Category Archives: Entertainment News

Silly Award Update: Chosen for their good-looking teeth this year were actress Nagasawa Masami (20) and actor Fujiki Naohito (35), who were named as “Best Smile of the Year” at a ceremony at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. The award is given every November 8 (11/8 can be read as “ii-ha,” or “good teeth”) by the Japan Dentists Federation. Comedian Ota Hikari (45) was one of eight famous people chosen for this year’s “Mannenhitsu Best Coordinate” award, given to people who look best with a fountain pen! Actor Tanihara Shousuke (35) and actress Igawa Haruka (31) are this year’s winners of the “Best Formalist” award, for looking good in formal wear. Tanihara used the event to announce that he became a father last month, when his wife Emi (29) had a baby girl. The couple, who married in March, also have a son from Emi’s first marriage to actor Ishida Issei (32). Igawa denied rumors that she and designer Matsumoto Atou, who married last November, are expecting a baby.

• Someone who did have a baby was Fuji TV announcer Nishiyama Kikue (38), who gave birth to her first child, a girl, at a Tokyo hospital yesterday. She has been married to a fellow Fuji TV employee since 1997.

• Moving up in the popularity stakes are teen techno pop trio Perfume. On Wednesday night they played a show for 1,000 fans, their biggest audience yet, at the Liquid Room in Tokyo’s Ebisu. The show was named “Seventh Heaven, Iikibun”, a play on the 7-Eleven chainstore’s catchphrase. The large turnout had member Aa-chan (18) in tears of happiness (and a runny nose!). The group’s catchy single “Polyrhythm” entered the Oricon weekly chart at No.7. They’ve been featured on the ‘serious’ NHK show “Music Japan” and are considered candidates for an appearance on “Kohaku Uta Gassen” on New Year’s Eve.

• I’ve never been a fan of actress Fukada Kyoko (25) but she does have staying power. She’s been chosen to play the lead in next year’s TV Asahi comedy “Mirai Kyoshi Meguru”, making it 12 years in a row that she’s appeared in a private network drama series. Starting with NTV’s “FiVE” in 1995, she’s appeared in a steady stream of TV series and movies, despite having the acting ability of a wooden plank. In the upcoming comedy series, she plays cram school English teacher Yoshida Meguru who, on a full stomach, can see the people around her as they’ll be twenty years into the future.

• Suzuki Emi (22), a popular model in the teen fashion magazine world, is said to be two-timing. Today’s issue of weekly gossip magazine “Friday” says he is seeing both young actor Shibuya Kento (19) and a 33-year-old entrepreneur. A nervous Suzuki dodged questions about her love life at a PR event yesterday.

As predicted here back in January, Leah Dizon’s career in Japan is steamrolling ahead. The 21-year-old American pin-up girl/singer performed her first solo concert last night at O-East in Shibuya, one of the most popular districts for Tokyo’s youth. The 90-minute set included 16 songs, several sexy outfits and minimal chat, though her Japanese skills have noticeably improved over the last year. Cosplay is a big part of her act, and yesterday’s concert ended with her wearing the yellow cap, pleated miniskirt and backpack of a typical Japanese elementary school student. She only came to Japan for the first time in 2006 but already had a fan base here, largely from the cosplay photos she posted on her blog. 2006 saw the release of a best-selling photo book and Dizon’s self-promotion included a home-made video of her singing an Amuro Namie hit. The whole thing went so smoothly that some started to ask whether she was really a Japanese after all. The half French-American, half Chinese-Philippina was born in Las Vegas and raised in Los Angeles. She made her official recording debut in February and has released three singles and an album. Sources say she has a good chance of being invited to appear on NHK’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen” on New Year’s Eve and maybe even being named Best Newcomer at the Japan Record Awards. Named after the Star Wars character Princess Leah, she is often referred to as the “gravurekai no kurofune” or “Black Ship of the Pin-up World”, a reference to the Black Ships of Admiral William Perry that helped end Japan’s centuries of isolation in the mid-1850s.

A couple of celebrity pregnancies were revealed yesterday. Popular actress Shinohara Ryoko (34, photo left) and her husband, stage actor Ichimura Masachika (58), are expecting their first child next spring. They’ve been married since December 2005. Shinohara said at a PR event back in early September that she had put on weight, in an effort to head off any questions about a possible pregnancy. As she was wearing high heels at the time, the media fell for her ruse. She has been in a couple of hits this year: the movie “Unfair” and the NTV drama series “Haken no Hinkaku”.

Meanwhile, TV Asahi announcer Ishii Kiwa (29, photo right) is also four months pregnant. She married Shimada Toru, president of the Rakuten Eagles baseball team, in July and they held a wedding ceremony last month. Ishii quit her regular post on the “Yajiuma Plus” morning show in September and has since been making occasional appearances on other news shows. She says she plans to continue working after becoming a mother. Shimada is once-divorced and has a daughter from his first marriage.

• Fuji TV is making a drama version of the popular girl’s manga “Hachimitsu to Kurobaa” (Honey and Clover). Already adapted as a hit anime and movie and known by the nickname “hachikuro”, the series will air on Tuesday nights from January 8. The beautiful 15-year-old Narumi Riko has been selected to play the lead role of an art college freshman, while her love interest will be played by Johnny’s Jr. member Ikuta Toma (23).

• Silly Award Update: talento Mika Mifune (25) was named the winner of this year’s Best Hair Award yesterday. The prize, given by the All Japan Beauty Shop Owner’s Federation, is awarded to the celebrity judged to have…well, the best hair. Mifune turned up for the award ceremony sporting the rockabilly, or “regent” hairstyle that her musician husband, Takahashi Joji (49), is famous for. She is the daughter of the late screen legend Mifune Toshiro.

• Comedian Hayakawa Nobuyuki (27), better known as Nobu of the comedy duo Chidori, is engaged to be married next spring. His fiancee is a 27-year-old Osaka resident and apparel company employee. The couple have been dating since they were in high school.

Singer and actor Gackt is to release a full album of songs from the hugely popular “Kidou Senshi Gundam” (Mobile Suit Gundam) anime series. He chose yesterday to make the announcement in honor of the 66th birthday of Gundam director Tomino Yoshiyuki. A longtime fan of the series (he’s even said to have memorized most of the lines by the main characters), Gackt has recorded songs for the trilogy of “Kidou Senshi Z Gundam” movies released over the last couple of years. In addition to those five tracks, the album “0079-0088” will include three covers of tunes from the original 1981-82 “Kidou Senshi Gundam” movie series (“Suna no Jujika”, “Ai Senshi”, and “Meguriai”). The album is scheduled to go on sale December 19 and a DVD box set of the original series will be released on December 21, and are sure to be big sellers over Christmas. Fans who can’t wait can get a sneak preview of Gackt’s version of “Ai Senshi” on Fuji TV’s “Hey! Hey! Hey!” music show on November 12.

• Dreams Come True member Nakamura Masato (49) announced on his blog yesterday that their new album will be released a week later than planned. “And I Love You” was scheduled for an early-December release but everything was put on hold following the September 26 death of Sueda Ken, common-law husband of vocalist Yoshida Miwa (42). The new release date is December 12. The album includes the song “Moshimo Kumo Nara”, for which Sueda filmed the duo’s promo video in New York last year. DCT were scheduled to make TV appearances in support of the album, but the timing of Yoshida’s return to work is still undecided.

• Talento Shimizu Kuniaki is a father for the fourth time at the age of 57. He married his manager, Keiko (34), in January and she gave birth to a son on Sunday. Shimizu was married to talento Shimizu Kuuko from 1976 to 1982 (she died in 1991) and to a woman 14 years his junior from 1984 to 2003, with whom he had three daughters. He and Keiko plan to hold a wedding ceremony near their Lake Kawaguchi home on December 1.

• Fans of Carole King (65) had to wait 17 years to get a second chance to see her perform in Japan. She headlined the first show by “Three Great American Voices”, along with Mary J. Blige (36) and Fergie (32), at the Osaka Castle Hall last night. 8,000 fans of all ages were treated to a 3-hour show of hits old and new. The trio play the same venue tonight before heading to Saitama Super Arena on the 10th and Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on the 12-13th.

Young actor Watanabe Dai (23) seems to be making a name for himself in movies set in and around WWII. The son of Hollywood actor Watanabe Ken (48), who starred in Clint Eastwood’s gritty WWII movie “Letters From Iwo Jima,” he has his second movie leading role in “Saigo no Soukeisen”, a college baseball movie set in 1943. It tells of a final send-off game between students of Waseda and Keio Universities before they head off to war. The project, directed by Kouyama Seijirou started filming in Nagano Prefecture last month and will being distributed by the independent Cine Qua Non, the company behind recent hits “Hula Girl”, “Pacchigi!” and “Nobody Knows”. Watanabe made his acting debut in 2002 and had his first leading role just last July in Miyazaka Takeshi’s “Kikoku no Senjo” (poster above), set in postwar Hiroshima. has also appeared in the 2005 blockbuster “Otoko no Yamato”, about Japan’s most famous WWII battleship, and this summer’s “Ora wa, Kimi no Tame ni Koso Shini ni Iku”, about young kamikaze pilots and written by Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintaro.

Singer Hitomi (31) chose a strange date to announce her impending divorce from her husband of five years. She and design company employee “U-san” (38), formerly a rapper with the hip hop group Gasboys, married on November 2 2002, so her announcement on her blog yesterday came on their 5th anniversary. Sources say they have not yet filed for divorce but plan to do so soon. They have no children. Hitomi is with the Avex record label, who refused to comment on what they said was a private matter. She started out as a magazine model and made her CD debut under producer Komuro Tetsuya in 1994. Her discography includes eight original albums and more than 30 singles.

• Miike Takashi’s 2000 film “Audition” was the only Japanese feature to be included in Time magazine’s recent Top 25 horror films of all time. The listing is probably not one all horror fans will take too seriously (it includes Disney’s 1942 classic “Bambi”) but it would have been unforgivable not to have included at least one Japanese movie. Especially considering how influential Japanese horror has been in Hollywood in the last few years.

The Chunichi Dragons had to wait 53 years for their second Japan Series crown, and they won it in perfect style in front of their home fans last night at the Nagoya Dome. Surprise starter Yamai Daisuke and star closer Iwase Hitoki combined to pitch the first ever perfect game in the 57-year history of the Japan Series, totally dominating the Nippon Ham Fighters to clinch the series 4-1. Yamai struck out six over eight perfect innings and Iwase retired the final three batters in order in the ninth. Losing pitcher Darvish Yu (20), who got the win in game 1, only gave up the one run and struck out 11, showing again why he is considered the best young hurler in the country. Journeyman power hitter Nakamura Norihiro, who had four RBIs in five games, was in tears as he was named Series MVP. After becoming one of the best hitters in Japan in the 1990s, he failed twice in attempts to make it in the Major Leagues and took a huge pay cut to play for the Dragons this season. It is his first ever Japan Series title.

The series was an exact reversal of last year, but this time the Dragons were on a roll having swept the Hanshin Tigers and the Yomiuri Giants in the first-ever Central League playoffs. It was third time lucky for manager Ochiai Hiromitsu, whose teams had fallen at the final hurdle in and 2006. Fighters coach Trey Hillman, who will lead the Kansas City Royals next season, said, “They outpitched us, they outhit us and they threw a perfect game at us and that’s pretty good.” He was philosophical about the last game of his five years in Japan, “This was a very rewarding experience for me,” he said. “I like to think I’m a better person because of the time I’ve spent in this society.”

• Talento couple Fujii Takashi (35) and Otoha (26) became proud parents on October 31. Married since July 2005, they announced the arrival of their baby girl to the media by fax yesterday. Also a mother for the first time is singer/songwriter Michiyo (28), who revealed on her website yesterday that she recently had a baby girl. She made her debut in 1997, produced by SharanQ, whose vocalist Tsunku is the man behind the Hello! Project.

Rakugo-ka and talento Hayashiya Ippei (36) announced at a Rakugo Association press conference in Tokyo yesterday that he plans to take on his late father’s stage name. Real name Ebina Taisuke, he will become the second Hayashiya Sampei, with a series of events to mark the succession from March 21, 2009. His father, one of the leading figures in rakugo during the postwar period, passed away in 1980, leaving the Sampei name unused for almost three decades. Though normally Ippei’s elder brother would have been expected to take his father’s name, he instead succeeded as the 9th generation Hayashiya Shouzou (44) last year. That was said to have been because he has been more successful as a talento and media personality than a rakugo-ka. He was penalized earlier this year for tax evasion.

• It seems that former idol singer Akasaka Akira (34), busted for drugs at the weekend, had been having a bad year. His lawyer revealed yesterday that he and his wife of six years divorced at the end of March, with her retaining custody of their son. Akasaka has said that he first started using amphetamines in April. He is still being held at the Ohtsuka olice station. Fellow former Hikaru Genji member Sato Atsuhiro (34) apologized to his close friend via the media for not having realized the trouble he was in. He also apologized to Akasaka’s fans for the inevitable cancellation of a dinner show that had been scheduled for December.

• Japan-based singer Agnes Chan (52) performed in Beijing yesterday, her first concert since undergoing surgery for breast cancer last month. The charity concert at the Great Hall of the People marked the 35th anniversary of the normalization of ties between China and Japan. In the audience was her 81-year-old mother, who had flown in from Hong Kong. Chan sang 17 songs in English, Japanese, Cantonese and Mandarin. The concert had originally been planned for September 25, but was postponed due to a metformin with the Communist Party Congress. Chan was found to have breast cancer in mid-September and underwent surgery in early October.

Actor and former Johnny’s Jimusho idol singer Akasaka Akira (34) has been arrested for drug possession. He was found with a gram of methamphetamine stimulant drugs in the early hours of Sunday morning when stopped by police on the street in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward. Akasaka was a member of the hugely popular 1980s roller-skating idol group Hikaru Genji, for whom current superstars SMAP were backing dancers. After the group broke up in 1995, Akasaka became an actor, working mostly in theatrical drama and musicals. Johnny’s announced to the media by fax that they had fired him from the agency as of Monday.

• Rakugo-ka Sanyuutei Enkou was discovered dead at his Tokyo home on October 26, police revealed this week. He was 58. Neighbors reported to his apartment caretaker that they hadn’t seen him in some time, and he was found on the floor of his bedroom. He’s believed to have died of heart failure around October 11. The traditional comic storyteller was single and lived alone, and had been experiencing health problems for some time.

Former Morning Musume member Goto Maki (22) has left the Hello! Project. She announced the decision as she finished her nationwide tour on Sunday, saying the recent arrest of her younger brother is causing “meiwaku”, or hassle, for other members of the musical collective.

Hello! Project is a loose and often interconnected collection of girl groups which grew out of the massive success that the Svengali-like producer Tsunku had with “MoMusu” in the late 1990s. Goto joined MoMusu in 1999 and of the several “graduates” who have continued with solo careers, she is the most successful. Largely thanks to her fame, her brother Yuuki (21) had a brief career as one half of the duo EE Jump but his wayward behavior quickly got him into trouble. He was arrested earlier this month on charges of leading a gang of young thieves whose modus operandi (a member rented a getaway truck in his own name) made them seem like teenage delinquents rather than hardened criminals. But Maki could hardly avoid being tainted by the scandal and her move is seen as the only way to atone for it. When the time came for her first “talk break” at yesterday’s show at Omiya Sonic City, she simply bowed deeply to the audience as a sign of apology. She held the bow for so long that fans fell into an eerie silence before breaking into warm applause. Also said to be a factor in her decision is that she is aiming to build a solo career along the lines of Beyonce or Janet Jackson and so felt somewhat hampered by being one of a large group of idol singers. As she entered her 20s, she has been creating more of a sexy image.

• Another former MoMusu member, Abe Natsumi (26), was apologizing to fans yesterday, too. At a show in Osaka that kicked off her latest tour, she said she was sorry for “worrying” fans with the trafic accident she caused earlier in the month. Meanwhile, the news is brighter for the current MoMusu lineup. A 10th anniversary collection of the group’s hits has made No.1 in the latest Oricon album chart. With 11 albums now having made the Top 10, they share top spot for a female group with top 1980s band Princess Princess.

• Taking the No.1 and No.2 spots on the Oricon singles chart are Bump of Chicken with “Hana no Na” and “May Day”. It’s the first time an artist has held both the top two spots since Rag Fair did it more than five years ago.

• Talento Rinka (34) is reaching out to all those Japanese women with a broken heart. She was chosen to record a cover of Blondie’s 1999 song “Maria” as the theme tune for the Japan release of Korean movie “200 Pounds Beauty”. The movie is based on a Japanese manga by Suzuki Yumiko, “Kanna-san Daiseikou Desu!” Producers say they chose Rinka because of her popularity among young Japanese women and her “dramatic life”. The recently revealed breakup with her boyfriend of six years no doubt influenced Rinka as she wrote her own Japanese lyrics for the song. Blondie keyboard player Jimmy Destry also took part in the project. “Maria” goes on sale December 12 and the movie opens in Japanese theaters on December 15.