Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Dreams Come True vocalist Yoshida Miwa (photo, 39) announced yesterday that she had married video director Sueda Ken (30) in a small private ceremony. The couple have not registered their marriage, and have no plans to do so, making it unofficial in the law. They met on a DCT video shoot 2 and a half years ago, while Sueda was still married. He got a divorce in March of last year.

• Nemoto Mitsuyo (46), better known as Mii of the pop duo Pink Lady, recently noticed that her bank account had been “skimmed” of ¥17 million. After reporting the theft to the police, it was discovered that the money had been withdrawn from her account over the course of the last six months. She hadn’t missed the ATM card, which she says she seldom used.

Fuji TV’s summer drama series is to be a remake of the 1977 movie “Ningen no Shomei” (Proof of the Man). It will star Takenouchi Yutaka (33) and air at 10pm on Thursdays from July 8. Other big names lined up include veterans Matsuzaka Keiko (51) and Ogata Ken (66). The original movie teamed up some of the biggest Japanese stars of the time – Matsuda Yusaku, Mifune Toshiro, Tsuruta Koji – with Hollywood star George Kennedy. When an American is murdered in a Japanese inn, Tokyo detective Munesue (Matsuda) follows the trail of the killer to New York, where he teams up with detective Shuftan (Kennedy).

Imai Eriko (20) of the defunct Okinawan pop group Speed is to marry 175R vocalist Shogo (24) next month. Imai is currently five months pregnant. Speed got their start as backing singers for J-pop queen Amuro Namie and became one of the top groups of the late-90s. They broke up in 2000 and Imai has pursued a solo acting and singing career.

• There will be two Japanese movies competing at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Oshii Mamoru’s anime “Innocence” and “Nobody Knows” by Koreeda Hirokazu are both entered for the Palme d’Or grand prize. Japan’s perennial #1 heart throb, Kimura Takuya (31) may also be in attendance, as he is a star of Wong Kar Wai’s “2046”, also selected for competition.

• “Free caster” Katsu Keiko (37) and magazine editor Ebihara Takaaki (47) got married at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Saturday.

• Baseball legend Nomura Katsuya (68) and his wife Sachiyo (72) have both written new books. They gave a simultaneous “sain kai” (book signing) in Tokyo yesterday. Widely hated TV personality “Satchi” has dropped out of the limelight since highly publicized libel and tax evasion cases put her under an effective “gag order”.

Actress Mizuno Maki (34) and politician Gotoda Masazumi (34), who recently registered their marriage, will hold their wedding ceremony in the city of Tokushima tomorrow. Mizuno says she is a big Hugh Grant fan and plans to have the theme tune to one of his movies at the ceremony. Before leaving Tokyo, she attended a press conference for her upcoming TV Asahi drama, “Jakou” (Evil Light). The suspense story is based on a prize-winning bestseller novel from last year. Mizuno plays the heroine, whose husband – played by Sawamura Ikki (36) – cheats on her. Asked what she thought of such things, she replied “I guess it’s okay if I don’t know. Some things are just better not known. Secrets should be taken to the grave”.

New teen singing sensation Tamaki Nami (15) played her first live concert in Tokyo yesterday. She performed 20 songs at the NHK Hall in Shibuya before 3,700 fans to start a brief tour. At the end of this month, she heads off to events to promote Asian entertainment in Los Angeles and San Jose. She will then take dance and voice lessons – and hopefully a trip to Disneyland – for two weeks before returning to Japan. Tamaki turned a lot of heads in the music business last year when she sold 300,000 copies of her debut single “Believe”, also used as the opening theme of the popular anime Gundam Seed.

• Fujioka Hiroshi (58), the original Gamen Raida (Masked Rider), said at a talk event yesterday that he wants to make a comeback as the motorcycle-riding superhero. Usually such statements are to generate publicity for a real project, but it seems there are currently no plans for the self-proclaimed modern “samurai” to revive his 1971-73 role as Gamen Raida #1. These days, the series is a launching pad for the careers of young “ikemen” – good-looking actors who are as popular with mothers as they are among the target audience of young boys.

The Golden Week holiday has come to an end. Here are some of the stories from the last few days.

• On Monday, a ceremony was held to commemorate the “shichkaiki” (7th anniversary of a death) of X Japan guitarist Hide (photo). The traditional buddhist ceremony is actually held six years after someone’s death. The ceremony was held at the Hide Museum in Yokosuka City, and 18,000 fans waited in a line that stretched 2km to pay their respects. Also in attendance were band members Yoshiki (38) and Pata (38). Notably absent was bandmate Toshi, who has been recently caught up in child abuse accusations.

• Mini Moni played their last gig at the Saitama Super Arena on Monday. Leader Mika (19) is off to study in the US.

• Singer Noguchi Goro (48) and his wife Mitsui Yuri (35) became parents for the second time. Mitsui gave birth to their first boy at a Tokyo hospital on Monday.

• It was revealed this week that comedian Horiuchi Ken (34) of the trio Neptune had emergency surgery in late February following the discovery of testicular cancer. The loss of a testicle is the same fate suffered by fellow funny man Tanaka Yuji (38) of the duo Bakusho Mondai in 2000.

Singer hitomi (28) generated some publicity for her upcoming tour by playing an unannounced “secret live” in the departures lobby of Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Friday. Clad in a bikini top and cowboy hat, she gave a nice Golden Week surprise to about 3,000 people in the airport. (The event brought some good publicity for the airport too, after it had to be closed down on Thursday when a loony drove his car through a security fence, buzzed around the runways and killed himself by diving into Tokyo Bay.) The hitomi tour will be her first in almost two years. It kicks off in Chiba on May 15 and takes in 16 venues nationwide, finishing with Kokaido in Tokyo’s teen mecca of Shibuya in July. hitomi married a design company employee in November 2002 and went “into hiding” for a year and a half.

TV personality Umemiya Anna (31) has denied any plans to remarry. A women’s weekly magazine recently reported on her relationship with “A-san”, a wealthy bachelor who works in the financial sector and has a luxury apartment in the exclusive Roppongi Hills development. The divorcee says that she is looking for someone who will take care not just of her but also her 2-year old daughter Momoka from her all-too-brief marriage. A-san has a reported annual salary of ¥50-60 million – enough to keep the spoilt Anna in the lifestyle to which she is accustomed? Time will tell.

It was revealed this week that Da Pump member Yukinari (25) and former TV personality Nishida Natsu (21) married in February. They are expecting a baby in the summer. Also tying the knot this week were Kitahara Masaki (27) of the comedy duo Great Chicken Powers, and TV personality Sugimoto Maki (32). They registered ther marriage on Wednesday, Sugimoto’s birthday. The couple (photo) worked together on the TBS program “Just”.

• Actress Nishizaki Midori (44) gave birth to her first baby this week, a girl. She plans to return to work in June. Also new to motherhood is NHK announcer Takeuchi Sumiko (39), who is expecting her first baby at the end of October. She has been married for ten years. She was one of the presenters of last year’s “Kohaku Uta Gassen” New Year song spectacle.

• Actress Yonekura Ryoko (28) was overcome with emotion when talking about her upcoming NHK drama role during a press conference this week. “Haru to Natsu” (Spring and Summer), which marks NHK’s 80th anniversary, tells the story of two sisters and their family, and is split between locations in Japan and Brazil. Nakama Yukie (24) plays the role of the younger sister. Veterans Mori Mitsuko (83) and Nogiwa Yoko (68) play the sisters in later life. Yonekura, who leaves for Brazil after Golden Week, burst into tears while she talked about what she had learned about the meaning of life while preparing for her role.

Today is the “Midori No Hi” (Greenery Day) national holiday

Theater release of “Concrete”, a movie about a famous murder case in 1989, has been cancelled. The case involved a group of Tokyo youths who kidnapped a 17-year old high school girl, kept her captive and raped and beat her for 41 days before killing her. They putting her body in drum and filled it with concrete. The case is considered the precursor of a wave of juvenile crime that has hit Japan in the years since. The indie movie is the commercial debut by former bosozoku Nakamura Taku (33). It was due to open at a Ginza theater at the end of May, but repeated attacks on the Internet and threatening phone calls caused the production company to cancel. It can only be assumed that this was done by friends or sympathisers of the perpetrators – all but the group leader have served their sentences. A movie spokesperson said, “It’s unfortunate that people couldn’t understand that we had hoped to raise public awareness of the problem of juvenile crime, ring some alarm bells about the future of our youth.” Video release will go ahead in June as planned.