Category Archives: Entertainment News

The AKB48 phenomenon is continuing to expand throughout Asia. It was announced at a meeting for about 2,000 fans in Shanghai over the weekend that the city will be the base for the third international franchise and the sixth in all. A handful of AKB48 members, including Kojima Haruna (24) and Abe Maria (16), were at the event to perform but knew nothing of the surprise announcement. Auditions for the new group, to be named SNH48, will be held in China in the autumn and the group is scheduled to be launched on December 8, the same date as the debut performance by the original group. Similar groups have been created in Jakarta in Indonesia (JKT48) and the Taiwanese capital of Taipei (TPE48), the latter being scheduled to start in the summer. AKB48 performed their first full concert in Shanghai last September and opened an official merchandise store in November. Popular member Itano Tomomi (20, photo left) and others performed a “mini live” show there in February.

Inoue Waka to Wed Director
Actress Inoue Waka (31, photo right) is engaged to marry movie director Izuka Ken (33) on her birthday. According to today’s edition of the Sports Hochi newspaper, management for Inoue say the pair are planning to tie the knot on May 13. The two met on the set of the movie “Arakawa Under the Bridge,” which opened in theaters in February, and started dating in May of last year. A former pinup girl, Inoue was widely known by the nickname “wakapai,” a reference to her large bust size. That plus her “beestung” lips helped her make her showbiz breakthrough in 2003. The following year she became a regular on the popular Fuji TV daily afternoon show “Waratte Iitomo!”

There’s life in the old dog yet. In the last few years the media and marketing machine known as Morning Musume (profile) has been largely eclipsed by the new kids on the block, AKB48. But they certainly haven’t gone away. MoMus, currently in their 15th year, have been around since before nearly half of of the current members were even born. No doubt it’s that ever-changing lineup that helps the aidoru group maintain a young fanbase, and they can certainly still shift a few singles. Their latest release, “Renai Hunter,” has entered the Oricon weekly singles charts at No.3, making it the group’s 49th consecutive Top 10 single. Despite their longevity and massive sales achievements, this is the first time for them to have sole possession of a major record, and it also means they’ve knocked J-pop diva Hamasaki Ayumi (33) out of her share of first place.

The new single will be the last to feature current group leader Niigaki Risa (23) who, although she joined at the time of the fifth lineup change in 2001, is the oldest and longest-serving member. She will be “graduating” from the group on May 18.

Elsewhere in the Oricon rankings, male aidoru group Sexy Zone are on top of the singles chart with “Lady Diamond” and Domoto Tsuyoshi (33) of the duo Kinki Kids is atop the album chart with “Shamanippon.”

Rockers X Japan were named as this year’s Best International Band at the Golden Gods Awards yesterday. Started in 2009 by the rock magazine Revolver, the awards were held on Wednesday night at Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles. Not only were X the first Asian artists to be nominated for the award, they beat a lineup of established names familiar to anyone into the heavy rock genre: Rammstein (Germany), Sepultura (Brazil), Lacuna Coil (Italy), Behemoth (Poland), and Meshuggah (Sweden).

Drummer and band leader Yoshiki was on hand to receive the award from the members of Anthrax, one of whom quipped “You know this is a setup” before reading X Japan’s name among the nominees. Yoshiki didn’t respond to (or didn’t understand) the underhand comment and made a simple acceptance speech. “Thank you Revolver, it’s hard to pronounce. Re-vol-ver, right?” he said. “Some people might have heard of us, we’re from Japan. Our band name is X Japan. We toured North America in 2010, and did our first world tour last year… We are planning on doing another world fucking tour.” He finished up by thanking the band’s fans, saying, “We’re going to keep on rocking. And we fucking love you.”

But while X have a cult status at home and a fanatical international fanbase, imagewise they will probably always struggle to find acceptance among mainstream rock listeners. That was evident from the subdued applause given to the hair-flicking and characteristically effeminate Yoshiki. And someone should tell him that throwing a few F-bombs into your speech isn’t going to help much.

Actress Saito Keiko (50) remarried at the end of last year, the Sports Hochi newspaper revealed today. The former Japan Airlines campaign girl tied the knot with the president of an advertising company last November and are living together in Tokyo with Saito’s 11-year-old daughter from her previous marriage.

While studying psychology in the education department at Kumamoto University in 1982, Saito’s bronzed body and good looks helped her beat 800 hopefuls for the high-profile job of JAL Okinawa Campaign Girl (photo left). This break gave her a chance to get into showbiz, and by the following year she was appearing on TV as the “solutionist” on the TBS show “Quiz Derby.” She went on to be come a regular face on the variety show circuit and established herself as an actress in movies and dozens of TV dramas. In 1994 she was named the year’s Best Supporting Actress at the Nikkan Sports Movie Awards. In July 1997 she married a businessman and they had a child in 2000, but the marriage ended in 2008.

Funky Monkey Wedding
Also recently married is DJ Chemical (29) of the J-pop trio Funky Monkey Babys, who broke the good news on his blog yesterday. His family run a Buddhist temple and he chose April 8, the birthday of Buddha, to tie the knot. His described his bride only as “a 30-year-old former musician.”

He was the voice of Chibi Maruko’s doting grandfather, Tomozo (top right), among many other anime roles. Actor Aono Takeshi died at a Tokyo hospital on Monday afternoon of multiple brain hemorrhages following surgery. He was 75. He previously underwent heart bypass surgery in 2010.

Aono was a native of Hokkaido and his strong accent caused him to miss out on many TV roles when a young aspiring actor. After an acclaimed performance in a theatrical production of “A Streetcar Named Desire” in the early 1960s, he landed the lead role in a dubbed version of the U.S. western show “Bronco,” dubbing the voice of Ty Hardin. Over the years he made occasional appearances on screen, including in the 2001 NHK taiga historical drama series “Hojo Tokimune,” and he was chairman of the Gekidan Geikyou theatrical troupe. But his stock in trade was his many established roles as a my-antidepressant.com, often voicing the roles of villains or old men. He regularly dubbed the voice of “Back to the Future” star Christopher Lloyd. His vast range of anime characters included Kamisama (Dragonball Z), Nurarihyon (Gegege no Kitaro) and Sanada Shiro (Uchuusenkan Yamato, bottom right). Until health problems forced him to step down from many roles in 2010, he was working on such popular animes as Naruto, One Piece and Gintama.

Things Get Ugly for Sacchan
Enka star Kobayashi Sachiko (58) yesterday made her first public appearance since the recent scandal concerning her management agency, performing as a guest at the 60th birthday celebration concert by singer/songwriter Sada Masashi (60) at the Saitama Super Arena. Kobayashi recently fired Sekine Yoshie, her long-time friend and president of Sachiko Promotions for more than 30 years. The decision came reportedly at the suggestion of her new husband – she married the CEO of a medical company (50) last November – who was angry about the lavish and wasteful expenses on Kobayashi’s often hugely extravagant stage costumes. The result looks like being an ugly legal battle that is currently dominating the entertainment news wide shows.
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More Wedding Bells and Babies (Nov. 16, 2011)

One of the most likeable “bad guys” of Japanese TV and movies has passed away. Actor Yasuoka Rikiya (photo right) died yesterday of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital. He was 65. He had a history of liver problems and was diagnosed with the rare and severe Guillain-Barré syndrome in June 2006. In August 2010, after being diagnosed with liver cancer, he received a partial liver transplant from his son Rikito (26, photo left), himself an aspiring actor. Rikito spoke yesterday about how he learned last December that his father’s cancer had reappeared. As is common practice in Japan, Rikiya was not told hat he had less than a year to live and dreamed of making a recovery and appearing on the big screen with his son someday. He started writing a blog in February and had been traveling with his son. The photo above was taken when they went drinking together for the first time. His last job was an interview for a women’s magazine at the end of March and last Friday, the day he was hospitalized, he had been scheduled to meet with publishers about plans for an autobiography.

Yasuoka started a rock band with friends while a high school student in 1963. A third dan in karate and 2nd dan in judo, he became a kickboxer in 1969. The following year he was recruited by actor Umemiya Tatsuo (74), star of the “Furyo Bancho” yakuza movie series, to play the supporting role of Apache in several of the movies. Yasuoka’s height and heavy build meant that he would forever be typecast in those kinds of roles. He certainly didn’t mind, adding to his own legend with catchphrases like “I love drink, women and fighting” and he was said to drink 20 beers and 4 bottles of whiskey a day. But he was able to show his lighter side, going very much against type as the character Hotateman (Clam Man) in the hugely popular 1980s comedy show “Oretachi Hyokinzoku.” His face may be familiar to western movie audiences through his supporting role in Itami Juzo’s 1985 classic “Tampopo” and Ridley Scott’s 1989 thriller “Black Rain.”

Sakamoto Ryuichi (60, photo left) is the latest high-profile celebrity to take up the cause of ridding Japan of nuclear power. The Yellow Magic Orchestra veteran and Academy Award winner announced yesterday that he would be participating in the No Nukes 2012 music festival at Makuhari Messe conference center in Chiba Prefecture on July 7-8. So far the event lineup has 18 artists including YMO, Asian Kung-Fu Generation, Brahman, and singer-songwriters Hajime Chitose and Saito Kazuyoshi. All profits from the event will go to an organization that aims to collect 10 million signatures to the “Sayonara Genpatsu” petition to end nuclear power in Japan. Currently only one of over 50 nuclear plants is in operation, though the government wants to restart many of them after maintenance and safety checks.

Sakamoto has attended many meetings and events since the natural disasters of March 11, 2012 led to the nuclear nightmare situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Almost 80% of respondents to a recent Tokyo Shimbun poll said they were in favor of or leaned toward the country ending its reliance on nuclear power.

Speaking at a press conference in Tokyo along with Asian Kung-Fu Generation member Goto Masafumi (35, photo right) yesterday Sakamoto said, “I hope we can use music to get people to think and care about the issues. We want to express our feelings about not just nuclear power but also nuclear weapons.”

No Nukes 2012 official website

Deserved happy news for Dreams Come True vocalist Yoshida Miwa (46, photo left) who recently got married, it was revealed yesterday. And not only has she found true love but her new husband is a full 19 years younger than her! Okinawa native Juon (27, photo right) is the vocalist and guitarist of the trio Fuzzy Control. The two are said to have registered their marriage on March 8. The date was auspicious because not only can it be read in Japanese as “miwa” but it is also Juon’s birthday. The couple don’t have plans for a wedding ceremony or reception, but the new DCT single is appropriately titled “Time to Shine.”

Fuzzy Control made their debut in 2003 and first collaborated with DCT on the February 2009 single “Goodbye My Schooldays”. They have since performed as their backing band and written songs together. Fuzzy Control have released a dozen singles and five albums to date, with moderate success. They are scheduled to perform in Tokyo on March 25, while DCT’s next scheduled live appearance is on May 23. They are currently recording in New York.

We say that Yoshida’s happiness is deserved because in 2007 she lost her common-law husband, visual director Sueda Ken, to a brain tumor. He was just 33. The couple married in May 2004 but never registered their marriage. Yoshida’s musical partner in DCT, Nakamura Masato (53), married former High and Mighty Color vocalist Maaky in June 2008 and they have a 2-year-old daughter.
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DCT’s Yoshida Miwa Loses Husband (Oct. 1, 2007)

Japan’s leading heartthrob Kimura Takuya (39) seems to have gotten a little too into his TV role as a race driver. The SMAP member and star of the 2005 Fuji TV drama series “Engine” (photo left) has been fined twice in recent months for speeding, it was revealed in today’s issue of the weekly “Shuukan Bunshun” magazine.

The article says highway police in Chiba prefecture caught him doing 120 kilometers an hour in an 80 kph road last September. He and his wife, singer Kudo Shizuka, were on their way to do a bit of surfing in their Chevrolet Astro. Kimura was nabbed again in Tokyo in January, this time on a Tokyo street, and his license was suspended for a second offense. Management at Johnny’s Jumusho have been forced to come clean on the matter, publishing a statement in local newspapers. They said, “As a member of society, Kimura is deeply ashamed of his actions and has promised not to let it happen again.”

Kimura has a long history of commercial tie-ups with Toyota, most recently appearing in their Corolla Fielder ads since last October (photo right), and for a lesser star those ads would be off the air faster than a speed camera could catch. But KimuTaku is such a player that the car maker has decided to continue showing the ads. Under the slogan “Fun to Drive, Again,” the ads also feature veteran comedian/director Kitano “Beat” Takeshi (65). A Toyota spokesperson said today, “(Kimura) has been warned from our side to obey traffic rules. We will enforce this strictly.”