Category Archives: Entertainment News

The brief marriage between Yoshimoto Kogyo comedian Kimura Yuichi (45) and actress Henmi Emiri (31) has come to an end. They announced by fax via their management agencies that they had registered their divorce yesterday. There had been rumors of a split surrounding the two, especially as “Kimuni”, as Kimura is popularly known, was said to be playing around. The two took the showbiz world by surprise when they married in January 2006, and they held their wedding ceremony and reception in Kyoto the following April. It was Kimura’s third marriage and Henmi’s first. She is the daughter of actor Saigo Teruhiko and singer/talento Henmi Mari, who divorced when she was a child. Her mother ended her second marriage at the end of 2005, shortly before Emiri got hitched. She said on her blog yesterday that she had wanted children, but Kimura was less keen as he already has a child from a previous marriage.

Miyazaki Prefecture governor and former comedian Higashikokubaru Hideo (50) has admitted that he paid a former girlfriend hush money, as reported in yesterday’s issue of the weekly magazine “Shukan Shinchou.” When confronted by reporters at Miyazaki Airport, he said “I do know the woman, but when I contacted her (before the story was published) she said she simply wanted to be left in peace.” The magazine described the women as a beautiful office worker in her late 20s. They started dating in May of last year but she says that the popular politician told her that if she got pregnant, she would have to have an abortion. They split in October, and Higashikokubaru paid ¥1.5 million into her bank account. Once a member of the so-called Takeshi Gundan using the stage name Sonomanma Higashi, he has a long history of playing the field. First married to a TV announcer from 1985-89, he married actress Kato Kazuko (50) in 1990 only to split in 2006 as he began his move to a political career. While married to Kato, he was caught having affairs at least twice.

• American rock band Cheap Trick performed yesterday at the Nippon Budokan, the venue where they recorded their career-defining live album 30 years ago. Vocalist Robin Zander (55) again wore a white suit as the band performed the same 11-song set as they did in April, 1978.

• Former Morning Musume member Kago Ai (20) announced on her blog yesterday that she is getting back to work. She says she’s landed a part in a Hong Kong movie and will give more details later. She was suspended from the Hello! Project back in 2006 for underage smoking, and then fired by the Up-Front Agency in 2007 for a repeat offense. She recently started moving back into the media spotlight when she said she was publishing an autobiography. She is now under new management.

• Saitama Prefecture will finally have its day. Tokyo’s northern neighbor has long lived in the shadow of the capital, and carries the demeaning moniker Dasaitama, “dasai” being the Japanese word for uncool. But yesterday NHK announced that it will be the setting for the first of its morning drama series for 2009. Saitama is the only one of the country’s 47 prefectures never to have been used as a location.

• TV Tokyo president Shimada Masayuki announced yesterday that the network is to broadcast the first afternoon drama series in its 44-year history. He said that the modern drama slot will start from the autumn season in October, adding that the move is designed to improve weekday ratings. The network has traditionally shown reruns of samurai dramas or western movies during the afternoons.

NHK’s lovable Domo-kun character is to become a worldwide star. The public network announced yesterday that a 26-episode series of the stop-motion animation is to be broadcast in 101 countries and territories around the globe, including the U.S. and the U.K. That far exceeds the 64 countries that broadcast the NHK morning drama series “Oshin,” which originally aired in Japan in 1983-84. The full Domo-kun series will be shown at a four-day “Shibuya De Domo” event during the Golden Week holidays in early May. Domo-kun first appeared in 1999 to promote the 10th anniversary of NHK’s BS satellite channels. The popularity of the brief spots meant that Domo-kun survived that initial one-year run and became an image character for all of NHK.

• Actor Sato B-saku (59) is to undergo surgery for stomach cancer, his management agency revealed yesterday. They said the cancer was discovered during a regular checkup last December and was at an early stage. He is currently appearing in a stage production in Tokyo with his wife, actress Ameku Michiko (44). He will undergo surgery on May 1 and has stepped down from a stage show in Nagoya in June.

• Two women were slightly injured when a car driven by actress Shirakawa Yumi (71) was hit at an intersection last weekend. Police said yesterday that they will prosecute the male driver of the other car, which hit Shirakawa’s car as she was waiting to make a right turn in the Chuo-cho, Meguro district of Tokyo.

• Spanish singing couple Carlos Marin (39), of the group Il Divo, and Geraldine Larossa (aka Innocence) performed a “secret” concert in Tokyo yesterday. They are in Japan to promote her first album in Japan, “The Show Must Go On” and performed a rare duet of the song “Live Forever” for the Fuji TV early morning show “Mezamashi Terebi.”

• “Tokyo Sonata,” the latest movie starring Koizumi Kyoko (44), is to be entered at this year’s Cannes International Film Festival and will compete for the “Un Certain Regard” prize. Directed by Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the movie is described as a “heart-warming story about family ties,” with Koizumi casting off her usual stylish image to play a depressed housewife, and her husband played by Kagawa Teruyuki (42). Also heading for Cannes will be Tokio member Yamaguchi Tatsuya (36). He will join actors from the U.S. and around the world who provided voices for international editions of the animated feature “Kung Fu Panda.” In his first stint as a voice actor, he provides the Japanese voice for the lead role of Po the Panda (Jack Black).

• On the verge of becoming a forgotten star of the 1990s, Nakayama Miho (38) is to make her return to acting. Living in Paris since 2002 with her husband, Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist Tsuji Jinsei (48), and three children, she is currently in Korea planning her lead role in a movie adaptation of his novel “Sayonara Itsuka.” To be directed by Korean John H. Lee, the movie is due for release in the spring of 2009. Filming starts in Bangkok next month and will also take place in Japan and Korea. Nakayama is scheduled to appear on a live radio show today, her first live appearance since moving to Paris.

The young jazz drummer Onitsuka Taiga makes his recording debut today with the release of the album “Tiger!” He’s probably making history too as he’s still in the 4th grade! An application has been made to have him listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as “the youngest CD debut by a pro jazz drummer.” To commemorate the event he held a mini-concert for 150 people at the Tsutenkaku Theater in Osaka yesterday, performing four songs with his band Tiger & The Silverbacks. As always he wore a red hat and clothes provided by his sponsor Asics, who sell his “Onitsuka Tiger” brand. Though a native of Kyoto, Taiga (9) was named after his father’s favorite baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. He received his first drum kit from his parents on his fifth birthday and picked up the instrument so quickly and developed to such a degree that he has been featured on TV for the last couple of years. He performed in New York in 2005 at the age of 7. Asked what his dream is, he said “I want to perform at Koshien (the Hanshin Tigers stadium). And I want to be the best drummer in the universe.” His album is released on Columbia Music Entertainment’s Savoy label.

• Actor and former member of 1980s idol group Hikaru Genji Ohsawa Mikio (39) is getting re-married. According to his management agency, he and his 24-year-old fiancee Sayaka plan to tie the knot this Saturday and that will be followed by a formal announcement. Ohsawa was married to actress Kitajima Mai (35) from 1996 to 2005 and they have one son. Kitajima married a publishing company employee last July and had a baby girl in January.

• Could TV Asahi actually stop broadcasting Yomiuri Giants baseball games live? With audience ratings continuing to plumb new lows, the network’s president Kimiwada Masao (66) addressed the issue at a regular press conference yesterday. But rather than worry only about ratings dropping to a certain percentage figure, he said “the reality of the situation is that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to attract sponsors. We have to consider any possibility.” Ratings for the Giants night games shown over the opening month of the season hit a record low of 10.5%. The team started the season with a record losing streak, but have since improved somewhat and currently stand in fourth place in the Central League.

• Talento Ohigashi Megumi (36) yesterday made her first TV appearance since she was hit by a minibus on March 11. She was hospitalized with a broken leg and was expected to need three months to recover, but she left the hospital on March 31. Ohigashi had a brief and unremarkable career as an unsuccessful idol singer in the late 1980s and switched to the TV variety show circuit. She married baseball player Ohkubo Hideaki (38) in 1998 and now works as an occasional reporter and commentator.

As Japan’s best-selling rock artists, B’z have no shortage of hits to choose from for a pair of compilation albums to mark their 20th anniversary. And their new single “Burn” has added to the list, entering the Oricon charts at No.1 this week. That extends their double record of 41 consecutive No.1 releases over 19 consecutive years. In this memorial year, they started a 17-city arena tour at the weekend, which will be followed by a 3-city stadium tour in September. And yesterday they announced a follow up to their 1998 release of a pair of hits albums – “Pleasure” and “Treasure” between them sold more than 9 million copies. “B’z The Best – Ultra Pleasure,” which goes on sale June 18, includes no less than 12 million sellers and the 27 singles on the album have between them sold over 25 million copies. The album will come with a bonus mini album containing “Itsuka no Merry Christmas” and reworked versions of “Bad Communication” and “Pleasure.” The first issue of the album will also include a 10-track live DVD that includes footage of the legendary Chiba Marine Stadium show in 2000, when they band performed outdoors during a thunder storm. The second album, “B’z The Best – Ultra Treasure,” will be released in September and, like the 1998 version, will be made up of tracks requested by fans.

• Today’s issue of women’s weekly “Shuukan Josei” reveals that actor Kaname Jun (27) is dating a 23-year-old dental assistant. He is said to have met the Inamori Izumi lookalike through a friend and they’ve been dating for about six months, a relationship that both he and his agency have acknowledged. The tall and handsome Kaname made his acting debut as “Kamen Rider Agito” in 2001, but this is the first report of romance.

• Masi Oka (33), the Japanese actor who made a breakthrough on the U.S. drama series “Heroes,” arrived back in Japan yesterday. A big comedy fan, he said he’s excited about appearing with such major names as Tamori (“Waratte Iitomo, today) and Downtown (“Downtown DX,” May 8) as he did the news and variety show circuit for the first time.

• Perfume, the pop trio of female university students, have seen their second album, “Game,” enter the Oricon charts at No.1. They are just the second techno group to top the chart, following Yellow Magic Orchestra’s “Uwakina Bokura” in 1983.

• British singer James Blunt (31) opened his brief Japan tour with a concert last night at the NHK Hall in Tokyo. He performed 17 songs including his 2005 breakthrough smash “You’re Beautiful” and “Carry You Home,” the theme for the Fuji TV drama “Aiba Monogatari.”

• The latest series of “Gokusen” got off to a strong start on Saturday. Again starring Nakama Yukie (28) as the kick-ass high school teacher, the opening episode got an audience ranking of 26.4% in the Kanto region, according to Video Research.

Martial arts fighter Masato (29, photo left) and actress Yazawa Shin (27, right) held a lavish wedding reception at a Tokyo hotel yesterday. The couple actually got married in February 2007 after a 6-year relationship. Sunday’s event was attended by about 200 celebrities, including actress Koike Eiko and her husband, wrestler Sakata Wataru. Masato, the first Japanese to be K-1 World Max champion, said he had left the reception arrangements entirely to his wife as he was in training for a recent fight. He won the April 9 bout by KO over South African Virgil Kalakoda.

Other marriage news at the weekend came from NYV announcer Suzuki Takashi (33), who revealed yesterday that he and a 31-year-old flight attendant tied the knot last Friday. he is expected to make a more formal announcement on TV tonight. With an Australian mother and having spent several years in Germany, the “News Zero” and “AnaPara” regular is trilingual. A common face on NTV’s live sports broadcasts, Suzuki is popularly known as Ralph, his Christian name. His new bride is also fluent in English and works for a non-Japanese airline.

• Singer T. M Revolution (aka T.M.R., aka Nishikawa Takanori) made a guest appearance at the 3rd annual New York Comic Con on Saturday. He performed 14 songs in about an hour and a half, including his next single. He announced that the “Resonance” CD will be the world’s first to go on sale with a complimentary BluRay disc. In his third stage show in the U.S. following appearances at anime conventions in 2003 and 2004, the singer known to anime fans for his Gundam theme song “Invoke” was in unusually hyper mode. He spoke to the 4,000 fans in English, ending with “I’ll be back!” He was also in huge demand for autographs and T.M.R. goods flew off the shelves at a special booth.

• Kawabata Kaname (29) of the pop duo Chemistry revealed on Friday that he and his wife, model Takahashi Miki, are expecting their first child. He announced the news during a concert in Ichihara, Chiba Prefecture. The duo are currently on the nationwide “Face to Face” concert tour. Kawabata and Takahashi got married on March 7.

• Talento Manabe Kaori (27) has all but acknowledged her relationship with comedian Kawashima Akira (29), one half of the duo Kirin. In the recently published autobiography “Joshi!? Gokoro” she says she is enjoying a very relaxed romantic life. Kirin have been increasingly popular in the last year, thanks partly to Kawashima’s good looks and deep voice and partner Tamura Hiroshi (28) publishing a million-selling book about his days as a homeless schoolboy.

• American enka singer Jero (26) announced at the weekend that he’s to release an album of covers. Simply named “Covers”, it will include six or seven classics such as “Kimi Koishi”, “Hisame” and “Pusankoue Kaere”, originally a Korean song. The album goes on sale June 25.

At yesterday’s premiere of “Kakushi Toride no Sanakunin – The Last Princess” in Tokyo, it was announced that the movie will be screened in the U.S. later this month. A remake of the 1958 Kurosawa Akira classic, known internationally as “The Hidden Fortress,” it was a major influence on George Lucas when he was making “Star Wars.” So the new version is to be shown at the Norris Theater at the University of Southern California, the director’s alma mater, on April 27. After yesterday’s premiere at the JCB Hall, star Matsumoto Jun (24) said he was very excited about attending the event in California along with director Higuchi Shinji. “This movie is a mix that includes some of the best elements of the past 50 years of western cinema. I think it’s turned out great and should be well received in America.” With a cast that also includes Nagasawa Masami, Abe Hiroshi, and Shiina Kippei and a poster designed by famous manga-ka Inoue Takehiko, the movie opens at theaters in Japan on May 10.

• Hajime Chitose (29) is to provide the theme song for the big movie of the summer, “Climber’s High”. The song “Hotaru” was written for her by Sukima Switch member Tokita Shintaro (30) after he watched a preview of the movie. Hajime said of the song, “It will melt in your heart, especially if you listen to it in the evening. I hope it will encourage people to think about their families and the important things in life.” The movie, based on a best-seller by Yokoyama Hideo about journalists covering the fatal JAL airliner crash of 1985, stars Tsutsumi Shinichi (43) and is set to be one of the major movies of the summer. It is scheduled to open on July 5, while Hotaru goes on sale July 2.

• A segment of the TBS anime series “Code Geass” was mistakenly leaked on the Web this week. About five minutes of episode three of “Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion R2”, due to air on Sunday, was accidentally uploaded to a video sharing site by an employee of Bandai Channel on Tuesday. The company is in charge of online distribution of the anime. Ironically, the employee is said to have been checking for illegal video postings at the time.

How new is Fukuhara Miho? Well, she doesn’t even have an entry on the Japanese version of Wikipedia…yet. But “Change,” the debut single from the 20-year-old R&B singer, will soon change that. It’s a “power play” on 33 FM radio stations nationwide this month, the most ever for a new female artist, and one listen to her powerful vocals proves that it’s not just empty hype. She certainly stands out from the majority of J-pop artists, and with the heavy promotion from Sony Music the song should be a big hit. Though yesterday’s release was her official debut, she did take part in last year’s Celine Dion tribute album, covering the song “Because You Loved Me.” And needless to say, Fukuhara’s youth and good looks certainly won’t do her career any harm.

• Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone (61) is coming to Japan next month to promote the latest, and final, movie in the Rambo series. He will be arriving in Tokyo on May 6 and will attend the movie’s Japan premiere at the Toho cinema complex in Roppongi Hills on May 8.

• It was revealed yesterday that announcer Mekata Yoriko (48) got married to a fellow NHK staffer earlier this month. She and financial commentator Yamada Shinji (58) tied the knot on April 5. It’s Mekata’s first marriage and Yamada’s second. Mekata is a presenter on the nightly “Fukushi Network” show.

• Koda Kumi (25) has provided the theme song for the upcoming TV Asahi drama series “Puzzle”. Currently on a nationwide tour, Koda is keeping the song “Moon Crying” under wraps until the series starts tomorrow. It is scheduled to go on sale as a single in June.

Fictional Japanese-American assassin John Rain is coming to the big screen. Shiina Kippei (43) is to star in a mostly Japanese-language adaptation of “Rain Fall,” the first book in the John Rain series by thriller writer Barry Eisler. Rain, an ex-US Special Forces hit man who “may not be a good man, but he’s good at what he does” finds himself protecting the daughter of one of his victims against assassination by the CIA. Though some fans initially speculated that he might play the lead, British star Gary Oldman (50) has been named to play Rain’s CIA nemesis William Holtzer. Max Mannix is both writing the script and directing. Shiina, an established though hardly high-profile actor, has appeared in over 30 movies including “Shinobi” (2005) and “Sakuran” (2007). Perhaps appropriately for his latest role, he is from the famous ninja city of Iga in Mie Prefecture (more trivially, he starred in a 2007 stage version of the Tom Cruise movie “Rain Man”). In 2003, he married actress Yamamoto Mirai (33), his co-star in the TV drama “Blackout” and daughter of the famous fashion designer Yamamoto Kansai (64). He also works as a movie producer, using his real name Iwaki Masayoshi.

• Takahashi Yuya (28), the son of actress Mita Yoshiko (66) will serve an 18-month prison sentence for a third drug-related offense. His lawyer had appealed the January sentence, saying the defendant needed to undergo rehabilitation, but the appeal was withdrawn earlier this month as his condition has improved. Takahashi was arrested for the third time last November after taking “kakuseizai” (stimulant drugs) in the toilet of a Tokyo convenience store.

• Fuji TV and the Shochiku movie studio are betting that the next hit to be born from a “keitai shosetsu,” or novel written on a mobile phone, is “Akai Ito” (Red Thread). The title comes from the myth (originally from China) that couples who are destined to be together are joined by an invisible red thread. In this case, the soulmates are junior high school students Mei and Atsushi, who must overcome drugs, rape and attempted suicide in order to be together. The love story was an online hit in 2006 and later published as a series of five books which sold 1.8 million copies. Now it is to be made into a TV drama series which will air during the winter season and closely tied into a theatrical release. The plot will intertwine between the two, reaching a finale with the conclusion of the TV series. Unlike other recent drama/movie hits such as “Densha Otoko” or “Sekai no Chuushinde, Ai wo Sakebu,” this project will feature the same cast and staff members. The theme song for both will be performed by up-and-coming Okinawan indie band HY.

• Freelance announcer Ikushima Hiroshi (57) said yesterday that he has qualified as a “bousaishi”, a trained rescuer with the requisite skills to save lives in the event of a disaster. He said he underwent the course after being stuck on a bullet train for six hours following a major earthquake in Niigata in October, 2004.

• U.S. rock bands Huey Lewis & the News and Chicago are performing a series of joint concerts across Japan this month. They kicked off in Hiroshima on Monday and will play shows in Osaka, Yokohama and Tokyo, where local guitarist Hotei Tomoyasu is due to appear as a guest. And Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli (49) performed the first of two concerts at the Tokyo International Forum last night. It’s his second visit to Japan and the first since 2000.

Hollywood-based actor Watanabe Ken (48) is to be a grandfather. On yesterday’s edition of the TV Asahi afternoon talk show “Tetsuko no Heya” his daughter Ann (22) revealed yesterday that her brother Dai (23) got married last month and that he and his wife are expecting a baby in August. The show was actually recorded on March 24, ten days after the couple tied the knot on White Day. Dai has followed in his father’s acting footsteps, and made his debut in 2004. In a TV Tokyo period drama he and his father both played the role of samurai Yoshimura Kanichiro at different ages. Dai has finished two movies set to open in August, “Saigo no Soukeisen” and “Dousoukai”, and is currently filming an adaptation of the Ichijou Yukari manga “Pride.”

• Higuchi Munetaka (49), drummer with the legendary heavy metal band Loudness, announced yesterday that he was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. The news appeared on the band’s website a week before they are due to start a concert tour of Japan’s major cities. Higuchi said he wanted to let fans know and reassure them that was going to fight the disease and return to performing as soon as possible. A replacement drummer for the tour has yet to be announced.

• Hamasaki Ayumi (29) is the first female artist to have had a No.1 single on the Oricon charts for ten years running. The single “Mirrorcle World” was released last weekend to coincide with her 10th anniversary and concert tour. The overall record is held by rock duo B’z, who’ve topped the charts in 18 consecutive years. Meanwhile at No.3 in the singles chart is “Tsubasa wo Hirogete/Ai wa Kurayami no Nakade” by Zard, released a year after her death. It’s the 42nd Top 10 single for Zard, the performing name of Sakai Izumi, matching the record held by Southern All Stars and SMAP. On top of the Oricon album chart is “I Loved Yesterday” by Yui (21).

• Talento Sakashita Chiriko (31) announced yesterday that she’s expecting her first child in November. She married a TV cameraman in January and said soon afterwards that she wanted to have two children.