongoing divorce negotiations. She and former Japan rugby star Imaizumi Kiyoshi (41) married in 2004.

• And though there were no major new developments, the news over the last week continues to be dominated by the drug arrest of actress/singer Sakai Noriko. There have been revelations of where she hid out while on the run for 6 days, and the former lawyer and his brothers who helped her may face charges. Sakai is still in detention but has yet to be formally charged.

Jasmine You, bassist with the Japanese visual rock band Versailles, has died. His death was announced on the website of the band’s management agency late Sunday night, though no details were given. The band, made up of Jasmine (photo, 2nd from left), Kamijo (vocals), Hizaki (guitar), was formed in 2007 and they were later joined by Teru (guitar) and Yuki (drums). Through videos posted to YouTube and an English page on MySpace, they developed a growing fan base in the U.S. before finding any success at home. They made their major label debut with their fifth single “Ascendead Master” in June but had postponed any engagements in support of the release due to Jasmine’s health problems. Warner Music Japan has not yet said how his death will affect the planned September release of an album. Due to a conflict over use of the band’s name, they are known as Versailles – Philharmonic Quintet in the United States.

Actress Sakai Noriko (38) may escape trial for drug possession due to a lack of conclusive evidence. Sakai’s disappearance for 6 days following the arrest of her husband on August 3 meant that the urine test for traces of methamphetamine was basically too late (the drug usually clears the system in about 4 days). And the amount of the drug found at her Tokyo home was miniscule. Police found paraphenalia with Sakai’s DNA but only 0.008g of meth, whereas the amount for a single hit is around 0.3g. Her husband, Takaso Yuichi (41) has said he bought the drug from a foreigner and that his wife has been a user since last summer. Sakai said she started on the urging of her husband but has used only a few times in the last year. Legal experts have said that the evidence as currently reported is probably not enough to build a court case, and Sakai may well received a suspension of indictment. Actor Nakamura Shunta is a recent example of a first-time drug user who received similar leniency. The son of actor Nakamura Masatoshi (58) and actress Igarashi Junko (56) was arrested in April for possession of 0.03g of marijuana.

Actress/singer Sakai Noriko, arrested at the weekend for drug offenses, was transferred to the Tokyo District Court this morning. At about 9am, she was taken in a silver MPV from the Tokyo Wangan police station, as some 100 reporters braved the wind and rain. She will spend the next ten days at the Wangan detention center. The center opened in March 2008 and is said to be realistically depicted in the hugely popular “Odoru Daisosasen” (Bayside Shakedown) movie series. It holds 192 detainees, with men and women segregated. Detainees receive three meals a day and, during the summer season, bathe once every five days. During a 7am-9pm day, detainees can expect to face up to 8 hours of questioning.

Meanwhile, reaction to the arrest has been varied. Saturday’s edition of the TBS news show “Joho 7 Days – Newscaster,” which aired shortly after Sakai’s arrest on Saturday night, had an audience rating of over 30%. The show has a recent average rating of 12.8%. Police headquarters have been busy fielding calls from Noripi’s fans, some of whom have volunteered to take her place. Her fellow celebrities, as always protective of their own image, were careful to mix criticism with their sympathy. producer Terry Ito said, “I think she’s a bit spoiled. It might do her good, as a person, to spend some time in prison.” Veteran singer Wada Akiko, never short of an opinion, was also harsh in her judgement, adding “We really should stop calling her Noripi.” Victor Entertainment has decided to cancel the September release of a double hits album, “Golden Best,” has recalled CDs and DVDs from music stores and removed her music from download services. Her TV commercial contracts for the Toyota Noah and the painkiller brand Norshin will no doubt be canceled, though both already finished airing earlier in the summer. Ironically, Sakai is the star of a series of movies made as a PR tool for the recently introduced lay jury system. DVDs of the movie have been withdrawn.

Bringing an end to the biggest celebrity manhunt Japan has seen in years, actress/singer Sakai Noriko (38) turned herself in at a Tokyo police station tonight. On the run for six days following her husband’s arrest for drug possession, the details are yet to emerge of “Noripi’s” escapade other than she was at the Tokyo home of an acquaintance when she called her lawyer this evening. On his advice she appeared at a police facility near the Tomizaka station in Bunkyo Ward at about 7:55pm. After brief questioning, she confessed to the charges of drug use and at around 9:30pm she was transferred to the Shibuya station (photo). Only now are related stories emerging about Noripi’s change in behavior since her marriage ten years ago to Takaso Yuichi (41), a self-proclaimed pro surfer and business owner. Early last year a tattoo was spotted on her left ankle, something not considered in keeping with her pure and innocent image. Showbiz sources say she had lost a lot of weight and was behaving erratically lately.