Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Nigerian talento Bobby Ologun (39) got front page headlines in today’s sports papers following a brawl at his management agency yesterday. The K-1 fighter visited the agency yesterday afternoon with questions about his monthly salary, and became violent after the president of the company refused to see him. He got into a fight with the 2.1m tall John Muwete Muluaka (44), a fellow talento from Congo and former assistant to politician Suzuki Muneo. Muluaka and R&A Promotions boss Ito Kazuyuki (55) claim that Ologun and his Bangladeshi manager have been pocketing appearance fees to the tune of ¥10-15 million, in breach of a contract that splits fees 50-50 between the agency and employees. The incident also led to the revelation that Ologun is seven years older than he had previously claimed.

• Actor Fujiwara Tatsuya (23) is to take on the lead role in a movie adaptation of best-selling manga “Death Note”. The 9-volume manga, which has sold over 12 million copies, first appeared in the Shukan Shonen Jump manga in December 2003. The first volume became the fastest ever to sell a million copies. The story centers around the smart and cool high schooler Yagami Raito, into whose hands falls the Death Note, a list of names of people due to die, lost by the God of Death. His nemesis is the investigator known simply as L. At a cost of ¥2 billion, the movie will be in two parts, the first scheduled for release in June of this year, the second in October.

• “Tetsuko no Heya”, will be celebrating its 30th year on the air with the February 2 edition. The TV Asahi afternoon talk show is hosted by Kuroyanagi Tetsuko (72), who has welcomed a vast range of guests – over 3,900 of them – to her “room”. She has interviewed many foreign guests, including Queen Elizabeth II, and says she would most like to meet Sean Connery.

Sanada Hiroyuki (45) has become only the second actor to win three times at the 48th Blue Ribbon awards. With the latest award for his role in “Bokoku no Iijisu” (Aegis), he follows in the big footsteps of the legendary Mifune Toshiro. Sanada won in 1994 and 1996. He was in Tokyo yesterday for the local premiere of his latest movie, the Japanese-Korean-Chinese production, “Promise”. The Best Actress award went to Koizumi Kyoko (39) for her role in “Kuuchuu Teien”, whose director was arrested for drug possession two months before it opened. “Pacchigi!”, directed by Izutsu Kazuyuki, won the Best Film award.

• Former Luna Sea vocalist Kawamura Ryuichi (35) has married 2002 Miss Japan, Sano Kumi (26). According to his agency, a representative visited the local city office on Monday to register their marriage. The couple were first introduced through a mutual friend last spring and starting dating in the autumn. They are said to have no plans for a wedding ceremony or reception. Kawamura will be touring the country with his latest band, Tourbillon, from April 14.

• The Tokyo home of actress Matsuda Miyuki (44) was recently burglarized, she revealed this week. The widow of legendary (yes, that’s twice in one day I’ve used that word!) actor Matsuda Yusaku said that about ¥2 million worth of valuables were stolen, including her wedding ring, a rolex watch and a plasma screen TV. The burglary was discovered by son, actor Matsuda Shota (20), last Thursday night. The house is next to Zenpukuji-koen park, just down the road from Japan Zone! We’ll be keeping our doors locked…

Livedoor CEO Horie Takafumi (33) was arrested yesterday evening along with three other company executives. The golden boy of the Japanese IT industry had been denying any knowledge of his company’s financial misdeeds right up until the end. Investigators from the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office have been looking into the firm’s creative bookkeeping for the last few months, but a drastic slide in Livedoor’s shares in the last week, accompanied by a big drop in the Nikkei Stock Average, led them to go straight to the top and question Horie yesterday. His arrest and transportation to the Tokyo Detention House was covered live on several TV channels. The whole affair has happened so quickly – less than two weeks ago Horie was still a regular on TV and talking about his planned space tourism business – that it has been labeled the “Livedoor Shock”. The company was started up as Livin’ On The Edge Inc. in 1996 by then Tokyo University student Horie with just ¥6 million in capital. Through a series of aggressive M&A’s and Horiemon’s self-promotion, that valuation rose to over ¥730 billion just a week ago. The firm’s stock price has fallen from ¥696 on January 16 to ¥256 when the market closed yesterday. Also arrested yesterday were Horie’s right-hand man and Livedoor CFO Miyauchi Ryoji, Livedoor Marketing President Okamoto Fumito, and Livedoor Finance President Nakamura Osanari. Another top executive, Noguchi Hideaki, commited suicide in Okinawa last Wednesday.

Fuji TV is to air a four-night series of dramas next month featuring some of the hottest young female talent. All playing roles quite different from their images, the actresses will portray the hopes and struggles of today’s young female Japanese. The first episode will air on February 27 and feature Ueto Aya (20) as an office worker who dreams of the glamourous life and works nights as a hostess. Horikita Maki (17) stars on night two, as a girl who makes money from men in online chatrooms. Personal favorite Yamada Yu (photo, 21) plays an aspiring actress who works as a “cabaret club” hostess. In the final episode Ueno Juri (19), who made her name in the movie “Swing Girls,” plays a pachinko parlour worker who has no luck with men. The four episodes, under the omnibus title “Tsubasa no Oreta Tenshi-tachi” (Angels With Broken Wings), are based on stories by writer Yoshi, who is known as an author of online fiction.

• Popular voice actress Mizuki Nana celebrated her 26th birthday at the Nippon Budokan on Saturday. Despite the record snowfall in the capital, 8500 dedicated fans turned out for the show. Mizuki is particularly popular among the “akibakei” set, who frequent the Tokyo “otaku” mecca of Akihabara. She has released over a dozen singles and her voice has featured in many more anime and computer games.

Horiemon and Hinano a couple? It turns out that under-attack Livedoor CEO Horie Takafumi (33) and actress Yoshikawa Hinano (26) spent the New Year holiday on the tropical island of Palau. They were in a group of eleven that traveled to the tropical paradise on Horie’s ¥3 billion private jet. The IT entrepreneur is hardly in the mood to discuss the nature of the relationship, with the investigation of his company’s financial mischief having rocked the business world. In 1999, the ditzy Yoshikawa was briefly married to Izam, the cross-dressing vocalist of visual rock band Shazna, but the couple split after just 7 months. She is hardly the type Horie wants to be connected with as he seeks to re-build his reputation as an honest and serious business tycoon. Japan Zone says: Horiemon, stop the variety show appearances, drop the showbiz girlfriends and stick to making money. (No, we don’t own any Livedoor stock!)

• Actress Ito Yuko says she and comedian Watabe Ken are doing fine but have no plans for marriage. She was asked about their relationship at a PR event for the new horror movie, “Akuma no Sumu Ie” (House of the Devil), a re-make of the 1979 hit.

Actress Kimura Yoshino (29) donned a striking red kimono yesterday at the famous Sensoji temple, a popular tourist spot in downtown Asakusa. She was dressed up to take part in an event to encourage foreign tourists to visit Japan, in her role as an “amabassador” for the government’s ongoing “Yokoso!” campaign. The current event, “Yokoso! Japan Weeks 2006” will take place from January 20 to February 20. She and Transport Minister Kitagawa Kazuo joined visiting Chinese and Korean students in making origami cranes. The “Yokoso!” campaign aims to increase the number of foreign visitors to 10 million a year by 2010. How come they’ve never contacted Japan Zone!

• TV executives are trying to distance themselves from the ongoing Livedoor scandal, as the investigation of financial irregularities by the IT company continues. Fuji TV chairman Hieda Hisashi (68) was especially critical of Livedoor CEO Horie Takafumi (33) in a press conference yesterday. The two companies were locked in a battle for control of the Nippon Housou radio station for two months last spring. That battle resulted in Fuji buying a large amount of Livedoor stock, whose value has plummeted in the last few days. Also criticizing Horiemon and his company’s practices was TV Tokyo president Sugaya Sadahiko (67). He said that his company had cancelled a tie up with Livedoor on an online shopping site.

Popular comedian Daita Hikaru (30) announced yesterday that she got married on Monday. According to the Yoshimoto agancy, her new husband is a 30-year TV company employee. Daita revealed the romance last November on her personal blog. She also announced the wedding online, mentioning that Monday was a “butsmetsu” day in the Buddhist calendar, considered the worst kind of day for important events and something the vast majority of Japanese people will avoid. She said it had been the only day they were both free, adding that the atmosphere at the city office had been tense and weird. Daita is known for her “Dou demo ii desu yo” stand up routine (which, to be honest, is not very funny).

• Regular readers will have seen stories about the many silly awards that they give out here. Well the latest one is the “Best Jersey-ist Award,” which goes to the celebrities who are considered to look best in a “jersey,” or tracksuit top. The inaugural winners of this award are young talento Wakatsuki Chinatsu (21) and actor Narimiya Hiroki (23). Honorable mentions went to others including soccer player Miyamoto Tsuneyasu (28), K-1 fighter Musashi (33), and idol singers Ishikawa Rika (21), Yoshizawa Hitomi (20) and Fujimoto Miki (20).

Popular comedian Aoki Sayaka (32) revealed yesterday that she has broken up with her boyfriend, named only as “Koji.” The 29-year old is said to have returned to his family home of Ishigakijima island in Okinawa last September following the sudden death of his father. He and Aoki continued a long-distance relationship but at the end of last year decided to call it a day. The couple first started going out in 2004, when “Koji” was a part-time worker in a takoyaki restaurant and Aoki was on the verge of a breakthrough in her career. In the autumn of 2004, she visited his Ishigakijima home and secretly filmed her meeting with his parents for the variety show “London Hearts.”

• “Memoirs of a Geisha” (Sayuri), the Rob Marshall-directed movie based on the Arthur Golden bestseller, picked up a Golden Globe for Best Original Score, the fourth for composer John Williams. Nominated leading actress Zhang Ziyi failed to pick up an award. The movie also stars Watanabe Ken (46), who won a Golden Globe in 2003 for his role in “The Last Samurai.”

• Livedoor CEO Horie Takafumi won’t be such a presence on TV for a while, not on the variety show circuit anyway. The high-flying IT entrepreneur and his company are under investigation for various shady deals including cooking the books to hide losses and boost their stock price. The usually ebullient “Horiemon” gave a rather sheepish early morning press conference on Monday, where he nervously tried to reassure investors and the public that business would go on as usual while he and Livedoor cooperated with the investigation. A visibly exhausted Horie continued to answer reporters’ questions while members of his staff tried to drag him away. The scandal has knocked the stuffing out of not only Livedoor’s stock price but also, with the company being a flagship for the recovering IT industry, the Nikkei Stock Average as a whole. The index has dropped nearly 1,000 points in the last two days.

Japan’s “Mr. Television” is back on the air. Emcee Mino Monta (61) made his comeback to the small screen yesterday and looked as good as ever, after two weeks in hospital following back surgery. He tried to remain cheerful during a press conference immediately before he was released from hospital on Friday, but broke down in tears several times. But he made light of the whole ordeal in typically upbeat fashion during his live TBS morning show “Mino Monta no Asa Zuba!” and NTV afternoon show “Omikiri Terebi”, where he dispenses lifestyle advice and listens to the trials and tribulations of housewives across the country. He says he has no plans to cut back on his intensive schedule of eight weekly shows that includes several hours of live TV every day.

• Pop duo Puffy have been named as Friendship Ambassadors to the US. The announcement was made in Yokohama yesterday as part of the government’s Visit Japan Campaign. Ohnuki Ami (32) and Yoshimura Yumi (30) are celebrating their 10th anniversary in the business this year, and have developed a big following in America, thanks to the success of their animation show “Hi! Hi! Puffy-AmiYumi” on the Cartoon Network.

The long wait is almost over for Japanese fans of the world’s biggest and best band. Irish rockers U2 will bring their Vertigo live show to the Yokohama Nissan Stadium on April 4, their first performance in Japan since 1998. The stadium was the venue for the World Cup final in 2002. Tickets will go on sale here on February 18.

• Singer Gackt is making his move into the Asian market. In an interview before a concert in Seoul at the weekend, his first solo concert outside Japan,he announced plans to tour China, Taiwan and other Asian countries within the year. During the show at the Olympic fencing stadium he impressed 8,000 fans with his Hangul language skills for a full 20 minutes. For the show he brought the entire set and crew from Japan at a cost of about ¥120 million.

• Tegoshi Yuya (18), a member of popular Johnny’s boy band News, has passed the entrance examination for the prestigious Waseda University. he announced the good news at a PR event for his first movie lead role in “Shissou”. Tegoshi is one of eight Johnny’s stars to get into university, and the second to enter Waseda. He said he hopes to be able to play for the school’s soccer club.

• Former Yomiuri Giants star Motoki Daisuke (34) has become a father. It was announced yesterday that his wife, former talento Ohgami Izumi (36), gave birth to their first son last week.