Category Archives: Entertainment News

Popular actor Oda Yuji (42, photo left, profile) shocked his legions of female fans with the weekend’s announcement that he had married. He said on his official website that he and his 30-year-old bride tied the knot on August 16. Oda has been a star for more than 20 years but has been the source of virtually no romance rumors and very rarely talks about his private life.

Along with Fukuyama Masaharu (41, photo right), Oda was considered one of Japan’s most handsome showbiz bachelors. He is the star of the “Odoru Daisosasen” (Bayside Shakedown) movie series, the most successful Japanese movie franchise of all time. The third episode is currently in theaters and, with current revenues of over ¥6.5 billion, is the biggest Japanese box-office hit of the year.

Leading showbiz reporter Nashimoto Masaru died of lung cancer at a Tokyo hospital last Saturday, it was revealed yesterday. He was 65. His daughter, minor talento Nashimoto Marina (30), declined to speak to reporters gathered outside the family home as she headed to a temple for her father’s funeral.

Nashimoto spent most of his 40-year career as a reporter for TV Asahi before switching to TBS in 2005. He was a regular on many so-called wide shows, reporting on the various scandals and happy announcements from the showbiz world. He often butted heads with TV networks about what he could and couldn’t reveal on air, which of course added to his public appeal. His image was so strong that he often landed the role of showbiz reporter in TV dramas and movies. In 2006, he used his fame in slightly different way, making his debut as a soft porn video director.

His battle with cancer was made public in June. Though he was hospitalized for the last couple of months, he maintained his showbiz news blog almost up until the end.

The father of actress Shinohara Ryoko (37, photo left) died just three days after finally seeing his daughter in her wedding dress, it was revealed yesterday. Shinohara Katsuo died on August 17 at a Gunma Prefecture hospital were he had been undergoing treatment for a liver ailment for more than a year. He was 71. On Saturday he was allowed to leave the hospital in a wheelchair to attend a reception held by his daughter and her husband, actor Ichimura Masachika (61, photo right). The couple married five years ago but never held a wedding ceremony.

The father of the “bride” was in tears Saturday when he saw his daughter wearing a white wedding dress. His condition worsened during the event and he left the room. The event was about to be brought to an early close when it was realized they hadn’t had the traditional reading of a letter from the bride to her parents. Katsuo returned for one more emotional scene before he was taken back to the hospital. Ryoko attended his wake and funeral but was too overcome with shock to speak with anyone. She is the youngest of three children and she says she in particular was spoiled by her father. Her mother died in a traffic accident when she was two years old. Her father initially objected strongly to her relationship with the divorced and much older Ichimura. But in the end it was he who persuaded her to hold a press conference to announce their marriage in December 2005.

Financial troubles never seem to be too far from Japan’s biggest rock band. Japan Music Agency, who manage X Japan leader Yoshiki, revealed to the media yesterday that they are being asked to pay ¥2 billion for the use of images of the band’s late guitarist Hide. JMA have said that, depending on how things play out, they may take the matter to court. The wrangling over money is just the latest of many that have plagued the group since it achieved commercial success.

Headworks Organization is the company that represents the estate of Hide, who died under controversial circumstances in 1998. The firm is run by his brother Matsumoto Hiroshi (42), who seemed to be on good terms with the rest of the band during a memorial service for Hide held in May. During last week’s two concerts in Yokohama, Hide’s image was used on stage as it has been at all the band’s shows since their reunion in 2008. But the money problems began some time ago.

When X Japan reunited in 2008, they signed a ¥600 million contract with music production company Nexstar Corporation, who put on the band’s concerts. The deal included the use of some recordings, advance royalties and contract money. Nexstar reportedly made some ¥2.5 billion from concert ticket and merchandise sales over the following two years. But JMA never saw the money, and Yoshiki filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against Nexstar back in March seeking ¥375 million in damages. Headworks has reportedly received ¥300 million from Nexstar, and they have now instructed JMA to pay ¥2 billion to Nexstar or no longer be allowed to use Hide’s image.

The tangled financial web will hopefully not hinder the band’s upcoming assault on North America, with a concert tour due to start in September. As Yoshiki said, “I think the one who is suffering most in this is Hide. But with or without his image, we are still spreading our wings together.”

The media is speculating today about a new romance for actor Hagiwara Kenichi (60). Today’s issue of the women’s weekly magazine “Josei Seven” claims that the actor is involved with popular “housewife model” Tomita Rika (48) and that the pair are basically co-habiting at Hagiwara’s Yokohama home. He denied that they are living together, insisting that they are just good friends. But last night Tomita posted on her blog that she had just finalized her divorce from her former husband (52).

Hagiwara, popularly known by his nickname of Shoken, has had a very up and down life. He found fame as a teen rock vocalist in the mid 1960s and became a hugely popular actor in the early 1970s. A drug arrest in 1983 derailed his career for a full year, but he bounced back. There were further arrests, for a traffic accident in 2004 and attempted blackmail in 2005, which led to a suspended 18-month prison sentence and the end of his second marriage. This year, he performed in concert for the first time in seven years.

We hear a lot on TV about how young comedians struggle financially before establishing their careers. But duo Total Tenbosch have a very lucrative winning streak going. The pair were announced yesterday as the winners for the fifth time in a row of the “S1 Grand Battle, Round 2”, a funny video contest sponsored by Softbank Mobile and voted on by the network’s mobile phone subscribers. The win landed the duo prize money of ¥10 million, bringing their total from the contest to ¥30 million, and entry to the “S1 Grand Champion” round next March.

The afro-haired tsukomi half of the duo, Fujita Kensuke (34) said he would use his share of the winnings to bring up his son to be a pro baseball player. Then again, the baby’s not due to be born until October. The name Total Tenbosch is a mix of two ideas, the sci-fi movie “Total Recall” (Fujita is a fan) and the Dutch theme park Huis Ten Bosch in Kyushu, which was the suggestion of his comic partner Omura Tomohiro (35).

Actor Shimizu Kentaro (57) has been arrested yet again. The organized crime department of the Metropolitan Police announced yesterday that they had arrested the actor on suspicion of the use of “kakuseizai” (stimulant drugs). It is the sixth arrest for Shimizu, who was previously held on drug and reckless driving charges. His criminal record has probably only boosted his image as an on-screen gang boss, in a career that blurs the lines between fiction and reality.

Real name Sonoda Iwao, he was involved in a fatal traffic accident in 1973 and was fined for professional negligence resulting in death. His handsome looks brought him popularity on the youth TV show “Ginza Now” which led to a major hit with his debut single “Shitsuren Restaurant” in 1976. He had several more hits the following year, earning him a best newcomer award and a slot of the NHK “Kohaku Uta Gassen” New Year’s Eve concert. But his career had peaked by the time he was arrested in 1983 for marijuana possession. Marriage to an American model in 1985 was followed by another drug arrest and a career move to the “V Cinema” (straight-to-video) movie business. His marriage ended in 1991 and a third drug arrest in 1994 led to an 18-month prison sentence. The following years saw another return to movies, earning him the nickname “The Emperor of V Cinema,” and brief marriage to a woman 22 years younger and another spell in prison for drug use. His most recent brush with the law was in 2008 when he was arrested for an hit and run incident and received a 7-month prison sentence.

Julia Roberts (42, photo) has been a Hollywood star for two decades, so it came as a surprise to many that when she landed at Narita Airport yesterday, it was her very first time in Japan. She flew in by private jet with her husband, photographer Daniel Moder (41, photo right), and was welcomed at the airport by about 300 fans. She’s in Tokyo to promote her highly anticipated new movie, “Eat, Pray, Love.” Roberts will attend a press conference today and the Japan premiere of the movie at the Roppongi Hills Arena tomorrow night. She is expected to stay in Japan for a few days after that. Directed by Ryan Murphy, the movie opens in Japanese theaters on September 17.

Roberts is said to be the last of the major Hollywood stars to visit Japan, and that led to rumors that she had a dislike for the country. A spokesperson said yesterday, “It was just a matter of the timing never being right. This time, her children are a little bigger and she is the star of the movie, so everything fell into place.” Roberts and Moder have three children, 5-year-old twins and a son (3).

Macchan Gets Back to Work
Comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi (46) is returning to work today after his recent surgery, according to his management at Yoshimoto Creative Agency. One half of the veteran duo Downtown (profile), he has been on medical leave since the end of June and underwent surgery on his left hip joint in late July. Today, he will film an episode of the comedy show “Downtown no Gakinotsukaiya Arahende!!!” that will air on August 22. For the time being, as he is still undergoing rehabilitation, Matsumoto will not do any location shooting or indeed be on his feet for very long.

Has talento Yamamoto Mona (34, photo left) finally put her history of romantic scandals behind her? She and the owner of a real estate investment company got married in Tokyo yesterday. According to her management agency, she and her fiance went together to a municipal office and registered their marriage. They don’t currently have plans for a wedding ceremony and Yamamoto is reportedly not pregnant. She attended the Japan premiere of “The A Team” in Tokyo last night but gave no hint of her new marital status.

The couple tied the knot after a relationship of two years and three months, which means there was some overlap with a high-profile scandal that temporarily derailed her showbiz career. In July 2008 Yamamoto was photographed with married Yomiuri Giants baseball star Nioka Tomohiro (34) after leaving a Tokyo gay bar and heading for a love hotel. Though she denied any sexual relationship, she lost all her commercial contracts and was forced to lie low for several months. The media was all the more harsh on Yamamoto because in October 2006 she had been involved in a similar scandal with married national Diet member Hosono Goshi, which led to her being dropped by TBS from the “News 23” show.

Nagayama Yoko an “Arafo Mama”
Enka singer Nagayama Yoko (42, photo right) announced on her blog this morning that she became a mother for the first time yesterday. She and American entrepreneur Mark Smith (41) are the proud parents of a bouncing baby girl. Smith is the president and CEO of temp staffing company Skillhouse Staffing Solutions. Arafo is the Japanese abbreviation of “around forty” and has been popular in the last couple of years when referring to those who marry or have children after reaching that landmark age.

For the first time in the long history of X Japan, the country’s premier rock band performed a solo show outdoors and they did it with “seven members.” Of course, one of those members was the late guitarist Hide, who died in 1998 but is still given honorary band membership. But during their shows at the weekend the five current members were joined for the encore by bassist Taiji, who last played with the band 18 years ago.

The two shows at the Nissan Yokohama Stadium drew 130,000 fans, who were treated to a 12-minute drum solo by band leader Yoshiki. It was the first time for him to perform the hyper-speed solo (he is said to play at 800 beats per minute) since he underwent surgery for a hernia last year. So it was made all the more dramatic by the 10m-high revolving drum stage and the neck brace he wears since the surgery. With the song “Tears” playing in the background, Yoshiki tearfully thanked his fans, saying, “Each and every one of you is the wind beneath our wings.”

The band performed 11 songs, including the new track “Jade.” And as they got ready to play “X” for an encore, vocalist Toshi called an old friend onto the stage to join them. Taiji (photo left) was a member of the band for its first three albums and was the man behind the extravagant stage costumes and hairstyles that largely defined the visual kei rock image. he left the band in 1992 due to “musical differences” and went on to perform with Loudness and D.T.R.

The stadium shows, which cost an estimated ¥1 billion, were the Japan leg of a world tour that hits North America on September 25 and is said to be heading to Europe early in 2011.