Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

J-pop star Hamasaki Ayumi (26) has been chosen as the female Best Jeanist for 2004, for the second year in a row and her fourth title in all. One more, and she will be the first woman to enter the award’s hall of fame, home of SMAPers Kimura Takuya (31) and Kusanagi Tsuyoshi (30). Taking the male prize was Kinki Kids member Domoto Tsuyoshi (25). Other winners were event producer Yamamoto Kansai (60), model Hasegawa Rie (30) and Livedoor CEO Horie Takafumi (31). Wearing ripped jeans, Ayu was quizzed about her ongoing relationship with Tokio’s Nagase Tomoya (25), but refused to comment. Meanwhile her latest single has entered the Oricon chart at No.1. “Carols” is her 21st chart topper, giving her a share of second place in the record books with Nakamori Akina, and on the heels of Matsuda Seiko, who has had 25.

Transsexual celebrity Carrousel Maki (61) is now officially a woman. Under a recent change to the law, she was allowed to legally change her sex in her family register. Real name Hirahara Tetsuo, she is one of nine children born to a Hokkaido family. After making a debut at 15 and working in gay bars across the country, at the age of 29 she went to Morrocco to have a sex change operation. On returning to Japan, with feminine looks and an unmistakably male voice, she became a star of TV, movies and stage. In recent years, she has made headlines for drug arrests.

• “2046,” the new Hong Kong movie that features SMAP‘s Kimura Takuya (32), is set to open here on October 23. Compared to the version that showed at the Canes Film Festival in May, the “local” version will feature a lot more scenes of Kimutaku, increasing his on-screen time from a mere 7 minutes to about 20. Directed by Wong Kar Wai and starring Tony Leung and Fay Wong, the movie was a full five years in the making and was beseiged with problems. The final reels only barely made Cannes, and the screening had to be delayed as a result.

Comedian Kazama Kampei (55) has said he’s had enough of the Spartathalon, after failing to finish the 246 km race from Athens to Sparta. Having run the first 75km in nine hours, he was 20 minutes over the allotted time and disqualified. He has competed in the race seven times since 1988, completing it three times. The full distance must be completed within 36 hours, and only about 20% of runners make it to the finish line. For anyone interested in seeing more of this self-proclaimed “gag machine” and his variety of whacky characters, he recently launched a new web site at Aheahe TV (Mostly bilingual, some sections Japanese only).• The popular Hello Kitty brand has spawned thousands of merchandising products, such as stationery, purses, pajamas and other items for kids, and even household goods and cars for older fans. Now it will soon start appearing on a new platform: a MasterCard debit card. “Freedom! You can use the Hello Kitty Debit MasterCard to shop ’til you drop,” the card’s Web site enthuses.

Supermodel Tominaga Ai (22) is four months pregnant and is to marry this month. The father is a Japanese in his 20s who is currently working in Paris. The couple will register their marriage when he returns to Japan later this month. The happy event is almost concurrent with her upcoming appearance in the eagerly-awaited movie “Devilman,” set to open on October 9.

• Yasuhara Shinichi (30), manager of the TV personality Sonomama Higashi (47) has been arrested for sexual relations with a 15-year old high school girl. He met her on an online dating site, where he claimed to be a porn movie actor. According to police, he has admitted to up to 20 such liaisons.

Seattle Mariners outfielder Suzuki Ichiro (30) has become the new record holder for hits in a single season. He got singles in his first two at-bats against the Texas Rangers this morning (Tokyo time) to take him to 258, bettering the record set by George Sisler in 1920. After acknowledging the standing ovation from the capacity crowd at Safeco Field, he went to shake hands with the Sisler’s daughter and grandsons, who were in the front row.

• Meanwhile at home, last night the Chunichi Dragons won their first Central League pennant in five years. They will meet the winner of the Pacific League playoffs in the Japan Series.

Actress Ono Mayumi (23) is having a secret romance with actor Sasaki Kuranosuke (36), according to the weekly magazine Friday. The pair both happen to live in the same Tokyo apartment building. Ono made her breakthrough with her beaming smile on the “Ha-ji-me-te-no ACOM” TV commercial. It has been running since 2002. Sasaki’s career is also on the up, after appearances in several recent hit Fuji TV dramas. But it was said to have been an appearance together on an NTV drama during the summer, which included a kiss scene, that sparked off their relationship.

Nanbara Kiyotaka (39) of the comedy duo Uchan Nanchan is to be a father at last. His wife of almost 12 years Shizuka (33) is expecting their first child in March of next year. The couple have been together since before Nanbara became one of Japan’s best-known faces. At the time of their wedding in 1993, he said he wanted to have three children. Meanwhile, Uchan – Uchimura Teruyoshi (40) – remains a confirmed bachelor.

• Following the dismal audience rating for its last morning drama serial, NHK is doing no better with its successor. The opening episode of “Wakaba” drew a rating of only 18.9% in the Kanto region, and lower still in Kansai. The figures are only slightly better than those of the previous series, “Tenka.” The ‘asadora’ morning series are often used to launching young starlets, and in recent years have helped the careers of such actresses as Kuninaka Ryoko (Churasan) and Ishihara Satomi (Teruteru Kazoku). It remains to be seen whether Wakaba heroine Harada Natsuki (photo, 20) can turn things around.

Music label Avex Inc. said Tuesday that operating officer Matsuura Masato (39), known as a key promoter of popular singer – and the label’s “golden goose” – Hamasaki Ayumi (26), is the company’s new president with immediate effect. Matsuura succeeds Kobayashi Toshio (39) who becomes a managing director. Matsuura’s promotion followed his brief departure from the company in August over a conflict with then Avex President and Chairman Yoda Tatsumi over business strategy.

• It was revealed yesterday that Hotohara Tetsu (36, photo left), of the popular comedy duo Ame Agari Keshitai, recently tied the knot. His bride is said to be a former office worker in her 30s. A fan of the popular TV drama “Kita no Kuni Kara”, Hotohara decided to hold the wedding ceremony in the Hokkaido town of Furano, where the drama was set. He and comedy partner Miyasako Hiroyuki (34) are regulars on the hit Fuji TV show “One Night Rock ‘n’ Roll.”

NHK’s recently finished morning serial drama “Tenka” had the worst viewer ratings of any “asadora” since research began in 1964. It only scored an average rating of 16.2% in the Kanto region and fared even worse in Kansai with 15.1%. An NHK spokesman said that more people are tuning into NHK’s satellite channels (BS1 and BS2) and that viewer numbers for dramas are in a downward trend on all channels. A new serial, “Wakaba,” started yesterday.

• Writer Morimura Katsura died last night in a Nagano hospital. Police are treating the death as a suicide. She was best known for the 1966 novel “Tengoku ni Ichiban Chikai Shima” (The Closest Island to Paradise), based on her travel to New Caledonia and made into a movie in 1984. She was 64.

• Pop singer Tone Mariko (44) recently married her hair makeup artist, on the 20th anniversary of her showbiz debut. She described their relationship as being more like mother and son, though he is also 44. She says she wants to support him in his dream of becoming a writer and winning the Naoki Prize.

Matsuura Aya (18) played a series of three concerts in Tokyo over the weekend, drawing a combined crowd of over 30,000 fans. It was the first time for a solo member of the Hello! Project, which includes Morning Musume and W, to fill a 10,000-seat capacity venue. In this case it was the Yoyogi No.1 Gymnasium, a venue left after the Tokyo Olympics in 1964. Among the performance “extras” were a 200m catwalk that took “Ayaya” close to fans, and a ride on a crane that lifted her 10m above them.

• Three members of pop unit globe appeared together in Tokyo on Sunday to promote an upcoming tour. Komuro Tetsuya (45) and wife Keiko (32) will tour for the first time since they got married two years ago, along with Marc Panther (34). The three first met on the same date ten years ago, when Komuro was judging an audition, Panther was the MC and Keiko was a young hopeful. She got so carried away with her audition that she fell off the stage. But that was the day globe was formed. Former X Japan member Yoshiki, who was a late addition to the group, is to rejoin after the 10th anniversary celebrations are finished.