Category Archives: Entertainment News

Talento Hasegawa Rie (37) has stayed true to form in her latest romance, going for a guy who is old enough to be her father. She and actor Ishida Junichi (56) had an on-again, off-again romance for more than eight years. But he ended up marrying someone even younger, pro golfer Higashio Riko (34). And now the latest issue of woman’s weekly “Josei Seven” has reported that Hasegawa’s new beau is none other than actor Kanda Masaki (59). The couple have been seen in and around Tokyo and coming in and out of Kanda’s apartment building in the capital. Management for both stars have acknowledged the relationship, though in Kanda’s case they commented that marriage was unlikely.

The pair’s romance is said to have started back in June, shortly after Hasegawa was a guest on the TBS morning show “Asada! Nama Desu Tabi Salada,” which is hosted by Kanda. These days Hasegawa’s TV appearances are mostly in her capacity as a “vegetable sommelier” and the show featured her doing a food report from southern Italy. She is also an accomplished marathon runner.

Kanda was of course previously one half of the biggest couple in Japanese showbiz. He married super idol singer Matsuda Seiko (48, profile) in 1985, and they had one child, talento Kanda Sayaka (24). But the marriage ended in divorce in 1997. As a divorcee, Kanda was linked with actress Ikegami Kimiko (51) and a Ginza hostess bar “mama-san.”

Matsumoto Takahiro (49) has been nominated for a whole bunch of Grammys. Well, he has to share them. The B’z guitarist, billed as Tak Matsumoto, collaborated with Larry Carlton (62) on the successful album “Take Your Pick,” which has been nominated in no less than nine Grammy categories: Record of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Pop Instrumental Album, Best Pop Instrumental Performance, Best Rock Instrumental Performance, Best Instrumental Composition, Best Instrumental Arrangement, Best Engineered Album, Producer of the Year – Non-Classical. Carlton already has 18 Grammy nominations and three awards under his belt for his jazz guitar releases. His main style is fusion, but he’s also happy to play rock or pop, and he’s known for his session work with Steely Dan, Michael Jackson and others. The Grammy awards ceremony will be held in Los Angeles on February 13.

Thanks largely to the huge and loyal B’z fan base, the “Take Your Pick” Japan tour sold out 18 shows in just 20 minutes. The tour culminated in a spectacular headlining performance at the world famous Tokyo Jazz Festival in early September. The 12-track album, recorded last year and released worldwide in June, entered the Oricon charts at No. 2, a rare feat for an instrumental recording.

The Grammy nods are not the first recognition that Matsumoto has received in the U.S. In November 2007, B’z became the first Asian artists to be inducted into the Hollywood Rock Walk.
Related stories:
B’z Inducted into Hollywood Rock Walk (Nov. 20, 2007)

More updates on the Ichikawa Ebizo (32, photo) assault case. The latest details on the half-Japanese, half-American man for whom an arrest warrant has been issued include a report in the Sankei Shimbun newspaper that he was possibly the victim of the incident. The 26-year-old man, who has a wife and twin children has told friends that he didn’t throw the first punch. He also suffered injuries in the fight with Ebizo, and has a doctor’s letter saying he will need about two weeks to recover from his injuries. He says he has no intention of going on the run but has not turned himself in to Tokyo police because the media reports on the incident have been “unfair.”

If the claims that Ebizo was not simply a victim of assault but actually started the fight prove to be true and he is prosecuted, it would have serious repercussions for his career. In addition to any legal penalties, probably no more than a few hundred thousand yen, he would be expected to go through a self-imposed period of penitence. He would not be able to appear in a stage production scheduled for January. If the show is cancelled the losses would be several hundred million yen, and even if Ebizo were replaced by another actor, ticket cancellations would be likely as he is the star of the show. He would also lose several lucrative commercial contracts, with the cost of losing his three major contracts believed to be about ¥500 million.
Related stories:
Ebizo was “Looking for a Fight” (Dec. 1, 2010)
Related stories:
Warrant Issued for Ebizo Assault (Nov. 30, 2010)

Kato Koji on the Mend
Talento Kato Koji (41) made a telephone appearance yesterday on the NTV morning show he regularly presents. He spoke about the 2-hour surgery he underwent on November 29 to repair the fracture dislocation to his right ankle that he suffered playing futsal. He expressed his surprise after the surgery that he had 5 bolts inserted in his ankle. He is expected to be out of the hospital in about a week and will return to work after a period of rehabilitation.

Rockers Luna Sea announced yesterday that they will be playing the first ever free show at Tokyo Dome this Christmas. The band, currently on a comeback after a 3-year hiatus, will perform regular paid shows on December 23 & 24, but have added a free show on Christmas Day. The only condition for the “Lunacy Kurofukugentei Gig” is that fans must wear black, an idea the band used a couple of times in their indie days. A lottery for the 50,000 tickets opens on the band’s official site today.

Luna Sea are currently on their 20th anniversary “Reboot” world tour, which they kicked off with a concert in Germany on November 27. Their first tour in ten years, it will end with the Tokyo shows. The band reunited back in May, launching Facebook and Twitter accounts, and have released a new song and video on the date of every full moon since. They have moved to the Avex record label as of today and are recording an album of covers of their own songs. “Luna Sea” is scheduled for release on March 16, 2011.

More details are emerging about last week’s assault on kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo (32). It has been reported that he was not exactly the innocent victim he has claimed to be. His provocative behavior included hair pulling and forcing his drinking partner to drink tequila from an ashtray. Police have confirmed a DNA match between Ebizo and the blood found spattered in and near the Minami Aoyama bar where the assault took place.

Meanwhile, the man for whom an arrest warrant has been issued is described as a 26-year-old, half-Japanese, half-American who was a promising soccer player in his youth. A talented but unmotivated striker for the Tokyo Verdy junior youth team, he was thought to have a future in the J-League. But after graduating junior high school, he was increasingly in trouble with the police and ended up as leader of a “bosozoku” street gang. His current whereabouts are still unknown and police are trying to get him to turn himself in.

The kabuki production in Kyoto in which Ebizo was to appear started its scheduled run at the Minamiza theater yesterday. Ebizo’s role was performed by Kataoka Nizaemon (66), and the packed house didn’t seem to mind the change in the lineup. It means that Kataoka and Bando Tamazaburo (60), two of the leading stars of Kabuki, are teamed up again as they were last year. The decision to go ahead with the production was a given, as tickets for the first two weeks were sold out. Tickets for the closing fortnight, which went on sale Monday, have also been selling well.

The situation with another production scheduled for January is less clear. Ebizo is expected to need about 2 months to make a full recovery following reconstructive surgery on his face. But due to the large number of shows on around the country during the festive New Year season there is a shortage of actors who can take his place for the January 3-25 run at Le Theatre Ginza in central Tokyo. So it is thought likely that he will try to take to the stage earlier than his doctors would like, which of course would delight fans and go some way towards making up for the trouble he’s caused the kabuki world.

NHK have managed to snag at least one headline-worthy act for this year’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen.” When the lineup for the 61st annual New Year’s Eve song battle was announced last week, it was noticeably short of surprises or “medama” (“standout,” lit. eyeball) artists. But yesterday it was announced that Southern All Stars vocalist Kuwata Keisuke (54) would appear, just six months after he underwent surgery for esophageal cancer. It will be his first time to perform on the live concert as a solo artist. He is being billed as a “special guest,” as was legendary rocker Yazawa Eikichi (61) last year, in what will be his first public appearance since a concert by his wife and fellow SAS member, Hara Yuko (53), on July 4.

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Tokyo man following last week’s assault on kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo (32). The 26-year-old man is said to have beaten Ichikawa, leaving him with facial injuries including a broken cheekbone and a lost tooth, after they got into an argument at a bar in the central Tokyo district of Nishi Azabu in the early hours of Thursday morning. The actor’s wife, talento Kobayashi Mao (28), called police after her bloodied husband returned home shortly after 7am. He was taken to hospital and a formal complaint was filed with Tokyo police on Sunday. A kabuki production that was scheduled to start today at the Minamiza theater in Kyoto has been postponed.

No specific details has yet been released on the alleged assailant, except that he is said to look like hulking former NFL player and K1 fighter Bob Sapp. It is widely assumed that he is a member of the yakuza, or Japanese mob. Ichikawa had been out drinking all night with several kabuki colleagues before ending up at the Nishi Azabu bar. There he drank a mob boss – who he says he met for the first time but is refusing to name – under the table, at which point the trouble started. Police found blood spattered on the wall and emergency stairs of the building where Ichikawa was dragged down eleven flights of stairs.

Singer Silvia died yesterday afternoon of lung cancer at a Tokyo hospital. She was 52. Real name Matsuda Rieko, the Osaka native made her singing debut in 1979 when she was scouted to be the first vocalist for the group Los Indios. Success was immediate as they had a million-selling hit with their debut single “Wakaretemo Sukina Hito.” While with the group and later as a solo performer, Silvia often paired up with male singers and was known as the Queen of Duets. She and Sugawara Yoichi (77) had a hit with “Amant” in 1982.

Silvia was diagnosed with lung cancer in May 2009 and was told that her condition was already too advanced to be helped by surgery. She was given six months to live, but continued to perform while undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatment. She released a single, which was to be her last, in October 2009. As recently as August she was on stage for an event in Hiroshima. But she was re-hospitalized in September and was in a coma for the last two months. Her ex-husband and teenage son spent almost every day at her bedside.

The TBS network announced yesterday that they are postponing the airing of a docu-drama on the famous 1987 bombing of Korean Air Flight 858 by North Korean agents. The decision was made following Tuesday’s artillery attack by North Korea on the South. The 2-hour show was scheduled to be aired on November 29. It includes an interview with one of the bombers, Kim Hyon Hui (48, photo), who was given the death sentence in 1989, but was pardoned by the South Korean president. The show also includes a dramatic recreation of the 1987 incident, in which all 115 passengers on a flight from Baghdad to Seoul were killed, based on Kim’s account.

The interview was carried out this summer when Kim, author of the book “The Tears of My Soul,” visited Japan under heavy security. She also met with relatives of Japanese citizens who were kidnapped by North Korean agents during the 1970s and 1980s. The visit – which required special government clearance as Kim is still a criminal due to her use of a false Japanese passport – and the VIP treatment given to Kim was heavily criticized by the media.

No.3 for Miho, Izam
Talento Yoshioka Miho (30) and singer Izam (38) sent a fax to the media yesterday to announce the arrival of their third child, a baby boy. The former cross-dressing vocalist of visual-kei rock band Shazna, Izam is now a variety show regular. He’s usually the butt of jokes about the abuse he takes from his younger but domineering wife.

Kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo (32) was taken to hospital this morning with a reported head wound, according to the Sankei Sports newspaper. His wife, talento Kobayashi Mao (28) called for an ambulance around 7:20 this morning saying her husband was bleeding from an injury to the side of his head. Police from the Meguro station near the actor’s home in Tokyo said the call came after Ichikawa had returned home. They are planning to question him about the nature of the injury, suggesting it might have been the result of violence.

Ichikawa just yesterday cancelled a press conference scheduled for today to announce a kabuki show at the Le Theatre Ginza next January. The eldest son of kabuki veteran Ichikawa Danjuro (64), he was given te stage name Ebizo XI in 2004 and is considered the brightest young star in the traditional theater world. He married Kobayashi in an elaborate showbiz wedding in March, but was long considered one of Japan’s biggest playboys.
Related stories:
Ebizo, Mao Hold Wedding and Huge Reception (Mar. 30, 2010)