Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Two major acts brought the Japanese heatwave to neighboring countries at the weekend. In Seoul, it was Amuro Namie representing her country at the 2004 MTV BuzzAsia Concert. Her latest single “All For You” was released in both Japan and Korea on July 22. Following her first tour of the continent in May, Amuro seems to be aiming to become something of a Pop Queen of Asia.

• Meanwhile over in Bangkok, duo Tackey and Tsubasa played their first event outside Japan. They played at the Impact Arena to 10,000 screaming fans. During their trip, Takizawa Hideaki (22) and Imai Tsubasa (22) also visited an orphanage and a school for deaf and mute children and donated about ¥6 million.

Pink Lady, the duo who defined “idols” in the 1980s, will perform alongside the biggest idol group of this generation Morning Musume on Fuji TV tonight. “Music Fair” will feature the teen sensations alongside the duo, who retired before they were even born but are enjoying a comeback this year.

• Singer songwriter Onizuka Chihiro (photo, 23) has signed with A&M Records. The popular artist’s contract with Toshiba EMI came to an abrupt end in April with one album commitment remaining, and her future career had seemed in jeopardy. But the new signing with A&M, part of the Universal Music group, is seen as a chance for her to launch a career outside Japan. A release planned for October will be the first by the new label.

The next project has been announced for young actor Yagira Yuya (14), surprise winner of the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in May. He will star in “Hoshi ni Natta Shonen – Little Randy and Shining Boy,” to be released next summer. It tells the true story of Sakamoto Tetsumu who went to Thailand to become an elephant trainer. After returning to build an elephant park in Japan, he was killed in a traffic accident at the age of 20. The movie will be based on the book by Sakamoto’s mother. Filming will begin in October and take place in Japan and Thailand. With high school entrance exams coming up next spring, Yagira will study with a private tutor during the shoot. He plans to spend this summer vacation working with elephants.

Writer Nakajima Ramo (52) has been hospitalized in Osaka after falling down a flight of stairs while leaving a bar. The controversial writer and commentator is currently on probabtion after an arrest for marijuana possession in February of last year. He is said to have been drinking heavily recently.

• It was revealed yesterday that singer Nakamura Ayumi (38) and her 54-year old businessman husband have recently divorced. Nakamura has custody of their 5-year old daughter.

Sakurai Atsushi (38), vocalist of the rock band Buck Tick, revealed on the band’s web site yesterday that he got married last month. The very brief announcement included no details of the new bride. Sakurai plays his first solo live concert tonight at the NHK Hall in Tokyo and is expected to make a more formal announcement to fans then. Buck Tick, one of Japan’s more established rock groups, have been going since 1987.

• Saito Masumi (26), the busty former pin-up girl who briefly made a name for herself as the date of comedian Sanma Akashiya (49), recently married baseball player Goto Mitsutaka (25), an infielder for Orix Blue Wave in the Pacific League.

Rock singer Oguro Maki (34) and her husband, a 34-year old IT company employee, held their wedding ceremony at a central Tokyo hotel yesterday. The couple registered their mariage last November. The four and a half-hour reception was attended by over 250 friends and felow celebrities.

• Popular band Southern All Stars (known simply as “Sazarn”) had their first live TV broadcast in 26 years on Saturday night. The show was broadcast from a “live house” in Tokyo’s Ariake on the Fuji TV network from 12:30am, and ran until 2am. It is the only live event that the band – known for their summers shows and hits – will perform this season.

• At the weekend, actress Matsu Takako (27) admitted her relationship with guitarist Sahashi Yoshiyuki (42). It was the first time since the the pairing was revealed in March that Matsu has spoken about it. Sahashi is one half of the guitar duo Yamagen and also Matsu’s musical producer.

Fortune teller Hosoki Kazuko (66) is a hot item at the moment. Two recent variety shows featuring the straight-talking Tokyo woman have topped the viewer ratings, and she is to be rewarded with her own show alongside young pop idol Takizawa Hideaki (22). The show “Zubari Iuwayo!” (I’m Gonna Speak Frankly!) will start on TBS on August 10. Hosoki is the author of many books and has sold almost 40 million, and was reconized as the world’s best-selling author in her category by the Guinness Book of Records in 2001. She has studied many branches of Oriental fortune telling and divination.

Veteran actress Awaji Keiko (70) has finally given up on her deliquent son. Actor Yorozuya Kichinosuke (31), the youngest of her four sons, was handed down a 6-month prison sentence for breaking into her Tokyo home in May. He said at the time that he just wanted to see his mother, but he has a record of stealing from her home. Kichinosuke is the son of the late actor Yorozuya Kinnosuke, Awaji’s second husband whom she divorced in 1987. Their eldest son (Awaji’s third) Akihiro died in a car crash in 1990. Kichinosuke made his acting debut alongside his father at the age of six. He had been out of work in recent years and developed an alcohol problem. A tearful Awaji spoke to the press yesterday and said she had “no more love” for her son.

• The ex-husband of actress and model Umemiya Anna (31), named as Chiba Takashi (33), was arrested in Tokyo yesterday for running an illegal gambling operation (see Wednesday’s story for more details).

Otomo Katsuhiro’s acclaimed new animated movie “Steamboy” has received a special invitation to close the 61st Venice International Film Festival in September. It will mark the first time a Japanese anime has been chosen to open or close one of the major festivals (Cannes, Berlin, Venice). Otomo (50), director of the classic “Akira“, and main voice actress Suzuki Ann (17) both plan to attend the event. “Steamboy” was 9 years in the making and developed at a cost of ¥2.4 billion. Featuring 180,000 frames, it is set in England during the 19th-century industrial revolution. The movie opens in Japan on July 17.

The former husband of actress and model Umemiya Anna (31) has been issued with an arrest warrant for running an illegal casino. Named only as “C-san” (33) and self-employed, he is said to have made about ¥2.6 billion in just two months from the baccarat operation in Tokyo’s Roppongi entertainment district. Umemiya’s office denied that the pair had been in contact recently and emphasized that there had been no financial disputes at the time of their divorce. The couple married in June 2001 and had a daughter the following January. They divorced in January 2003.