Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Young actress Nishina Hitomi (20) has been chosen as the 2006 Triumph Image Girl. As such, she will be the campaign girl for the lingerie maker for next year. Nishina is the daughter of actor Matsukata Hiroki (63), famous for many yakuza and samurai roles, and actress Nishina Akiko (52). When Hitomi called her father to tell him the good news, all he had to say was “Hmmm.” She is the 14th Triumph Image Girl, and the position has launched the careers of several popular female talento, such as Yoshioka Miho (2001).

• Fuji TV has cancelled its scheduled broadcast of Saturday’s Yomiuri Giants-Chunichi Dragons baseball game. The game will be shown on its BS Fuji satellite channel, but the dramatic drop in popularity of the Giants plus the fact that the Hanshin Tigers have all but wrapped up the Central League means the game would have almost definitely continued the long slide in poor audience ratings.

• Classic comedy troupe Drifters are to do their live routine for the first time in 20 years on TBS. They will appear on a special 4-hour show on October 2. The group were huge in the 1970s and 80s, though their bawdy and often dangerous brand of comedy was not popular with parents. Individual members, especially Shimura Ken (55) and Kato Cha (62), have retained their popularity over the years, though group leader Ikariya Chosuke died last year.

Actor Shiina Kippei (41) refuses to comment on speculation that he and his wife, actress Yamamoto Mirai (30) are on the verge of divorce. Appearing at a PR event in Tokyo for an upcoming stage production, Shiina passed the buck, leaving a spokesperson for his management agency to say that the couple are doing just fine and had recently got back from a trip together to San Francisco. Then again, trips abroad are often used by showbiz couples to take a serious look at their relationships outside of the Japanese media glare. Yamamoto is the daughter of famous fashion designer Yamamoto Kansai (61), a pioneer of Japanese design on the international stage. She spent several years growing up in the US and attended the international American School in Tokyo. She and Shiina married in 2003 after going out for 8 years (story) and held a lavish wedding ceremony last year (story). A difference in values is said to be a main reason for the couple’s rumored split.

Today is the Keiro no Hi (Respect for the Elderly Day) national holiday.

• Talento Oizumi Yo (32) is to get his first starring dramatic role. He will play the lead in the Fuji TV drama series “Okashina Futari” (The Odd Couple) at the end of the year. The drama tells of an unemployed divorcee (Oizumi), his ex-wife (Takaoka Yuki), and the people who live in his apartment building. One of the best-known names on TV in his native Hokkaido, Oizumi became a star on the local network show “Suiyo wa Doudesho” (How Do You Like Wednesday?), which has a big cult following that has started spreading nationwide. Over a decade on the show, he and co-star Suzui Takayuki (43) went on many wild and whacky adventures, including riding the length of Vietnam on a 50cc Honda, and crossing the Australian outback in four days. Traveling with just a director and a cameraman, the show’s “home-made” style and Oizumi’s unscripted humor made it a big hit. Oizumi made his national network debut in a Fuji drama in January, though he had an even bigger, though less visible, role a few years earlier – he was one of the voice actors in Miyazaki Hayao‘s 2003 Academy Award-winning animated movie “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away).

• Speaking of Hokkaido, pop star Hamasaki Ayumi (26) was in Sapporo yesterday doing PR for her latest single, “Heaven.” A huge crowd of 5,000 fans turned out to catch a glimpse when she appeared at a local radion station, 5 times the number that came to see local boys Glay the last time they were in town. Security officials were almost overwhelmed by the crowds, which they say were bigger than even the ones they handle at the annual Snow Festival. Fans were disappointed last month when Ayu had to pull out of the Hokkaido leg of the Avex “A-nation ’05” tour due to illness and were delighted that she kept her promise to come back soon.

Shiina Ringo (26), vocalist and songwriter for rock band Tokyo Jihen, is to do her first TV show collaboration. The band have recorded the theme song for the latest run of the Fuji TV period drama series “Oh-oku, Hana no Ran.” Set to start on October 13, the drama is set in the time of the 5th shogun, Tokugawa Tsunayoshi and, as with the previous two series, focuses on the lives and loves of the women in the court. Written by Shiina, the title of the theme song is “Shurajo” (fighting scene, scene of carnage), typical of the dramatic and provocative images she uses in her songs. After a successful five years as a solo artist, Shiina announced while on tour in 2003 that she was starting the 5-member Tokyo Jihen. The group started working together full-time in May of last year and had their first tour in January. In July, two members quit and they have been replaced with a new guitarist and keyboard player for the latest single. So far, the group has put out two singles and the album “Kyoiku” (Education).

• This morning’s wide shows gave a lot of time to the financial matters of musician and super-producer Komuro Tetsuya (46). The story came to light as Komuro’s company Tribalkicks has failed to honor its financial sponsorship commitments to the J-League soccer team Oita Trinita. In 2002, Komuro married Keiko, the vocalist of his group globe, who is originally from Oita Prefecture. He agreed to sponsor Trinita last year, but the club’s latest financial report revealed it to be several hundred million yen in the red and facing insolvency. Komuro himself, while hardly poor, is far removed from his heyday in the late 1990s when he was one of the biggest earners in Japan, with earnings in the billions.

• Pin-up girl Kumada Yoko (23) has denied rumors of a romance with comedian Watanabe Ken (32) of the manzai duo Anjashu. The two were recently spotted at a “go-kon,” a popular word that was originally coined to describe parties with equal numbers of male and female college students.

Actress Adachi Yumi (24) and comedian Itoda Jun (32) got married yesterday, Adachi’s birthday. The newlyweds held a brief press conference to announce the news and also that Adachi is two months pregnant. She had just come out of a 3-year and somewhat controversial relationship, and rumors of marriage, with actor Kuroda Arthur, 20 years her senior. Itoda is one half of the popular manzai duo Speed Wagon. The couple started going out just five months ago after first meeting last December. Adachi and Kuroda finally split up in March, the main reason assumed to be his reluctance to get married. Kuroda sent his congratulations to the new couple through his management agency.

• Actor Odagiri Jo (26) is to take over as the latest narrator of the TBS show “Sekai Issan” (World Heritage Sites). Current narrator Terao Akira (58) will do his last show on October 2. Odagiri will take over the following week, on a show about Rapa Nui national Park on Easter Island. The show is consistently one of the best things on Japanese TV, with superb camerawork and soundtrack music always capturing the magic and mystery of the world’s most beautiful and histrically important sites. Though it airs late on Sunday nights, it averages a very respectable 5.6% audience rating for the time slot. Odagiri will be the show’s third narrator, after Terao and Ogata Naoto (36), who was with the show when it started in 1996.

• Actress Tsuchiya Anna (21) has been chosen as this year’s “Best Leathernist.” One of many pointless awards, it is given to the celebrity who looks best in leather. Tsuchiya was chosen for her style, which she has kept despite the fact that she became a mother just last November.

Rock trio shocked fans and took the music industry by surprise yesterday, announcing that they are to break up after six successful years. A greatest hits album – “Do The A-Side” – is due for release on September 28 and the group announced through the Avex record label that they will disband the following day. The group will get back together for a one-off gig at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo on November 25. The members each plan to pursue new projects and feel that breaking up the band is the natural next step. Vocalist Ban Tomiko (26) will record solo, guitarist Owatari Ryo (34) will continue his work singing and strumming with the band Missile Innovation, and songwriter Nagao Dai (34) will work as a producer and composer, particularly for the Avex female artist Amasia Landscape. Ban in particular has been diversifying in the last year or so, making her debut as a voice actress in last year’s Inuyasaha anime movie, and recently appearing in a stage musical about Che Guevara. Do As Infinity debuted in 1999 after having played over a hundred times as a street band in Tokyo’s youth mecca of Shibuya. In 2001, they had two No.1 albums in “New World” and “Deep Forest.” Nagao began concentrating on songwriting for other Avex label artists such as Hamasaki Ayumi (27) and left the other two to do the stage performances.

Looking every bit the expectant mothers that they are, Okinawan pop duo Kiroro recently held their final live concert before taking maternity leave. The duo played the gig a week later than scheduled at the Okinawa Convention Area, in their hometown of Ginowan, due to the effects of last week’s Typhoon No.14 that caused so much damage in western Japan. Pianist Kinjou Ayano (photo left, 28), married in May and is now seven months pregnant, while vocalist Tamashiro Chiharu (28) got married in the spring and is currently five months pregnant.

• Another popular duo, Chemistry, treated 1,000 lucky fans to a concert at the Tokyo Big Site on Sunday. The event was in connection with their PR work for Suntory Whisky, who sponsored the competition to choose ticket winners. On a set complete with a bar counter, the duo sang 15 songs, including Eric Clapton’s “Change the World” and their new single, “Wings of Words.”

Talento and former Orix pro baseball player “Punch” Sato (40) apprehended a burglar on Sunday evening. He saw and subdued the man, who had been attempting to break into the garage of his home in Kawasaki City at about 6pm. On their arrival, police found that the man had a gram of stimulant drugs on him. They arrested the unemployed and homeless 46-year old for breaking and entering and drug possession. The man said he had no idea who the house belonged to.

WEEKEND UPDATE: Animated movie director Miyazaki Hayao (64) has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award at the 62nd Venice International Film Festival. He can now add the prestigious award to his Golden Bear from the 2002 berlin Film Festival and his 2003 Academy Award, both received for the 2001 feature “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away). Miyazaki wasn’t too thrilled when he first heard about winning the award, thinking it only went to “old people” at the end of their careers. But when he heard that active directors like Clint Eastwood and Steven Spielberg were previous winners, he “humbly accepted it.” He commented, “I appreciate the festival shedding light on animation, which is just a corner of the vast film industry. Many people say animation is facing a turning point as computers are changing the way it has been, but my way of creating animated films will never change.” Festival director Marco Muller enthused about Miyazaki’s use of romaticism and humanism, saying that his films always managed to hook the imagination of adult viewers, awakening their “inner child.” Miyazaki maintains that the aim of his films is to inspire children.

• Arriving in town at the weekend was Hollywood star Renee Zellweger (36). She’s here to promote the latest Ron Howard-directed flick, “Cinderella Man,” which is set to open on September 17. About 300 fans were waiting to greet her arrival at Narita Airport. Also on her way today is actress Jessica Biel (23), who’ll be here to promote “Stealth.” The movie is reportedly strictly for fans of the former model or video games.

• The Yomiuri Giants have reached yet another new low for TV ratings of their live game broadcasts. Their September 7 matchup against the Yakult Swallows managed only a paltry 4.6% audience rating, the first time “Japan’s team” have failed to break the 5% barrier.

Soul balladeer Hirai Ken (33) is to mark his tenth year in the business with his first greatest hits album. The as yet untitled double album will contain all his 22 singles and is set for release on November 23. A spokesman for Def Star records said, “When it came to trying to choose from the songs on his albums, we just couldn’t narrow it down. We decided to make it easy for fans and just go with all his A-sides.” Hirai has amassed 6.5 million single sales to date, including the million-selling “Hitoni wo Tojite” and the theme song to the hit movie “Sekai no Chushin de, Ai wo Sakebu.” A version of the album that includes all the videos to his singles on DVD will also be released.

• Members of popular hip hop groups Rip Slyme and m-flo are to team up with fashion designer Nigo (33) to make their recording debut in the US. Ryo-Z (31) and Ilmari (30) from Rip Slyme, m-flo vocalist Verbal, Kaze no Hito’s MC Wise, and Nigo as DJ will make up the 5-man unit Teriyaki Boyz. They will release their debut album “Beef or Chicken” on Def Jam Recordings on November 16. Nigo is best known for the A Bathing Ape street fashion brand, which has a huge cult following. He is a friend of Def Jam artist Jay-Z, and got the idea of putting the group together this summer. The album also has a stellar lineup on the production side, with Japan’s Cornelius alongside Grammy Award winners the Neptunes, Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys, French artists Daft Punk, and DJ Shadow. The group will hold a launch party in New York and play live dates in five cities towards the end of the year. There are no plans for the members to continue as a group after that.

• A happy follow up to yesterday’s story about the stolen bike of rock singer Imawano Kiyoshiro (54). The bike was discovered yesterday close to where it had been stolen, and even had a brand new lock attaching it to a railing. Kiyoshiro will now be able to participate as planned in the Honolulu Century Ride, a 100-mile ride on September 25.

Fuji TV yesterday announced a special series with the theme of the real-life experiences of women in their prime over the last century. The 3-part series, “Onna no Ichidaiki” (A Woman’s Biography) is scheduled to air in the autumn, and will feature three talented actresses, Miyazawa Rie (32), Yonekura Ryoko (30) and Amami Yuki (38). Miyazawa will play the famous writer and Buddhist nun Setouchi Jakuchou, who married while still a student but later abandoned her husband and children, and at the age of 51 entered a monastery. Yonekura will portray the late theater actress Sugimura Haruko (1909-97), who’s only vice was said to be men. She was only the third woman to receive an Imperial award for outstanding cultural contributions. And Amami will take on the role of the late singer Koshiji Fubuki (1924-80), a major “chanson” star of the post-war Showa era, whose behind-the-scenes life was even more dramatic than her on-stage appearances. Amami and Koshiji were both stars of the famous Takarazuka all-female theater troupe.

• It may not be very rock ‘n’ roll, but rock singer Imawano Kiyoshiro (54) has had his bicycle stolen. The order-made “orenji-go” was no ordinary bicycle though, and set the eccentric singer back a hefty ¥1.6 million. The singer left his bike locked on the street in the Shin-Okubo area of Shinjuku in Tokyo for an hour or so on Sunday evening and found nothing but a severed chain when he came back. He posted a message on his official website asking for his beloved bike to be returned.