Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Rock group B’z extended their record of No.1 singles on the Oricon chart to 31, with “Yasei no Energy” entering straight into the top slot this week. Pop group Tube, best known for their summer hits, stretched a record of their own with “Oasis,” their 18th consecutive Top 10 album.

“Odoru Daisosasen 2” (Bayside Shakedown 2) set a new box office record for its three-day opening weekend, taking in ¥1.8 billion. The record was previously held by the 2001 animated hit “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi” (Spirited Away), which had a ¥1.6 billion opening. That movie went on to win an Oscar and make over ¥30 billion at the Japanese box office. “Odoru” is the sequel to the 1998 hit, which in turn grew out of a TV series. It turned Oda Yuji (35) from a heart-throb into a movie star. Co-star and veteran comedian/actor Ikariya Chosuke (71) got out of hospital just in time for the movie’s opening ceremony.

Hira Takehiro (28) is a member of the “elite” in more ways than one. The son of actors Hira Mikijiro (69) and Sakuma Yoshiko (64), he went to the US at the age of 15 to study at Brown University and later graduate school at Columbia University. After returning to Japan, he entered the booming Internet company Softbank. But last year, he gave all that up to turn to acting. He appeared on stage in a show featuring his parents, who had divorced 18 years earlier, and in a production of King Lear. This week, he makes his TV debut alongside Todai graduate Kikukawa Rei in the new TBS drama “Loved to Love”. Watch out for this guy!

Pop duo Dreams Come True kicked off their Wonderland summer stadium tour with weekend dates in Shiga Prefecture. Vocalist Yoshida Miwa (37) and Nakamura Masato (44) only do the tour once every four years – this is their fourth time around – and have played to over a million people. This year’s tour will visit six venues until the end of August.

• Popular hip hop group Rip Slyme played the biggest ever Japanese hip hop event at the Showa Memorial Park in western Tokyo yesterday. Torrential rain didn’t dampen the spirits of the 52,000-strong crowd, and it stopped right on time for the 6pm start of the 2-hour show. The group currently have the No.1 album slot with “Time To Go.”

Rumors continue of a relationship between TV personalities Kato Haruhiko (28) and Kikukawa Rei (25). Kato, appearing at a Guinness Book of Records presentation, claimed that she is just one of many female friends. The ceremony was to acknowledge a record set by elementary school kids for a 30-person version of a three-legged race. Kato and Yuka (23) were judges at the event.

• Horror manga writer turned TV personality Yamazaki Toru (photo, 33) has made his solo CD debut. The effeminate star has made a name for himself over the last couple of years and is considered the epitome of “kawaii” by Japanese women. In his latest incarnation, he dresses in frilly white clothes and dances in the style of an 80s idol singer.

Singer Saijo Hideki (48) gave his first press conference yesterday since his recent hospitalization with a slight cerebral infarction, caused by a blockage of the blood supply to the brain. 13 TV cameras and over 100 reporters turned out and Saijo was reduced to tears when he recounted his experience. In the evening, he gave a dinner show as scheduled in Fukushima. Saijo has released 85 singles over a two-decade career. His best known hit was “Young Man,” a cover of the Village People song YMCA.

• Sakaguchi Yuzaburo, a popular actor in the 1960s, died this week at the age of 61. He was best known for his leading role in the action hero series “Gamen no Ninja Akakage.”

Former Takarazuka star Otori Rei (29) wed a 30-year old advertising executive at an Osaka hotel at the weekend. The ceremony was attended by around 200 people, including many current and former actresses with the all-female theater troupe.

• Popular actress Honjo Manami (photo, 28) had a wedding ceremony of a similar scale at a Tokyo hotel. The event was a closely guarded secret. The “wide show” that reported the scoop also suggested that Honjo, who’s fan club was recently closed, may be considering retirement. She is a so-called “iyashi-kei” actress. The word, popular for the last year or so, literally means “healing-type” and refers to people or things that are sweet, relaxing or just “feel good.”

It’s rumored that comedian Dandy Sakano (36) will be getting married within the year. He and his long-term, live-in girlfriend recently moved to a more luxurious apartment in central Tokyo. Unless you’ve been hiding under a rock, you can’t have missed Sakano and his Gets! routine. With his infectious grin and yellow tuxedo, he had a breakthrough in a TV commercial for drugstore giant Matsumoto Kiyoshi a year or so ago. Now he and his six-guns gesture are all the rage. People of all ages just love to say “Gets!” though it remains to be seen whether he can come up with anything other than that.

In a publicity move before the release of the new Kitano Takeshi version, the entire “Zatoichi” movie series is to be released on DVD. In 18 films released over a period of eight years (1960-68), Katsu Shintaro played the blind swordsman, a role that made him one of the biggest stars of his generation. A peroxide blond Takeshi has said he would never have considered reviving the role while Katsu was alive. But next month will see a televised Buddhist ceremony to mark the 6th anniversary of his death, and the September release has the full approval of his widow, popular actress Nakamura Tamao (64). We can expect a Zatoichi boom this autumn.

Actress Saizen Naomi (photo, 37) married Fuji TV producer Honma Ohiko (45) in what is called a “dengeki kekkon, ” wedding out of the blue. The two have worked together for several years on the Fuji TV New Year drama “Stewardess P.I.” They only started going out after the curtain-call party last year. The marriage registration was sumitted to the city office by Saizen’s manager, as she was on location for the NHK drama “Kokoro.”

• TV personality Abe Mihoko (27) announced that she and Korean soccer international Choi Sung Yong (27) are engaged to be married in December. Choi was formerly with J-League team Vissel Kobe and the pair met on an NHK Korean language program. Abe got her TV break on the TBS Saturday morning show “King’s Brunch.”