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Shibasaki Kou (26) may yet be the next Japanese female action star. The popular star of TV dramas like “Good Luck” and movies such as “Dororo” was in Hong Kong yesterday for the premiere of her latest movie “Shorin Shojo” (Shaolin Girl). Shibasaki spent the best part of two years preparing for and filming the role of a woman who returns from her 3000-day training at the famous Shaolin Temple in China to take over her grandfather’s dojo in Japan, only to find it in ruins. She ends up combining her martial arts training with the teamwork of lacrosse as a member of a university club team. The theater in the recently opened Grand Cinema complex was packed with 300 moviegoers. After the premiere, audience members said they were impressed with Shibasaki’s performance, some comparing it favorably with the action-comedy style of Jackie Chan. The cast also includes Eguchi Yosuke and Nakamura Toru, as well as Kai Man Tin and Chi Chung Lam. Directed by Motohiro Katsuyuki, the movie has reportedly received interest for distribution in more than 30 countries. It opens in Japan during the Golden Week holidays in May.

• Moody actress Sawajiri Erika (22) is getting away from the media glare again in London. She and her video director boyfriend Takashiro Tsuyoshi (43) headed off on a private trip to the U.K. yesterday after just two weeks in Japan. At Narita Airport, “Erika-sama” refused to respond to reporters questions or even give a smile as she did when the couple returned recently from their 3-month stay in London. During her brief time back in Japan, Sawajiri filmed a TV commercial and celebrated her birthday with friends. She hasn’t made any public appearances since she came in for criticism for her temperamental and unprofessional behavior last autumn.

• The Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization (BPO) issued a statement at the weekend urging public and private networks not to show young boys’ genitals in scenes such as bathing or even changing diapers, saying such scenes are used in child pornography. It is still common to see young children playing naked in Japan, particularly in parks during the hot summer weather.

• Actor Takashima Masanobu (41) is engaged to a former Miss Universe Japan runner-up. He and actress Mion (28), half-Korean on her mother’s side, met on the set of a Fuji TV drama last December. Takashima is to make a formal announcement at a press conference this week, but the wedding is said to be planned for August. Elder brother Masahiro married half-Swiss stage actress Sylvia Grab (33) in 2005.

• Koda Kumi (25) is back after a more than 2-month leave of absence. The hugely successful J-pop star started her nationwide concert tour in Shizuoka Prefecture on Saturday, her first public appearance in ten weeks following intense criticism of a flippant comment on the radio at the end of January. The intended joke about women’s wombs rotting after the age of 35 led to her confining herself to her home and not promoting her latest album. She made a videotaped apology on Fuji TV in February.

• Veteran actor Fujita Makoto (74) is resting from exhaustion. The last three months have seen him on a heavy schedule promoting the movie “Ashita he no Yuigon” (Best Wishes for Tomorrow), which is currently doing well in theaters. He has been advised by doctors to take at least two weeks rest, and has canceled a planned talk show appearance for June.

• Actress Nishida Naomi (38) gave birth to her first child last week, her agency reported over the weekend. She married in 2005.

Students at the Zeal dance school in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo were excited to hear that Janet Jackson’s choreographer was to pay them a visit. So imagine their reaction when the star herself showed up. Some of the 23 students, aged between 10 and 26, had to fight tears as they put on a performance of the dance moves they had learned from the video for Jackson’s recent hit “Rock With You”. The singer (41), in town to promote her latest album “Discipline,” posed for photos and promised to invite all the students backstage when she visits Japan on her planned world tour. The tour is scheduled to kick off in September.

• Former actor Nakata Hiroto (32) was arrested for the third time yesterday for drug possession. He was arrested twice in the space of a month in 2002 and received a suspended jail sentence. The third arrest warrant for the son of actress Ozora Mayumi (68) and her ex-husband, actor Suguro Homare (67), was actually issued back in late 2003. But police waited to arrest him until Wednesday, when he was released from the hospital where he had been undergoing rehabilitation. His mother held a press conference yesterday to apologize for her son’s behavior. “If I could, I’d like to put him back in my womb and have him again, to start again from scratch,” she said. She said that she had changed her son’s registered name to her own a year ago, though she has been divorced from Suguro since 1982. Suguro once appeared on the big screen with Frank Sinatra, in the 1964 movie “None But the Brave.”

Actress Matsui Kazuyo (50) showed just how tough she is this week. While practicing to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a baseball game next week, she was hit square in the face by a regulation baseball and suffered a fractured nose. Bleeding badly, was taken to hospital by ambulance but with a very swollen and bandaged nose, she resumed practicing a couple of days later. Her husband, actor Funakoshi Eiichirou (47) said “She’s amazing, that woman. Indestructible!” Matsui is a regular on the variety show circuit and renowned for her good health and as a super housewife. She was married to a company president from 1986-96 and married Funakoshi in 2001. Speaking about her latest accident, she said “I’m glad I suffered this injury after getting married!” She still plans to throw the first pitch at the Rakuten Golden Buy Hydrochlorothiazide Online Buffaloes game on Sunday.

• It’s shaping up to be a great Golden Week for fans of X Japan. Satellite broadcaster WoWoW announced yesterday that they will be showing concert footage both before and after the upcoming two-day “Hide Memorial Summit”. On May 2, the 10th anniversary of the X Japan guitarist’s death, they will show the second of three reunion concerts held at Tokyo Dome at the end of March. May 3 and 4 are the dates of the live events, to be held at Ajinomoto Stadium west of Tokyo. And highlights of those concerts will be shown on WoWoW on May 5, in the middle of the Golden Week national holidays.

• Actor Hagiwara Kenichi (57) has published his autobiography. Titled “Shoken”, the nickname by which he’s commonly known, the book reveals the names of several actresses he’s had relationships with, including Baisho Mitsuko (61) and Ishida Ayumi (60). But he insists the book is not meant to embarrass anyone. Hagiwara has been in the spotlight more for his legal problems than his acting in recent years. He was given a suspended jail sentence in 2004 for attempted blackmail in connection with a canceled movie role. Earlier that year he was fined for causing a traffic accident, and he was caught speeding last year. He got divorced in March 2006.

Kitano Takeshi (61) gave a press conference this week to talk about the third in his trilogy of “personal” movies. As with the previous two, Kitano says he doesn’t really care about reviews or box office numbers for “Akiresu to Kame” (Achilles and the Turtle). The movies are just something he felt he wanted to make mainly for himself. Sure enough, “Takeshis'” and “Kantoku Banzai” were quirky in the extreme and didn’t receive the accolades or commercial success of his earlier works. “Akiresu…” tells the story of an unsuccessful painter who continues to pursue his dream (his own paintings have featured in earlier movies such as “Hanabi”). Kitano says the theme reflects his own belief that even someone lacking talent should continue to work hard, and he describes the movie as a “story of artistic cruelty”. Bemoaning the fact that too many recent movies lack originality because they’re based on successful novels or TV dramas, he says that there should be more original screenplays. Using his stage name of Beat Takeshi, he again plays the lead role and is supported by a strong cast that includes Higuchi Kanako (49) as his wife, Aso Kumiko (29) and Yanagi Yurei (45). Filming started at the Nikkatsu Studios west of Tokyo in mid-February and is due to wrap up later this month. The movie should be completed in time for this year’s Venice International Film Festival in late August, a venue where Kitano has previously won the highest honors.

Oh Rie (38, right) admitted in public for the first time yesterday that she and doctor Honda Masaki (37, far left) have formally broken off their engagement. She said they made the decision about a week ago, when they met for the first time since their relationship hit a trough at the end of last year. She said they decided to remain friends. It’s only been a few months since the two were on the verge of getting married, heading off on a pre-nuptial holiday with Rie’s father, baseball legend Oh Sadaharu (67). As we reported here in mid-December, there was a lot of speculation about why the couple postponed their marriage plans, and rumors of a split between the couple appeared soon after. Honda entered the spotlight last year as the psychiatrist who treated troubled sumo star Asashoryu (27, photo center) through a bout of depression. He has been married once, while Oh has already been divorced twice.

• NTV announcer Nobutomo Yoko (33) revealed on the live morning show “Sukkiri!” yesterday that she recently got married. She said that she and her doctor husband tied the knot about a month ago. The two were introduced by former marathon runner and now sports journalist Masuda Akemi (44) last November. Nobutomo plans to continue her career.

J-pop diva Hamasaki Ayumi (29) may have lost the hearing in her left ear but she can still put on a big show. Marking her 10th anniversary in showbiz, she held the Tokyo leg of her Asian tour at the Yoyogi National Gymnasium yesterday. She went through 21 songs and nine costume changes during the show. During the encore the 12,000 fans surprised her with a version of the song “Who…” and a tearful Ayu was presented a huge 50kg cake. She will play 27 shows in ten cities across Japan before heading overseas. Details for the Asian shows have yet to be announced. Since her April 8, 1998 debut single “Poker Face”, Ayu has amassed sales estimated at ¥200 billion (approx. $2 billion). Her memorial single “Mirrorcle World” was released yesterday and is sure to become her 30th No.1. A Sports Nippon article said that she had “miraculously” recovered some of the hearing in her left ear, but it wasn’t mentioned elsewhere and so can’t be confirmed. She was seen removing the ear monitor during the show.

• And speaking of 10 years, that’s how long it’s taken Morning Musume to make their assault on East Asia. Members Takahashi Ai, Niigaki Risa, and Kusumi Koharu visited Seoul, South Korea last year but Morning Musume will be playing their first concerts there this summer. The “10th Anniversary Tour in Korea 2008” will be two shows held at the Jamsil Olympic Park in Seoul on June 1, a week after the group is scheduled to perform in Taiwan on May 24. The group’s 36th single “Resonant Blue” will be released April 16th. The “single V” format, a term used for music singles in DVD format by MoMusu and other artists from the Hello! Project idol group, is out April 23rd.

One of Japan’s great showbiz writers, Kawauchi Kouhan died early Sunday morning at a hospital near his home in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture. He was 88. The cause of death has not been formally announced but is believed to have been lung cancer, and Kawauchi was rarely seen without a cigarette. He had his first major hit as writer of the hugely popular 1958 TV series “Gekko Kamen”, the forerunner of Japan’s “tokusatsu” super heroes. He was also the man behind “Manga Nihon Mukashibanashi”, a series of anime versions of old Japanese folk tales that originally ran on TBS from 1975-94 and remains popular today. He penned the lyrics for hits by such top stars as Katsu Shintaro and Yashiro Aki. But although he was a major 20th-century figure with the power to influence even prime ministers, his name was mostly unknown to the younger generation until last year. He thrust himself back into the limelight when he very publicly chastised top enka singer Mori Shinichi (60, photo inset) for making changes to the lyrics of his signature tune “Ofukuro-san” without his permission. Mori countered by saying that the changes were made some 30 years ago, which just made Kawauchi madder than ever. He refused to allow Mori to sing any of the hits he had written for him ever again, going so far as to enforce the ban legally through JASRAC. Mori tried on several occasions to change his mind, but Kawauchi stubbornly refused to speak with him or even read his letters, right up to the end. Though legally he is now entitled to sing the original version of “Ofukuro-san,” it’s unlikely that Mori will ever do so.

• Singer Miyako Harumi (60) is in shock following the suicide of her partner of many years. It was revealed yesterday that Nakamura Kazuyoshi (60) hung himself last Friday in the central Tokyo apartment where the couple lived. Though he was married with children, Nakamura started living with Miyako back in the early 1980s when he was a director at her record company. Shortly after she retired as a singer to become a producer, Nakamura became the president of her management company. Miyako returned to performing in 1990 and has recently been doing concerts to celebrate her 45th anniversary as a singer.

• Young J-pop star Kato Miliyah (19) has seen her latest album, “Tokyo Star”, enter the weekly Oricon chart Top 5. She’s just the second singer-songwriter to have three Top 5 albums while still in their teens, the other being Utada Hikaru (25) in 2002.

Former idol star Kago Ai (20) is aiming to get maximum publicity from a dark period in her still brief life. As a member of top idol group Morning Musume and other Hello! Project spinoff groups, the baby-faced singer had a career that most teenage girls would envy. So what caused her to throw it all away? She spoke on the TV Asahi show “Super Morning” today about her indulgences in things that are strictly taboo for teenage starlets – romance (especially with an older man) and tobacco. A 2006 smoking incident led to a suspension by the Up-Front Agency, so when she was caught indulging again last year, it was even more serious. She offered the excuse today that her parents had just divorced that same day and her 37-year-old boyfriend (Kago was 18 at the time) suggested they go to an onsen to get away from it all. Magazine reporters photographed the couple in his car, with Kago smoking again. That was the final straw and when the news broke, she was fired by Up-Front. She says that with no job, no money, and a broken home, she fell into depression and cut her wrists with a scissors at her family home in Nara. Refusing to go to hospital, she had the injuries bandaged at home and promised her family she wouldn’t do it again. The revelations come as Kago is trying to make a return to her showbiz career and, with a book about to be published, no doubt there will more sordid details on the way. Fellow MoMusu member Tsuji Nozomi, who formed the duo W with Kago, also went through some media bashing when she announced her pregnancy and engagement to “Ultraman” actor Sugiura Taiyo in early 2007.

• Actress Ohba Kumiko (48) has talked about her long battle with depression. In today’s issue of weekly women’s magazine “Fujin Kouron”, she reveals that she first experienced panic attacks and depression when she turned 40 and even turned to self mutilation as recently as last summer. A top idol in the late 1970s, she became a household name as the star of the 1978-79 TBS series “Cometto-san.” After that series, she retired as a singer to become a full-time actress. A failed restaurant business caused her to declare bankruptcy in 1994, and five years later she married a dancer six years her junior. But that marriage ended in late 2005.

• Singer Misono makes her TV drama debut in the TV Asahi series “Otome” next week. Real name Koda Misono, she’s the younger sister of J-pop queen Koda Kumi (25), but was actually the bigger star from her debut in 2002 until 2005, when she was vocalist with the group Day After Tomorrow. One reason for the breakup of the group was said to be Misono’s considerable weight gain. She’s lost most of that weight, but had less success in the last couple of years using her real name and as her big sister’s career has soared.

Japan has either won or been runner-up in the last two Miss Universe pageants. So the pressure is on for Tokushima Prefecture native Mima Hiroko. The 21-year-old physical education senior at Nihon University was selected on Thursday to represent Japan at this year’s event in Vietnam in July. She received her tiara at the Tokyo International Forum from reigning Miss Universe Mori Rio (21), the first Japanese to win the crown in 48 years. Now working as a TV reporter, Chibana Kurara (26) was runner up in the 2006 pageant. Mima developed her physical coordination early, learning the famous Tokushima dance Awa Odori from the age of three. As a student, she appeared seven years at national athletics championships in the long jump.

• Two female fans were slightly injured at a concert by Johnny’s Jimusho idol group Kanjani8 on Thursday evening. A police report said that the two were hit by falling ceiling tiles while watching the show from the third floor seats at the Yokohama Arena. Witnesses reported seeing a leg protruding from the hole in the ceiling, although no arena personnel were scheduled to be working in the roof space at the time. The incident didn’t cause any delay in the show and the damaged ceiling was repaired immediately afterwards.

X Japan have announced their first-ever concert in the U.S. Less than a week after a series of three comeback shows at Tokyo Dome, the band said at a press conference yesterday that they will play Madison Square Garden in New York on September 13, 2008. Following a previously announced show in Paris for July 5, the nature of the “World Tour” logo on staff shirts last week is becoming clearer. Band leader and drummer Yoshiki said a world tour was along-time dream, and that he has wanted to play MSG since watching Kiss perform a comeback show there in 1996. The untimely death of charismatic guitarist hide in 1998 not only put any such plans on hold but sent Japan’s leading rock band into hiatus for ten years. Hide was “brought back to life” at Tokyo Dome using a high-tech hologram screen, and the band plan to bring the technology with them for the overseas shows. The band also hinted at playing dates in Europe, Asia and South America, though without giving any details. X Japan already have many U.S. connections, with leader Yoshiki being based in Los Angeles and the recent shows featuring Guns N’ Roses guitarist Richard Fortus and former Limp Bizkit axeman Wes Borland.