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Now in its 15th year on Fuji TV, popular animation series “Chibi Maruko-chan” is to be made into a drama. There have been attempts in the past to put real actors and actresses in the famous roles, but producers have never been able to fill Maruko-chan’s shoes. But now in 8-year old Morisako Ei, they think they have found the perfect match, with the perfect combination of cuteness and maturity tinged with cynicism. Morisako was chosen at an audition from 500 hopefuls to play Japan’s most famous elementary schoolgirl. Her doting grandfather will be played by Moto Fuyuki (54), her father by Takahashi Katsumi (44). The pair have barely a tuft of hair between them and so will be donning wigs for thie roles. Versatile actress Shimizu Michiko will portray Maruko’s mother (45), while Ichige Yoshie (55) will play her grandmother. This week the network started production of a two-hour special to be aired in April.

• Celebrity couple Oshio Manabu (27) and Yada Akiko (27) were not too happy to meet the press after their return from the US yesterday. Yada wore a hat that nearly hid her face, while Oshio glared at reporters and berated them when his girlfriend almost tripped. Wearing matching rings and holding hands all the way through the Narita Airport terminal building, they were bombarded with questions about the trip and whether they were now married. When the couple left for Hawaii before Christmas, making no effort to hide their relationship, the media speculated that they were planning to get hitched, possibly on Yada’s birthday. They spent the New Year in Los Angeles, where Oshio lived for eight years as a child.

• Singer Fuse Akira (58) is romantically involved with a 48-year old former actress who bears a strong resemblance to his former wife, British Hollywood actress Olivia Hussey (54), according to Friday magazine. He married Hussey, whose film career ended with the marriage, in 1980 and they divorced in 1989.

Just yesterday we announced the marriage of Yoshimoto comedian Kimura Yuichi and talento henmi Emiri. Now we hear that popular Fuji TV announcer Uchida Kyoko (29) is engaged to Yoshimoto manager Kimoto Kimitoshi (32). And while Kimura is a member of Downtown‘s inner circle, Kimoto was managing member Hamada (42) when he met Uchida, his co-presenter on the Fuji TV sports-variety show “Junk Sports,” in 2001. The two started going out in March of 2003 and got engaged last December. “Ucchi”, who has been one of Fuji’s most popular announcers for the last couple of years, says she plans to leave the network in March and go freelance. Of the 12 female announcers who got married or engaged in the last year or so, six have been with the Fuji network, and particularly those with Fuji have developed a reputation for marrying sports stars and high-flying IT company presidents. But despite his ties to one of the best-paid comedy stars in Japan, Kimoto is a ¥7 million-a-year salaryman.

• Former Luna Sea vocalist kawamura Ryuichi (35) is romantically involved with a oman in her 20’s. Identified simply as A-san from Shizuoka Prefecture, she and the rock star are said to have been going out since last year. Kawamura, who has been connected with many actresses and models over the years, visited A-san’s family’s home and met her parents at the New Year. He is currently preparing for a Tokyo show by his latest band Tourbillon, which he formed last summer.

• The opening episode of Fuji TV’s version of the classic series “Saiyuki” (Monkey) scored an impressive 29.2% audience rating. It’s the 4th best opening for a drama series on the network, and only bettered by three series starring heart throb Kimura Takuya. Saiyuki stars Kimutaku’s SMAP colleague Katori Shingo (28) in the lead role, supported by comedian Uchimura Teruyoshi (41), Itoh Atsushi (22) and Fukatsu Eri (33).

• Not doing so well is this year’s taiga drama on NHK, “Kohmyo ga Tsuji”. The annual historical drama series started with less than a 20% rating for the first time in four years.

As predicted on Japan Zone a week or so ago, talento Henmi Emiri (29) and comedian Kimura Yuichi (42) have announced their marriage. They held a press conference on Monday and rather than announcing their engagement, they told the gathered media that they had already registered their marriage that afternoon. The couple got romantically involved just last October when Henmi appeared on the “Downtown DX” comedy show, of which Kimura is one of the writers. He said at the press conference that they had “proposed to each other” on their 5th date while driving in the Gaien area of central Tokyo. Henmi’s mother, singer Henmi Mari (55), went through her second divorce shortly afterwards, a time when Kimura was a great comfort to his soon-to-be third wife.

• Hollywood star Jodie Foster (43) flew into Narita Aiport on United Airlines yesterday. In town for the first time in four years to promote her latest movie, “Flight Plan,” she was welcomed by about 300 fans. She will attend the movie’s local premier on Thursday night.

• Sexy pop star Koda Kumi (23) is the first female artist to have three singles in the Oricon Top 10 at the same time. She has released 5 of 12 singles since early-December, one every week. The first one “You” is still in at No.9, while the 4th release, “Shake It Up!” is a No.6 and the 5th, “Lies” is at No.7. Back on top of the singles chart is “Seishun Amigo” from young Johnny‘s duo Shuji & Akira. Meanwhile, Hamasaki Ayumi has a No.1 album for the 11th time and the 8th year in a row with “(miss)understood”. Her string of chart-topping years is the second best ever.

• The all-female Takarazuka theater troupe has staged the 1,500th performance of its classic musical “Berusayu no Bara” (The Rose of Versailles). The production dates back to 1974. It currently has Star Troupe lead actress Kozuki Wataru in the role of a prince who has a fatal romance with Marie Antoinette.

Actor Toyokawa Etsushi (43) refused to talk about his divorce during a pre-production PR event for the movie “Hula Girl” on Sunday. He announced the divorce at the New Year but has since ignored questions about it from the media.

• Comedian Yamane Yoshiaki (29) of the duo Ungirls announced yesterday that he and talento Yamakawa Erika (23) have split up. While the lanky duo are very popular with teenage girls, looks-wise neither is considered ideal romantic material.

• An end has also come to the romance between Horie Takafumi (33), CEO of IT company Livedoor, and talento Nishimura Miho (24). Horie talked about the split during the latest edition of the “Sunday Japon” news/variety show, which was recorded in December. So it’s thought that the couple split during the autumn. The interview with “Horiemon” took place on his private jet, which he bought last year for ¥3 billion. On his personal blog, he says he is currently enjoying gambling in Las Vegas.

• Pin-up girl Yinling of Joytoy (27) revealed at the weekend that she fractured a rib while practising ballroom dancing in December, and later broke it when she got up to get the TV remote at home.

Today is the Seijin no Hi (Coming of Age Day) national holiday. Congratulations to all you 20-year-olds who are adults as of this year.

• “Rinne” is the latest Japanese horror movie to be selected for a Hollywood makeover. Director Shimizu Takashi (33) is considered a hot property in Tinseltown after the success of “The Grudge” – his adaptation of his won film “Juon”, and over 20 movie companies were said to be chasing him for the rights to the US version. Shimizu, star Yuka (25) and other cast and crew were in central Tokyo for the opening of Rinne on Saturday night. The title refers to the Buddhist endless cycle of rebirth, and the US version of the movie is likely to be titled “Rebirth”.

• Actor and playwright Noda Hideki (50) has re-married, this time to an actress half his age. He sent a fax to the media on Saturday announcing that he and Fujita Yoko (25) had registered their marriage on December 12. They only met for the first time last spring. Noda married actress Takeshita Akiko, a member of his Yume no Yuminsha theater troupe, in 1986 but they split the following year. He was also romantically involved with award-winning actress Ohtake Shinobu, with whom he lived for five years. Fujita has appeared in several movies and can currently be seen in the Vodafone TV commercials.

Two shameless attention seekers announced their recording debuts yesterday. Comedian Razor Ramon HG (photo, 30), whose Hard Gay character made probably the biggest splash in the variety circuit last year, said he’ll be releasing his first single on February 8. Not too surprisingly, it’ll be a cover of Saijo Hideki’s “Young Man”, itself a cover of the Village People hit “YMCA”. He also unveiled his latest catchphrase, “Wasshoi!” Somewhat less appealing is the idea of Horie Takafumi (33), CEO of IT company Livedoor, and his new band. Horiemon likes to use the expression “souteigai” (thinking outside the box) and so has provisionally used that as the name of the band. They are said to be working on a mini-album of 80s-style pop due for release in March. Unfazed by the failure of his attempts to buy a baseball franchise and a major TV network and get elected to the Diet, Horie has become a regular on the variety circuit and seems willing to do anything for publicity.

• Ichiro (32) proved an able villian but was no match for Furuhata Ninzaburo. The Seattle Mariners superstar made his acting debut Wednesday, playing himself in the second segment of a 3-night special that pitted three major names against the popular detective, played by Tamura Masakazu (62). The show got a very impressive 27% audience rating in the Kanto area. Other stars in the special included Fujiwara Tatsuya and Matsushima Nanako. Tamura has said he’ll be retiring from the role.

More stats on the recent Kohaku Uta Gassen (Red-White Song Battle) on NHK. The New Year’s Eve song spectacular features red and white teams, those being the lucky new Year colors. The white team were this year’s winners, and a particularly out of tune SMAP rendition of their latest single “Triangle” pulled in the night’s highest rating of 48.6%. But the red team act that got the highest audience rating, and got the audience’s pulse racing, was sexy songstress Koda Kumi (photo, 23), who managed 47.2%. Probably because she promised to go bra-less, something that would have been unheard of before NHK started pulling out the stops to reverse the show’s – and the network’s – dramatic slide in popularity. Koda is called “ero kakkoii,” which translates as “erotic cool.” And that pretty acurately sums up her often semi-naked, hip grinding style that mimics US female R&B and hip hop acts. Her nearest rival for the red team’s ratings crown was “sexy” rival Gorie, actually comedian Gori in drag, with 47%.

• Meanwhile, Kohaku emcee Mino Monta is said to be recovering well following surgery just days after the show. He was admitted to hospital on New Year’s Day and underwent almost two hours of surgery on his back yesterday morning. Though he started out in radio, Mino’s emcee style is to always stand. And doing so for several decades has taken its toll on his back, especially as he has eight regular shows and does several hours of live TV every weekday. He plans to be back on TV screens from January 16.

• The Hakone Ekiden, a 2-day relay road race featuring teams of university students, had an audience rating of 28.3%, the 3rd highest to date. The annual event, held for the 82nd time and broadcast on NTV, covers a distance of over 100km between central Tokyo and the onsen resort of Hakone and back again. The overall title was won this year by Asia University for the first time.

Talento Henmi Emiri (photo, 29) and Yoshimoto comedian Kimura Yuichi (42) are expected to announce an engagement soon. Spokespeople for the two officially acknowledged their relationship yesterday, but said the stars themselves would not be speaking to the media just yet. Henmi, the daughter of singer Henmi Mari and her first husband, actor Saigo Teruhiko, has been the subject of romantic rumors many times. Her mother went through her second divorce just last November. Kimura has been a solo comedian since his partner was arrested in 1990, but is best known as part of the Downtown entourage. For many years, he has been the “brain” behind Matsumoto Hitoshi, considered one of Japan’s top comic talents.

• Matsudaira Ken (52) and Yuriko (37), his second wife of three months, headed off for their honeymoon in Las Vegas yesterday. Spotted by reporters at Narita Airport, it was their first public appearance together since their marriage on October 11. The “Matsuken Samba” boom seems to have lost its steam, but his marriage to the former actress has put him back in the spotlight. He said the couple have no plans for a wedding ceremony.

• Comedian Ishii Masanori (32) and his former comedian wife Kamemura Kana (26) have divorced. Ishii, one half of the manzai duo Ari to Kirigirsu, revealed the split on a TV variety show on New Year’s Day. Kamemura was formerly a member of the comedy duo Versus. Ishii has recently been a regular on the local Disney Channel.

• NHK’s Kohaku Uta Gassen song spectacular on New Year’s Eve managed to stop the rot in its audience ratings. The numbers didn’t reach the 50% that emcee Mino Monta was aiming for, but at 42.9% was up almost 4 points from last year’s record low and stopped a 4-year slide. But the numbers are still low for what was once a national institution that had almost every household in the country tuning in.

A very Happy New Year of the Dog in 2006 to all our readers.

Popular actor Fujiki Naohito (33) got married to a 28-year old OL (office worker) on Tuesday, according to his official website. The announcement was made yesterday only to memebrs of his fan club. Fujiki, who has been having some success recently as a singer, met A-san when they were both attending Waseda University, so the relationship has been a well-kept secret for many years. She is said to work in the fashion industry. Fujiki made his movie debut in 1997’s “Hana Yori Dango” while still a student, but became a star with the Fuji TV comedy series “Naasu no Shigoto.” he made his singing debut in 1999 and has since released 12 singles and 5 albums. He got his first emcee job this year as host of the NTV show “Oshare-ism.”