Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Abe Natsumi, who recently “graduated” from the pop group Morning Musume, is to make her debut in the lead role of a drama series. She will play the blind heroine in NTV’s Saturday night series “Koinu no Warutsu” (Puppy Waltz). With the much-hyped upcoming release of the movie “Quill,” seeing-eye dogs seem to be the theme of the year so far.• Soulful duo Chemistry are on a roll. Their 4th album has gone straight to No.1 on the Oricon chart, which puts them in a tie for 2nd for male artists with consecutive chart toppers following their debut. Suntory Whisky is using the track “Meaning of Tears” in its upcoming TV CM, the 8th commercial tie-up from the album.

Singer Koizumi Kyoko (photo, 38) and her actor husband Nagase Masatoshi (37) filed for divorce yesterday, their ninth wedding anniversary. The news was announced late in the evening on their respective fan web sites. They said that they remain on good terms but have become more like “cousins” than husband and wife. They also announced that have been separated for the last two years and there will be no alimony settlement. “Kyon-Kyon” was one of the top “idol” singers of the 1980s while Nagase is a highly regarded actor who appeared in the 1989 Jim Jarmusch movie “Mystery Train.”

The big winner at the 27th Japan Academy awards was the Takita Yojiro samurai movie “Mibugishiden.” Takita (48) won Best Director, star Nakai Kiichi (42) took the Best Actor award and the best supporting actor went to Sato Koichi (43). Terashima Shinobu (31) won her eighth domestic movie award, taking Best Actress for her role in “Akame Shijuyataki Shinjumisui.” Among the six Newcomer Awards – geared mainly to marketing young stars of the future – were the ubiquitous Ueto Aya (photo, 18) and Odagiri Jo (28), who co-starred in “Azumi.” The awards were held yesterday at the Shin Takanawa Hotel in Tokyo.

Actor Sanada Hiroyuki (43) won this year’s Yodogawa Nagaharu Award for his recent successful roles in “Tasogare Seibei” (Twilight Samurai) and the Hollywood hit “The Last Samurai.” The award is named after the famous movie critic, best known for the closing line of his TV show, “Sayonara, sayonara, sayonara!”

• Lucy Liu (36) is the latest Hollywood star to do a TV ad in Japan. She stars in the new spot for Suntory’s ‘healthy’ happoshu (malt liquor) “Diet Nama” that shows the “Charlie’s Angels” and “Kill Bill” star even able to run on water!

• The home of Kimijima International fashion brand owner Kimijima Takayuki (38) and his wife Towako (37) was burgled recently, according to the magazine Josei Sebun.

Nakano Minako (24), a hugely popular Fuji TV presenter, is romantically involved with handsome actor Ito Hideaki (28). The couple are said to have started going out at the end of last year. They were caught leaving Ito’s Tokyo apartment by a photographer for the gossip magazine Friday. Nakano is a former Miss Keio University and joined Fuji TV in 2002. Ito has starred in several TV series, including the current hit hospital drama “Shiroi Kyoto,” as well as the successful Heian Period movie “Onmyoji.”

Still remembered as one of the first teen beauty “talents”, Goto Kumiko (29), returned to Japan at the weekend with her husband, former Formula One driver Jean Alesi (39). It is the couple’s first trip to Japan together in three and a half years. They’re here to film a TV commercial together, having left their daughter Elena (7) and son Juliano (4) at their Geneva home.

Actress Miyaji Mao (photo, 20), star of the current NHK morning drama series “Manten,” is head over heels in love. Her hearththrob is described in today’s Friday magazine as a “wild, long-haired” 27-year old musician. The couple are said to have been dating since July of last year and spend most of their time together at Miyaji’s Tokyo apartment.

• The Mainichi Broadcasting Saturday morning show “Shinju no Kobako” is to end its record-setting 45-year run. The show started in March 1959 and introduced the sights and history along the routes covered by the Kintetsu Railway Company in western Japan. It has been hosted by a huge range of TV personalities, musicians, and academics. The final show, set to air on March 27, will be the 2,314th.

B’z guitarist Matsumoto Tak (photo left, 42) has formed a new rock unit with some big US names. Tak Matsumoto Group (TMG) features the man himself on lead guitar, Mr. Big vocalist Eric Martin, Night Ranger frontman and bassist Jack Blades, and Brian Tishy on drums. They will release their first single “Oh Japan – Our Time is Now” on March 31, though it is already being used as TV Asahi’s sports theme song for 2004.

• NBS presenter Tashiro Yumi (36) made a surprise announcement on a recent show that she plans to marry a 39-year old doctor on Valentine’s Day. One of the station’s more popular “announcers,” she is also a former Miss Keio University runner-up.

Popular TV Asahi news presenter Katsu Keiko (37) has married Ebihara Takaaki (47), editor of the “Shukan Post” magazine. The couple had been going out for two and a half years. Katsu was previously married for seven years to a TV station director. She got her TV start as the weather presenter on “News Station” while still a student at Gakushuin University.

Actress Matsushima Nanako (30) is expecting her first baby in June. The pregnancy was rumored but denied late last year. Matsushima has not appeared in any TV dramas since last spring but plans to return to work after her maternity break. She married actor Sorimachi Takashi (30) in 2000, making them one of Japan’s bigger showbiz couples.

• Transvestite TV personality Carousel Maki (61) revealed that she has broken up with her 26-year old boyfriend of six months. She was interviewed at the 64th birthday party of friend Dewi Sukarno, who expressed disappointment that she’ll have to wait for Japan’s first same-sex marriage. Maki was arrested for marijuana possession in 2001.