Category Archives: Entertainment News

White Day may be an entirely commercial holiday, but it’s romantic enough for one young showbiz couple. Actor Oguri Shun (29) and actress Yamada Yu (27) sent out a handwritten fax to the media last night announcing that they would be tying the knot on March 14. The day, which is an auspicious “taian” on the traditional calendar, also marks the fourth anniversary of when the pair started dating. Sources close to the couple say they are already living together but have no plans for a wedding ceremony, reception or honeymoon. They also answered the first question asked when marriage is announced – Yamada is not pregnant. It was rumored that they would get married last July, but the Great Eastern Japan quake and tsunami in March would have forced them to postpone plans.

The two stars, both rightly considered among the best looking in showbiz, worked together as voice actors on the animated film “Surf’s Up” in 2007 (photo). They are said to have become close after working together on the 2008 NTV drama “Binbou Danshi – Bonbimen,” which featured Oguri’s first leading role in a drama series. Their relationship was revealed in May of 2008 and, unlike many showbiz couples, they have been open about it since. In New Year of 2010 they traveled together to Hawaii, but soon after their romance was said to be on the rocks several times due to Oguri’s womanizing.

Both are enjoying success in their careers – Oguri is currently in China filming a movie (so the marriage registration will not be the most romantic occasion), while “Uchuu Kyodai,” in which he co-stars with Okada Masaki (22), is due to be on screens in May. Yamada recently received very positive reviews for her theatrical debut in last November’s “Villa Grande Aoyama.”

Yesterday was a day of commemorative events across the country as Japan marked the first anniversary of the triple disaster that hit Tohoku at 2:46pm on March 11, 2011. Among the many celebrities helping to mark the occasion and raise funds for the tens of thousands of displaced and the devastated region were Johnny’s Jimusho stable of male aidorus and AKB48 and their assorted sister groups.

SMAP were among the top billers of the 180 or so Johnny’s stars who took the stage at Tokyo Dome for the 12-hour “Marching J” event. The lineup included youngsters of Johnny’s Jr., who have yet to make their debut, to veterans like Higashiyama Noriyuki (45) and Kondo Masahiko (47). The event was attended by an estimated 170,000 fans. Johnny’s has raised about ¥826 million over the last year, and the money is to be donated to Miyagi, Iwate and Fukushima, the three prefectures worst hit by last year’s earthquake and tsunami. One of the more outlandish plans supported by the funds is the transfer of a panda from China to Yagiyama Zoo in Sendai.

Meanwhile, a total of 282 young female starlets joined together behind the lead of AKB48 to perform at several venues across the country. AKB48 appeared at their home base in Tokyo’s Akihabara, and were joined by SKE48 (Sakae, Nagoya), NMB48 (Namba, Osaka) and HKT48 (Hakata, Fukuoka). Needless to say there were lots of tears, with AKB48 member Maeda Atsuko (20, photo center) carried off stage at one point, but the emphasis was definitely on the upbeat and happy sound of J-pop.

Talento Yamaguchi Mie died suddenly yesterday of heart failure at the age of 51, according to her management agency. They said Yamaguchi had been having dizzy spells since early February and had been seeking medical treatment. She gave a magazine interview on February 28 but her condition had worsened in recent days. A relative found her collapsed at her home in Yokohama yesterday afternoon.

A graduate of Saint Maur International School in Yokohama, the trilingual Yamaguchi was a rarity when she made her debut as the presenter of “CNN Headline” on the TV Asahi network in 1987. She became a popular TV personality and is remembered for a TV commercial for the food brand Fujicco and the catch phrase “Shibazuke Tabetai.” In 1996 she retired from show business to become an entrepreneur, opening a small import shop in Yokohama Chinatown. She closed the store last year. In 2008 she published a book on her experiences caring for her senile father, a topic on which she often gave talks.

Speed member Uehara Takako (29, photo left) and a member of the hip hop unit ET-King are getting hitched, according to the Sankei Sports newspaper. The pair are expected to make an announcement about their marriage plans today. A foursome from Okinawa, Speed became one of the biggest acts in J-pop in the late 1990s, selling some 20 million albums before splitting up in 2000. They have pursued solo careers but appeared together several times over the years before formally reuniting at the end of 2008. Most recently, they played a Tohoku benefit concert in June of last year. Though she had previously appeared on the big screen with Speed, Uehara got her first movie leading role in last year’s “La Vallee de l’Amour.” ET-King made their major label debut with “Donuts/Natsu Omori” in 2006. They are scheduled to release a new single, “Mother,” on April 11.

Meanwhile, model and race queen Nanao (23, photo center) hinted yesterday that she and musician Nishikawa Takanori (41) might be tying the knot before the end of the year. Appearing at a PR event to promote Australian tourism, she was asked about their relationship and said, “We are talking about possibly going in that direction in the future.” Asked if that meant possible marriage within the year, she said, “Maybe.” One factor may be that several members of her Platinum Production management agency – Wakatsuki Chinatsu (27), Kinoshita Yukina (24) and Ogura Yuko (28) – are expecting babies this year.

Not so good news this week for actress Tanaka Ritsuko (40, photo right) who posted on her blog yesterday that she and her photographer husband Sugimoto Manabu (45) are divorced. The couple are said to have filed for divorce at the beginning of February, ending a 15-year marriage that started in 1997 with Tanaka aleady four months pregnant. In a magazine article a year ago, Tanaka spoke about how she and her husband had very different interests – she is into scuba diving, triathlons and other outdoor activities, while he is a stay at home type.

No, that isn’t the father of the bride kissing his daughter, that’s the groom! Veteran comedian Kato Cha (69) has revealed his bride Ayana for the first time, and no doubt he chose yesterday to do so as it was his 69th birthday, making her exactly one third of his age! The two actually tied the knot last June but waited until yesterday to hold a lavish wedding ceremony and reception for 230 guests at the BelleVie Gaza Hall in Koshigaya, north of Tokyo. Kato wore a pink tuxedo jacket while Ayana (23) wore a wedding dress designed by talento Kanda Uno.

A member of the legendary comedy group The Drifters, Kato is on his second marriage. Fellow members Takagi Boo (79) and Nakamoto Koji (70) were at yesterday’s celebration, and Nakamoto hinted that he and his enka singer girlfriend Midai Junka might also get married within the year. Midai’s age is not published in the media but she is said to be in her 30s. Shimura Ken (62) was the only surviving member not in attendance as his TV schedule kept him away. He recorded a message of congratulations on video that was shown at the reception.

Rock band Tokyo Jihen have called it a day. The five-member band, fronted by vocalist Shiina Ringo (33), performed their final concert at the Nippon Budokan in central Tokyo last night. They played two encores to round off a 29-song set that finished with the 2006 song “Toumei Ningen” (Invisible Man). The show brought to a close their short farewell tour and followed the release of an original mini album, live album and DVD last month.

Shiina was already an established solo star when she turned her touring band into Tokyo Jihen – the name translates as “Tokyo Incidents” – in 2004. The band released one album before undergoing a major lineup change and the release of “Adult” in 2006, which became their first Oricon chart topper.

Band drummer Hata Toshiki was arrested last year for a drunken assault on a police officer.
Related stories:
Fallout from Tokyo Jihen Drummer Arrest (Feb. 16, 2011)

The Tokyo District Court yesterday yesterday ruled against troubled comedienne Nakajima Tomoko (40, photo left), who again failed to show up in court. She was sued last month by a real estate company for damages and almost a year’s unpaid rent on an office in central Tokyo. Yesterday’s verdict was that Nakajima stop-depression-meds.com almost ¥6.5 million and leave the premises. She has until the end of April before being forcibly evicted. On a leave of absence for almost a year due to unspecified health problems, Nakajima has also failed to pay rent on a nearby apartment that she is said to be currently sharing with a female fortune teller and several members of that person’s family.

Nakajima renewed the contract on the office last May but never paid the renewal fee or subsequent rent. The real estate company has received a variety of excuses since last September, such as moving company errors and a claim that her apartment had been burgled and police had told her not to move. The owners of the apartment are actor Motoki Masahiro (46) and his wife, actress Uchida Yayako (36). They have also sued for payment but no court date has yet been set.

Outside the premises yesterday, a man was seen selling t-shirts with a somewhat inaccurately translated message for the star, “Get out of the Control,” referring to the widespread media assumption that Nakajima has been brainwashed. She also put on a considerable amount of weight even before disappearing from TV screens last year (photo right).

Nakajima’s management agency, Shochiku Geino, say they don’t plan to fire her but have been unable to contact her for some time. They recently agreed with two of the major TV networks to formally remove her from the lineup of four regular TV shows. “Shittoko!” has been running on TBS since 2003 with the comedy duo Othello – Nakajima and Matsushima Nahoko (40) – as the hosts. But Matsushima has been on maternity leave since late last year and the network said yesterday that regular guests talento Nakao Akira (64) and rakugoka Katsura Zakoba (64) are leaving the show and it will be completely overhauled.

It was announced yesterday that Fuji TV are teaming up with the Hollywood director brothers Ridley (74) and Tony Scott (67) to make a documentary feature on life one year after the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. The film, expected to be released overseas this autumn, is in the style of Ridley’s 2011 project “Life in a Day.” That film used footage shot by thousands of amateurs in 192 countries and uploaded to YouTube. It was described as “a historic cinematic experiment to create a documentary film about a single day on earth” (see trailer below).

The Japan project has seen the distribution of 200 cameras to people in the western part of Tohoku, worst hit by last year’s natural disaster. On March 11, they will film themselves and the world and people around them, and contributions are also welcomed from outside Japan. Submissions can be uploaded to YouTube between March 11-25. The idea for the film was proposed to Scott by Fuji TV chief producer Hayakawa Takayuki, a native of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture. A percentage of the box office from the movie will be donated to relief efforts in Tohoku.

Veteran stoic actor Sugawara Bunta (78) announced yesterday that he has effectively retired from the movie business. He held a press conference after attending an event to honor firefighters and said that in the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake in March 2011 he could no longer see any point in making movies. Last year he stepped down from the lead role in Yamada Yoji’s latest project “Tokyo Kazoku” and yesterday he spoke about how he and Yamada (80) had discussed the decision, “The director agreed with me.” Sugawara also revealed that he had been hospitalized in the winter of 2011, causing him to reevaluate his career. He is a native of Sendai City in Miyagi Prefecture, one of the areas worst hit by the quake and tsunami.

Sugawara has almost 200 movie titles to his name but, like his contemporary Takakura Ken (80), will always be best remembered for his roles in hard-boiled yakuza movies, particularly Fukasaku Kinji’s “Jinji Naki Tatakai” (Battles Without Honor and Humanity) series of the 1970s. In recent years he has done about one project a year, including voice roles for a couple of Studio Ghibli animations, but has not been a leading man on the big screen since 2003’s “Watashi no Grandpa.” He did leave the door open slightly for himself yesterday, saying that he is open to considering future projects on their merit.

Yamada’s movie, loosely based on the Ozu Yasujiro 1953 classic “Tokyo Monogatari” (Tokyo Story), had been scheduled to start shooting last spring, but due to the natural disaster that has been delayed until this year. It is now scheduled to start next week and no doubt it will have seen some script changes to reflect the much changed mood of post-3/11 Japan. The project recently lost actress Ichihara Etsuko (76), who stepped down as she is due to undergo surgery. Such are the risks of working on a project with a lead actors in their late 70s, I guess.
Related stories:
Ichihara Drops Out of Yamada Movie (Feb. 6, 2012)

The world of traditional kabuki theater yesterday lost one of its great veterans. Nakamura Jakuemon IV, the oldest onnagata in kabuki, died of pneumonia. He was 91. Born in the 9th year of the Taisho era the eldest son of Ohtani Tomoemon VI, he took to the stage for the first time at the age of six using the name Ohtani Keitaro. He enlisted in the army in 1942 but soon after he reached the front line he was informed that his father had died when a regional theater collapsed during an earthquake.

After the war, he became an onnagata – an actor who specializes in female roles – and succeeded to his father’s stage name in 1948. But a couple of years later he switched to the big screen and as Ohtani Tomoemon VII became a major star until 1955. That year he returned to kabuki and was adopted by the widow of Nakamura Jakuemon III, who had lost her son and the heir to her late husband’s name during the war. In 1964 he succeeded to the name Jakuemon IV.

Jakuemon was the recipient of multiple cultural, Imperial and government awards and was named a Living National Treasure in 1991.