Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

Preparations are almost complete for a major Buddhist memorial service for the late legendary actor Ishihara Yujiro, who died in 1987 at the age of 52. As one of the biggest stars of 20th century Japan, he still has legions of fans and tens of thousands are expected to attend the service on Sunday afternoon. The service will be the main event over a weekend that will also feature movies and numerous Ishihara specials on the TV networks. The memorial event will be broadcast live from the National Stadium, originally built for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where 100 craftsmen have spent the last week building a reconstruction of the Soujiji temple in Yokohama which holds Ishihara’s remains. The younger brother of writer and politician Ishihara Shintaro (76), current governor of Tokyo, Yujiro became a star with his 1956 movie debut “Taiyo no Kisetsu” (Season of the Sun) based on his brother’s novel.

• Theatrical director Ninogawa Yukio (73) had a minor stroke last month, he revealed yesterday. Best known for his many interpretations of Shakespeare’s works both in Japan and overseas, he canceled a press conference appearance on June 6 after rehearsals for a production of the Bard’s “Twelfth Night,” citing health problems. But he was back at work on June 25, when he attended a PR event for the 9-hour production “Coast of Utopia,” and it wasn’t until yesterday that he publicly announced that he had been in the hospital for a week from June 2. He said he consulted his doctor after experiencing strange feelings in his right leg. Because his condition was treated early, he suffered no serious after effects and was able to make such a speedy recovery.

Guinness World Records yesterday formally recognized “Kiseki,” by J-pop group GReeeeN, as the best-selling digital downloaded single of all time. The single was used as the theme for last year’s hugely popular TBS teen baseball drama “Rookies” and went on sale in May 2008. The application to GWR was made on May 24, at which point the single had been downloaded more than 2.3 million times. But the success of a Rookies spinoff movie gave another boost to digital sales, which are now said to be over 5.9 million. Sato Ryuta (29), star of the drama and the movie, was clearly delighted as he received the official record certificate yesterday from GWR Japan president (and old Japan Zone friend) Russell Willis at the TBS studios in central Tokyo. He said he has yet to meet the four members of GReeeeN (Hide, Navi, 92 and Soh), who hide behind masks in official photos, but hopes he can now finally do so. The group recently saw sales of their 3rd album, “Shio, Kosho” break the million barrier.

Earlier stories:

Another Million Seller for Greeeen (Jun 22, 2009)

She may be a tiny old lady, but it’s hard to believe that the vibrant Mori Mitsuko is 89 years old. Just last month she performed the lead role in the play “Hourouki” for the 2,000th time, a role she’s been playing since 1961! She is such a popular figure that she is sometimes referred to as “Nihon no Okaasan” (Mother of Japan). In recognition of everything she has achieved and her cultural contributions, yesterday she became the 17th recipient of a national honor award. She is the first actress and the oldest person to be recognized, and just the second person (after Kurosawa Akira) to have also received the Order of Cultural Merit. Yesterday’s award was presented by Prime Minister Aso Taro at his official residence, after which Mori gave a press conference. Twisting a familiar Japanese phrase, she joked “I’m so happy I should be punished!” In recent years she has started to show some of the signs of old age – mild hearing loss and the occasionally shakes. But she is looking forward to performing in Hourouki again next spring, at the sprightly age of 90, and celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2011.

Earlier stories:

Nihon no Okaasan to Receive National Honor (May 12, 2009)

Disgraced talento Tashiro Masashi (52, photo right) is on the comeback trail yet again. The former jailbird held a press conference yesterday for an upcoming new talk show on the Mondo21 cable channel. The first show will likely draw a lot of attention, especially as his guest will be the Livedoor founder, and another former jailbird, Horie Takafumi (36). Tashiro is the epitome of the top star whose life and career hit rock bottom when repeated arrests led to a three year prison term that ended in June of last year.

He made his showbiz debut in 1980 as a member of the doo-wop group Chanels, who had a million selling debut with the single “Runaway.” The following years saw a change of name, to Rats & Star, and a string of hits. In the mid-80s, top comedian Shimura Ken took Tashiro under his wing, rebranded him as a comedy/variety performer and helped him become one of the biggest young names in the business. That popularity and success started getting a bit wobbly in 2000 after Tashiro was found to have filmed up a woman’s skirt on a station platform, a story the media tried to bury. But one reporter’s persistence kept the story alive and Tashiro eventually paid a minor fine of ¥50,000 and dropped out of sight for several months. He was back on prime time the following summer but everything suddenly came to a grinding halt at the end of 2001. The relatively minor offense of peeping into a neighbors bathroom led to a police search of his home, where they found stimulant drugs. He received a suspended prison sentence and tried to rebuild his career, making his debut as a porn director. But he caused a traffic accident while on probation and was later arrested again for drugs. This finally landed him in jail. In recent years, the mainstream media have almost totally avoided even mentioning his name, and his face is blurred out on any old video footage. Only his once elevated status offers him any chance at reinstatement into the showbiz firmament.

• Talento Kurusu Atsuko (31) gave a tearful press conference yesterday to address rumors about her private life. The rumors started in mid-June when the former pinup idol wrote on her blog that she was an emotional wreck. This led to the usual online speculation about her becoming the latest showbiz suicide, and indeed it turned out that she had attempted to kill herself. The reason was revealed in one of the weekly gossip magazines to be a romantic breakup with an unnamed younger actor. Yesterday Kurusu talked about the end, in early May, of a two-and-a-half-year relationship with the actor. They had been living together and had talked about marriage. But money problems brought all that to an end. Kurusu said she had lent her former boyfriend millions of yen and that he had lied to her repeatedly about what the money was for. He even went so far as to claim that his grandmother had died and later that his mother had blown all the money borrowed from Kurusu to pay for the funeral. She said he has so far refused to repay any of the debts but she hopes he will do so rather than force her to take legal action.

She’s often referred to as the next Utada Hikaru, but not much else is known about her. The nationwide media has shown barely a glimpse of young singer Jasmine (20), but her single “Sad to Say” has already topped the digital download charts. It’s being reported as the first time an artist has reached No.1 on the charts before making their official debut, which Jasmine did a week later on June 24. The song hasn’t even benefited from a TV commercial tie up, and its success has been mostly through online viral marketing and the comparisons with Utada. She also wrote her own songs from the start and did all her pre-debut promotions only on the radio. Jasmine says she considers Utada a big influence but was first inspired to become a singer at the age of 13 after seeing a gospel choir perform at the US military base in Yokota. She dropped out of high school in the tenth grade and passed an audition with Sony Music a year later. She has since performed in clubs and appears every Thursday on the J-Wave radio station. No doubt we’ll be hearing a lot more from this young singer.

Former pinup idol Komukai Minako (24) finished her controversial run at the Rock-za strip theater last night. She gave a tearful press conference on the stage where she removed her clothes four times a day over the last few weeks. She told the audience of about 300, “There were many problems, but thanks to everyone’s support I made it to the last day. It’s given me a lot of confidence.” Arrested last year for drug possession, the invitation to appear as part of the theater’s anniversary came as a welcome chance to revive her career. But her former management agency filed a lawsuit in an attempt to stop her appearing, saying it was in breach of an agreement not to pose nude or move to the porn industry. There was a lot of “will she, won’t she” on June 5, the opening day, and she missed two of the four scheduled shows. As the run came to a close yesterday, some less enthusiastic fans complained that Komukai had put on weight and hadn’t developed any finesse as an exotic dancer.

Major music company Avex held its annual meeting and concert for shareholders at the Saitama Super Arena yesterday. Attendance at the event was 9,679, said to be the biggest ever gathering of shareholders in a Japanese business. Despite being hit by several scandals, the company was able to announce record income of ¥117.8 billion for the financial year which ended in March, the highest since the Avex was founded in 1988. This obviously took some of the heat off company management, who had to deal with questions about recent problems. Regarding the arrest and trial of musician and producer Komuro Tetsuya (50), president Matsuura Masato (44) said that the ¥30 million that Avex paid for his bail bond had been repaid. He said that he personally had paid back the ¥500 million that Komuro had swindled from an investor, plus the roughly ¥150 million in damages and fees. There was no mention of the financial implications of a recent guerrilla marketing event for top artist Hamasaki Ayumi that was held without prior police approval. Matsuura said, “We will be doing our best to educate staff and keep moving forward.” Hamasaki is currently on tour and didn’t perform after the meeting, but shareholders got to enjoy a concert by ten Avex artists, including Koda Kumi (26), Otsuka Ai (26), Mizutani Yutaka (56) and Blue Man Group. US singer Elliott Yamin (30) was the first foreign artist to perform at the annual show.

Earlier stories:

Komuro Gets Off With Suspended Sentence (May 11, 2009)

Guerrilla Event Lands Avex, Tokyu in Trouble (June 10, 2009)

Naturally, the Japanese media are giving massive coverage to the death of Michael Jackson at the age of 50 and, to a lesser extent, Farah Fawcett from terminal cancer at the age of 62. Nothing really to add here, except to say that we hope MJ has found the peace that so eluded him in the last 20 years; and thank you to a Charlie’s Angel for all those teenage memories. RIP.

Singer Nishikawa Takanori (38, photo) acknowledged yesterday that he and actress Otsuka Chihiro (23, photo left) have split up. Appearing at an event in Tokyo yesterday, he said that he is now single and looking. The two were first reported as a couple in June 2007. Nishikawa, who has performed as TM Revolution and as vocalist for Abingdon Boys School, was previously married to Puffy’s Yoshimura Yumi from 1999 to 2002.

• Pinup idol Tashiro Sayaka (23) is expected to need five months to recover from a severed tendon, it was reported yesterday. She suffered the injury during a recent futsal game at Akasaka Sakasu in central Tokyo. She usually plays in goal for a team made up of fellow members of the major Hori Pro talent agency. The diminutive idol, who is also an able hip hop dancer, was dribbling the ball outfield when she twisted her leg and heard something snap. The game was called off and Tashiro was taken to hospital, where she underwent surgery for three hours. She’s expected to leave the hospital this weekend and insists she will attend a fan event in Akihabara on Sunday to promote her latest DVD.

J-pop diva Koda Kumi (26) has taken her first bash at classical music, kind of. She recently recorded a new song that is based on an aria from Handel’s Italian opera “Rinaldo.” With original Japanese lyrics by Koda, “Alive” is the theme for “Kamui Gaiden,” Sai Yoichi’s big screen adaptation of the 1960s anime “Ninpu Kamui Gaiden” (Kamui the Ninja). It stars the currently red-hot Matsuyama Kenichi (24, photo) in the title role of a ninja who becomes a fugitive from his former clan. While filming last summer, Sai was listening to a favorite aria, “Lascia ch’io pianga” (Let me Weep), and felt that it captured the theme and atmosphere of the movie. With a melody by Iwashiro Taro (44), who wrote the movie’s score, Koda recorded the song over three days at the end of May. It will be released as a single in the autumn. The movie provides yet another high-profile role for Matsuyama, who has made a name for himself in such films as “Death Note,” “Detroit Metal City” and the upcoming “Norwegian Wood.” The all-star cast of “Kamui…” also includes Koyuki, Ito Hideaki, Sato Koji, and Tsuchiya Anna. The movie is scheduled for theatrical release on September 19.

• Pop group Arashi are to be the first ever artists to play three consecutive shows at the National Stadium. Yesterday’s announcement came together with news of the August 19 release of the hits album “All the Best! 1999-2009.” The Johnny’s Jimusho group are celebrating their 10th anniversary and the album will contain all 26 of their singles (plus 5 double-A sides). Shortly after the album goes on sale, they will play three nights at the National Stadium on August 28-30. Last year Arashi became only the third musical act to perform a solo show there (the others were SMAP in 2005-06 and Dreams Come True in 2007). From the autumn they will embark on a concert tour of Japan’s five major domes.

A couple of celebrity daughters made the news yesterday. The name Akimoto Kozue (above, left) may not ring any bells, but the 21-year-old who made her debut as a model drew plenty of media attention as she is the daughter of sumo legend Chiyonofuji (below, right). Now known as Kokonoe Oyakata, his muscular figure dominated sumo in the 1980s, when he was popularly known as The Wolf, and he is regarded as one of the sport’s finest ever yokozuna (grand champion). The media ran through all the sumo metaphors to describe his daughter yesterday as the university senior launched a career of her own. The fashion show event, to promote TV Tokyo’s airing of American TV show “The Hills” from next month, was appropriately held at the Roppongi Hills complex in central Tokyo. Akimoto showed no nerves as she took to the catwalk, her waist-length black hair accentuating her slender figure. Like her father, she is above average height but not a towering figure. In January she signed with the LesPros Entertainment agency, which represents such stars as Aragaki Yui and Yoshikawa Hinano.

Meanwhile Kimura Hikari (28, top right) remembers clearly her new fiance’s shock when she told him who her late father was. Yokoyama Yasushi (1944-96, above left) was one of the most famous, but also troubled stars of Japanese comedy. He and his partner Nishikawa Kiyoshi (62) created a manzai boom that helped Yoshimoto Kogyo (profile) become one of the most powerful forces in showbiz. Alcohol derailed his career and killed him at the age of 51, but his tragic end didn’t stop his daughter from following in his footsteps. Kimura is one half of the manzai duo Sayumi Hikari, and she plans to continue her career after marriage. Her mother died a year ago yesterday and, according to custom, she waited until the first anniversary before getting engaged. She and her fiance, a Buddhist monk (30), held a formal engagement ceremony at her family home in Osaka.

• American pop-punk musician Scott Murphy seems to have found his niche in Japan. The Chicago-based former member of ALLiSTER and The Get Go performed in Tokyo yesterday in support of his latest album of Japanese pop covers “BattleGround.” Murphy’s previous three cover albums have sold a combined 500,000 copies here and he has toured with some prominent local musicians including members of Ellegarden and Polysics. The new album includes high-energy covers of Ozaki Yutaka’s “15 no Yoru” and Makihara Noriyuki’s “Donna Toki Nimo.” Murphy is scheduled to play at Shibuya Ax on July 21.

Johnny’s Jimusho (profile) churns out so many young male idol singers that some are bound to fall through the cracks, usually only seen again in “Where are they now?” features. Well, the current location of Enamoto Yuta (28) is a police holding cell in Sugamo, Tokyo. The former Johnnys Jr. member was recently arrested for fraud, it was revealed yesterday. He has admitted to the charges of claiming unemployment benefit, based on a salary from what turned out to be a fictional company, from the Shibuya public employment exchange. Though he received about ¥600,000 between August and November 2007, Enamoto is thought to have got only about ¥30,000, with the rest going to a man identified as restaurant worker Nishida Itsuki (37). Nishida is one of 15 people arrested since last August for running the scheme for several years in and around Tokyo, netting about ¥47 million from 120 claims. Enamoto joined Johnny’s Jimusho in 1994 and appeared in several popular TV shows in the mid-90s, including the long-running high school drama “3-nen B-gumi Kimpachi Sensei.” He graduated from Horikoshi High School and Teikyo University. After leaving Johnnys in 2000, he became vocalist of the group Circle and from 2006 got involved in multi-level marketing. The most recent updates to his official website date back to October of last year.