Category Archives: Entertainment News

The lineup for this year’s 61st “Kohaku Uta Gassen” (Red-White Song Battle) was announced yesterday. The annual concert on New Year’s Eve has traditionally been one of the most watched shows on TV, though ratings have been in decline for some years. The red and white teams will be made up of 44 acts this year, down from last year’s 50. And there will be only 5 newcomers appearing for the first time, matching the lowest number ever. Among them is singer Uemura Kana (27, photo front row, 2nd right), who had a breakthrough hit this year with “Toire no Kamisama” (God of the Toilet). In spite the title, the song is dedicated to Uemura’s late grandmother. At 9 minutes and 52 seconds, it will be longest song ever performed on the show.

Although K-pop acts continue to be very popular in Japan, there will be no Korean artists on the show this year. There are no big surprises or gimmicks in the lineup like last year’s appearances by Susan Boyle (49) and Yazawa Eikichi (61). It includes the usual Johnny’s Jimusho artists like SMAP (profile), Tokio and Arashi, who will be on emcee duty along with actress Matsushita Nao (25). Arashi drew a peak audience rating of 42% on last year’s show, while Matsushita was the star of the year’s most popular NHK drama series “Gegege no Nyobo.”

Getting the call up for the first time in 9 years will be 1980s idol Go Hiromi (55) and 60s idol Kayama Yuzo (73), who is celebrating his 50th year in showbiz. Rockers L’Arc En Ciel, who recorded the theme song for NHK’s coverage of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, will appear for the first time in 10 years. And making his record-stretching 47th appearance on the show will be enka veteran Kitajima Saburo (74, profile). Kohaku will air on NHK from 7:30pm on December 31.

The Japan premiere of “Norwegian Wood” was held on Tuesday, a national holiday. Director Tran Anh Hung (47, photo rear left), stars Matsuyama Kenichi (25, front 2nd left) and Kikuchi Rinko (29, front 2nd right) and other cast members arrived at the event, the first ever of its type held on the campus of Waseda University, in a vintage Cadillac. They walked the red carpet and signed autographs for the 1,00 or so fans who turned out. Speaking about the film, Matsuyama said, “It’s a wonderful work, almost too good to express in words. Though I say so myself, I think the acting is perfect.” It is the first big screen adaption of Murakami Haruki’s international best-seller, which has been translated into 36 languages. Waseda is Murakami’s alma mater and also a location in the movie.

The movie, which received a 3-minute standing ovation at the Venice International Film Festival in September, opens in Japan on December 11. It also features the acting debut of model Mizuhara Kiko (20, front left).
Related stories:
Matsuken, Rinko Land Choice Roles (May 15, 2009)
Norwegian Wood to Use Beatles Original (Jul. 14, 2010)

Hirosue Expecting Again
Meanwhile, management for actress Hirosue Ryoko (30), who married candle artist Candle June (36) last month, announced on her website yesterday that she is four months pregnant. The statement also said that she hopes to get back to work as soon as possible after having the baby. She is the mother of a 6-year-old son from her marriage to model/designer Okazawa Takahiro (35), which ended in March 2008. She was also five months pregnant at the time of her marriage to Okazawa in December 2003.

J-pop star Utada Hikaru (27) yesterday spoke publicly for the first time about her recent decision to take an indefinite break from her music career. Appearing on the J-Wave radio station in Tokyo, she talked with DJ Chris Peppler on his “Tokio Hot100” show.

He jokingly referred to her comment that she wanted to engage in more “human activities,” to which she replied, “I want to take a step away from musical activities, to return almost to zero.” She also said she’d like to spend more time getting to know her father, with whom she has had a mostly working relationship for the last decade, and doing volunteer work overseas. She went on, “I didn’t want to be a woman in my 40s and 50s who can’t do anything for herself without the help of a manager. I guess I never really grew up.” A mega-star since her mid-teens, she said, “I didn’t know what my rent was. I never had to think about basic things like paying my utility bills or balancing a bank book. That may be cute in a 15- or 16-year-old, but I thought it was pretty uncool to become that kind of adult.” She used the phrase “itai otona,” which literally means “painful adult” and it just might catch on with the Japanese media and public.

The show also featured Utada’s new single “Goodbye Happiness,” which is included on the hits album “Single Collection Vol.2” that goes on sale Wednesday. She referred to it as an “antithesis to today’s pop music.” Utada directed the promo video, which has already been viewed over 1.2 million times on YouTube. Done in the style of a computer video chat, it appears to have been done in one take and includes references to earlier videos she has made. Utada will perform two concerts at the Yokohama Arena on December 8 & 9 before going into early “retirement.”

Promo video for “Goodbye Happiness”:

Young British actor Rupert Grint (22) was in Tokyo yesterday to promote the latest installment of the “Harry Potter” movie series. On his first visit to Japan since 2004, Grint was accompanied by actresses and fellow redheads Evanna Lynch (19) and Bonnie Wright (19). He expressed his sadness and emptiness now that filming of the movie series has ended, saying it has been his whole life for the last decade. He added that he had hoped to have chance to catch some sumo while he was in town, but his busy scheduled didn’t allow it. “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1” opens in Japan today while the closing installment is scheduled for a July 15, 2011 release.

TBS announced yesterday that it was planning to re-broadcast the popular and critically lauded drama series “Jin.” And in what is described as a first for any network, it will air the repeat showing during prime time. The series, which with 30 top awards has won more domestic and international recognition than any other TBS drama, was originally aired in the autumn season of last year. A “director’s cut” of the full 9-hour series will be re-shown in two parts from 7pm on December 27-28. A sequel is planned for next year’s spring season.

“Jin” is the story of a brain surgeon (Osawa Takao, 42) who finds himself transported back in time to the late 1860s and the end of Edo era. Last December’s final episode of the series had an average audience rating of 25.3% in the Kanto region, the highest figure for a drama series in 2009. Last month it won four of the top prizes, including best serial drama, at the Tokyo Drama Awards. It also took a top prize at the Seoul Drama Awards in September and a Buyers Award at Cannes last month.

Young Actors Get Big Break
Young actors Toda Erika (22) and Miura Haruma (20) have been named to the lead roles in an upcoming Fuji TV romantic drama series. The pair will play the roles of young school teachers in “Taisetsuna Koto wa Subete Kimi ga Oshietekureta,” which will air in the highest profile prime time spot, Monday nights at 9pm.

The latest showbiz gossip brings together a couple who’ve both been on the romantic roller coaster. Model Tominaga Ai (28) dropped a hint last month that her love life was healthy but didn’t name any names. But according to the Sankei Sports newspaper it turns out that the man in her life is none other than photographer/film director Kiriya Kazuaki (42). The two divorcees have been spotted out on dates in and around the capital several times this year.

Kiriya married J-pop star Utada Hikaru (27) in September 2002, a marriage that lasted four and a half years. Some saw it as the relatively unknown Kiriya riding on his wife’s coat tails, and during the next few years he directed promotional videos for her and made his big screen debut with “Casshern.” Tominaga married a Paris-based Japanese patissier in October 2004 and gave birth to a baby boy the following March. But that marriage ended in April of last year and she and her 5-year-old son moved back to her family home in the Tokyo suburbs. With her son starting school next spring, Tominaga recently bought a home in the city, which also allowed her and Kiriya to spend more time together.

Utada’s Final Round
In related news, it was announced that Utada will provide the theme song for the latest big screen adaptation of the popular boxing manga/anime “Ashita no Jo.” The new song, “Show Me Love (Not a Dream),” was recorded for her upcoming hits album but was also penned at the request of the movie’s director, Sori Fumihiko (46). Starring Johnny’s Jimusho aidoru Yamashita Tomohisa (25), the movie opens on February 11, 2011. Utada recently announced that she will be taking an indefinite break from her music career. Her final scheduled live performances, at the Yokohama Arena on December 8-9, will be broadcast live at 69 cinemas across the country.

Happier news for actress Hara Chiaki (36), who made a tearful announcement to the media yesterday. She revealed that she recently got married, while also talking about her ongoing battle with cancer. She said that she met her TV producer husband (37) on the set of a Fuji TV drama in 2007. When they started dating, she told him that she had undergone surgery for uterine cancer in February 2005 and was believed to have made a full recovery. But the cancer reappeared at the end of last year and she had her womb surgically removed in January.

Speaking to reporters yesterday, Hara tearfully thanked her husband for having been hugely supportive throughout the ordeal. She said that due to the ongoing treatment and because she has to wear a wig and suffers from swelling, she doesn’t wear a wedding ring and they have no plans for a wedding ceremony. She is scheduled to continue chemotherapy until May of next year.

Songwriter Hoshino Tetsuro died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital yesterday. He was 85. His funeral will be held in the central Tokyo district of Minami Aoyama on November 19. One of the most prolific lyricists of the postwar era, credited with more than 4,000 songs, Hoshino received multiple cultural awards for his contributions to the arts. He was chairman of the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers and honorary chairman of the Japanese Lyricists Association. Among his many hits, he penned the theme song for the hugely popular “Otoko wa Tsurai Yo” movie series and such enka classics as “Hakodate no Onna” (Kitajima Saburo, 1965), “365-ho no March” (Suizenji Kiyoko, 1968, photo right), and “Midaregami” (Misora Hibari, 1987).

After graduating high school, Hoshino went to work on a deep-sea fishing trawler. In 1952, while recovering from illness, he entered a magazine lyric writing contest. His work was recognized and he made his professional debut as a writer the following year. In his lyrics he portrayed the subtleties of human nature and the joys and suffering of life in a way that resonated with fans of enka ballads.

Tokyo police are investigating as a suicide the death of former actress Matsumoto Yuri (42) at the Meguro Ward, Tokyo home where she lived with her husband, actor Matsudaira Ken (56). She was found hanging by the neck from the doorknob of her bedroom by a babysitter at about 3am on Monday morning. According to management for Matsudaira, he has been away from home since November 2, as he is appearing in a stage production in Kyushu.

The couple married in October 2005 and held their wedding ceremony in April 2006 (photo), a period during which Matsudaira was riding a huge wave of popularity following the runaway success of his “MatsuKen Samba II” single. The story even made it as far as the New York Times. The cheesy song represented a complete change of image for the veteran actor, who was already a household name due to his lead role in the long-running TV Asahi samurai drama series “Abarenbo Shogun” (1978-2004). He was married to actress and former Takarazuka star Daichi Mao (54) from 1990 to 2004. Real name Suzuki Yuriko, Matsumoto was the daughter of an actor and a Takarazuka star. Her own career started out in 1983 when she was spotted performing with her father in an amateur song contest. She debuted as an aidorusinger the following year, a path she followed only briefly before making the switch to acting, mostly on the stage. Her showbiz career came to an end after she and Matsudaira married. She gave birth to a son in October 2006.

Popular talento Satoda Mai (26, photo left) is romantically involved with young baseball star Tanaka Masahiro (22, photo center). The two first met on the set of a TV show at the New Year. Both are natives of Hokkaido and Satoda performed on the official theme song for Tanaka’s team, the Rakuten Golden Eagles. They had enough in common that a relationship started early in the summer. When rumors of their romance broke in the media yesterday, they both updated their blogs acknowledging the relationship.

Satoda passed an audition to become a member of pop idol group Morning Musume in 2000 but decided to go to high school instead. She did become a member of the Hello! Project in 2002 when she assed an audition for Country Musume. She performed in a variety of pop idols groups until 2009, during which time she became a regular on TV variety shows and established a career as a talento and actress.

Tanaka became a national sensation in 2005 when he led the Komadai Tomakomai team to a second successive victory at the Koshien high school championship. The following year saw an epic battle between “Ma-kun,” then in his senior year, and Waseda Jitsugyo’s Saito Yuki, who became known as the “Handkerchief Prince.” Waseda won the showdown over two days and went on to win the championship. When Saito decided to go to Waseda University rather than turn pro, Tanaka became the hottest ticket in the draft. He has had a strong first few years but injury kept him out for much of the recently finished season.

From Hostess to Bride
Club hostess turned TV celeb Tachibana Kurumi (29, photo right) announced yesterday on the live TBS show “Sunday Japon” that she is married. She and the president of a major talent agency (42) registered their marriage on the romantic Tanabata holiday on July 7, and they held a wedding ceremony in Honolulu on November 11. Tachibana, who is famous for having been a top “kyabakura” (cabaret club) hostess and for proudly showing her cleavage on TV, is also a writer and a regular guest on the Sunday show. Indeed it was an appearance on the show last December that drew the attention of her future hubby, who contacted her through her publishing company. Yesterday she showed off her Harry Winston diamond wedding ring and also announced – as if it were an afterthought – that she is seven months pregnant.