Latest News from Japan Zone & Japan Store

The most anticipated drama series of the new season will be getting off to a surprisingly late start. Spring dramas usually start their run in April, but Fuji TV’s “Change” doesn’t air until May 12, making it the first ever spring drama in the most coveted time slot of all, Mondays at 9pm, to start in May. Fuji say simply that the timing is a strategic one. SMAP heart throb Kimura Takuya (35), who announced the date on the recent “SMAPxSMAP” spring special, stars as an elementary school teacher who finds himself as the unlikely new prime minister of Japan. The series is the first to feature a theme tune by Madonna. (More details on the series)

• One possible reason for Fuji’s decision is to avoid a confrontation with the return of “Gokusen”. The hugely popular NTV series is back for a third run, starting on April 19, starring Nakama Yukie (28) as the passionate school teacher Yamaguchi Kumiko (“Yankumi”) in her trademark glasses and tracksuit. The first series in 2002 was a success, but the 2005 follow-up was a huge hit with an audience rating of 28%. That popularity led to a run on tracksuit tops – called a “jersey” in Japanese – and Nakama says she will again wear a different brand in every episode. The roles of Yankumi’s students will again be played by young members of the Johnny’s Jimusho stable of male idols. Hence the conflict of interest with the Kimutaku series on Fuji, though the shows will air on different days of the week.

• Actress Komura Hiro (42) revealed this week that she and actor Fuse Hiroshi (49) have been separated for two years. She said that she and their two sons are now living close to her parents, who she looks after. Fuse meanwhile is living in their former home with his parents.

• Talento Megumi Toshiaki (43) recently became a father for the third time. He rushed to the hospital after his regular afternoon spot hosting the TBS wide show “2-ji Chao” on March 1, but didn’t make it in time for the delivery. He says he’s delighted to have a younger sister for his two boys, aged 11 and 3. Megumi works mostly as an emcee these days, though he occasionally appears with his Honjamaka comedy partner Ishizuka Hidehiko (46).

• Talento Wakatsuki Chinatsu (23) made her first public appearance in three months yesterday. She said at a PR event marking the 20th anniversary of the “Momotaro Dentetsu” computer game that she won’t be doing any more variety show work. She has spent the last few months traveling the world buying used clothing for a new e-commerce site. She has recently visited the U.S. and Thailand and plans to go to Latin America this month. On watching Japanese TV for the first time in months and seeing the many new names on the variety circuit, she said “I don’t think I’ll be missed!”

Will she call herself Mrs. Joytoy? Self-described “erotic terrorist” Yinling of Joytoy is engaged to marry an employee of the Zero1-Max professional wrestling troupe. Yinling, who gives her age as 30 but is actually 32, met 26-year-old Fujiwara Hayato while they were both working for the popular Hustle wrestling promotion. They are said to be already living together. A native of Taiwan, Yinling moved to Japan at the age of 10 and began modeling when she was 16. Despite her erotic name, she’s not thought to have done any nude or pornographic work, though some of her photos and video appearances are borderline. With Hustle, she has gone through a few personas and it remains to be seen if she will continue after marriage. As a teenager, Fujiwara had a spell with J-League soccer team Frontale Kawasaki.

• NHK can hardly claim to have reversed the ongoing negative trend with their latest serial drama. The first episode of “Hitomi” aired on Monday but only got an audience rating of 16.5%. That ranks second-worst ever since ratings began in 1964, and is only a slight improvement on the record low 16.2% of last year’s “Dondo Hare.”

Japan’s most successful movie franchise is back! Fuji TV said yesterday that they are planning a third installment in the “Odoru Daisosasen” (Bayside Shakedown) series. The announcement came at the opening of a real life Tokyo Bayside Police Station in the Oumi district of Koto Ward, the area that has been the location for the previous movies. Based on a popular 1997 Fuji TV drama series starring Oda Yuji (40), the first movie was a big hit the following year. A sequel in 2003 remains the most successful Japanese live action movie ever, making more than ¥17 billion at the box office. Two spinoff movies were released in 2005 featuring side characters in leading roles. The new movie is likely to once again be scripted by Kimizuka Ryouichi and directed by Motohiro Katsuyuki, and of course Oda will be back as detective Aoshima Shunsaku in his familiar green parka coat. Other principal cast members such as Yanagiba Toshiro (47) and Fukatsu Eri (35) will also return, but a replacement for the late Ikariya Chosuke has yet to be decided. Oda is said to already have a full schedule this year, so the movie is not expected to be released until next year.

• Hamasaki Ayumi is the first queen of karaoke. She was named as the most popular artist chosen by users of the DAM karaoke system over the last 15 years. The company announced its first ever rankings based on data from 1994, when it was established. Since her debut in 1998, Ayu has released more than 200 songs on karaoke, of which “Seasons” has been the most popular. Filling out the Top 3 most sung artists are Glay and Mr. Children. The most popular song was the Okinawan ballad “Nada Sousou” by Natsukawa Rimi.

• Koumoto Junichi (31) of the Yoshimoto comedy duo Jicho Kacho suffered a broken rib during a recent TBS variety show. The show featured comedians doing sumo against pro wrestlers, the obvious disadvantage being somewhat balanced by both “wrestlers” and the “dohyo” being doused in lotion. Koumoto, who managed to beat the towering “Captain Hustle” Ogawa Naoya (40), is said to require about four weeks to recover.

• Today’s issue of women’s weekly magazine “Shuukan Josei” revealed that actress Mano Azusa (50) has been divorced for the last two and a half years. She married a computer company employee on Christmas Day, 1989 after a ten-year relationship. But she filed for divorce on her wedding anniversary in 2005.

• The Yomiuri Giants really are having a terrible start to the season. For decades known as Japan’s most popular baseball team, they have seen a steady decline in TV ratings in recent years. And they not only were swept by crosstown rivals the Yakult Swallows in their opening 3-game series, but the ratings for their opening game on Friday reached an all-time low at just 11%. That’s two percentage points lower than last year’s record low.

The weekend’s three shows at Tokyo Dome are now part of the X Japan legend. The hugely anticipated reunion after ten years, and without charismatic guitarist hide, was full of drama and some fan disappointment. The set list for Friday’s opening concert – which Japan Zone attended – had 16 songs but the band ended up playing just nine in a 1-hour, forty-five-minute show, less time than the more than two-hour delay that preceded it. The delay was said to be due to extended rehearsals and technical problems, mainly with a ¥150-million hologram screen that allowed the late hide to “play” on stage. That was one of several tributes to the late band member during the high-energy shows, which also included destroyed drum kits and appearances by guest guitarists Richard Fortus (Guns ‘n’ Roses), Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit) and Sugizo (Luna Sea). Friday’s show ended with drummer and band leader Yoshiki collapsing from the exertion of the high-speed song “Art of Life” and being carried off stage. Deprived of their “X jump” ritual that traditionally ends an X Japan concert, some fans were clearly unhappy with the chaotic nature and particularly the brevity of the show. But Saturday and Sunday’s concerts ran more or less on schedule and the many fans who attended all three shows will no doubt be feeling pretty satisfied. And there will be more to come – a two-day tribute to hide is scheduled for early May, ten years after his death, and on Saturday Yoshiki announced a concert in Paris on July 5.

• Comedienne Murakami Tomoko (28) of the popular trio Mori Sanchu suddenly announced on Friday’s edition of the live Fuji TV variety show “Waratte Iitomo” that she had recently got married. She said that she and a 30-year-old apparel company employee had tied the knot on March 23, just three weeks after they met. Murakami says he was her first boyfriend.

• Japan-based Korean talento Yoon Sona (32) announced on Friday that she is expecting her first child in September. She will be taking maternity leave and plans to return to work next January. She married a Korean entrepreneur (37) in 2006.

• Hollywood actress Glenn Close (61) was in Tokyo over the weekend, her first visit to Japan in 17 years, to promote her latest U.S. drama series “Damage.” The show is to air on the NHK BS2 satellite network from April 2.

• Actress Sawajiri Erika (21) and her video director boyfriend Takashiro Tsuyoshi (43) returned from their 3-month stay in the U.K. on Saturday. “Erika-sama” seemed a bit surprised by the waiting media at Narita Airport and, in keeping with the bad image she earned last year, she tried to avoid the cameras. But as she dropped a makeup bag and spilled the contents all over the arrival lobby floor, her first words were “Oh, shit!” Reporters helped her pick up her things and she let guard down, smiling and briefly answering questions about her trip and future plans.

• Actor Hino Shouhei (58) is to be prosecuted after his car hit a cyclist last Friday. The 61-year-old lady cyclist received minor injuries to her head and was taken to hospital.

• NTV weather girl Matsuoka Yoko (28) announced on her blog on Saturday that she’s getting married this spring. She and her new husband will move to Belgium, where he’ll be working.

Former Morning Musume member Goto Maki (22) says she has decided to get back to work. In the first update to her blog since last December, she revealed that she is currently staying in Los Angeles for about a month. She apologized to fans for the trouble caused by the robbery arrest of her younger brother Yuuki (21) last year and her own sudden decision a week later to quit the Hello! Project collective. Her brother’s court case is ongoing. Maki said she had thought long and hard about her future before deciding to take the first step back towards her musical career, though she didn’t give any details. Yuuki had a brief pop career and is married with a child. He was arrested last October and again in December on robbery charges.

Young actress Kuroki Meisa (19) is in sparkling company. Yesterday she was named the “Bulgari Brilliant Dream Award” winner for 2008. The annual award from the jewelry maker has previously been given to such top class stars as Boston Red Sox pitcher Matsuzaka Daisuke and J-pop diva Hamasaki Ayumi. For yesterday’s ceremony, Kuroki wore a diamond ring, necklace and earring set with a combined value of over ¥60 million. Also receiving a special award was retired soccer star Nakata Hidetoshi (31).

• Apprentice rakugoka Dekiya Junichi (35) has been arrested for making death threats against the Rakugo Association. Using the stage name Shofukutei Nokou, he became an apprentice to veteran Shofukutei Tsuruko (60) early last year. But in July he got into a dressing room fight with some of the senior rakugoka in the “family”. The trouble escalated to the point where Dekiya made a series of intimidating phone calls in January, threatening to “kill every member of the Rakugo Association.” They filed a complaint with police in February.

Nippon Ham Fighters young star pitcher Darvish Yu (21) got some good news before the start of what should be a key season for him. He announced on his blog yesterday that his wife, actress Saeko (23), gave birth to a baby boy. The two took the media by surprise in August of last year when they told the world about their engagement and Saeko’s pregnancy in rapid succession. The young half-Iranian pitcher made his breakthrough when the Fighters won the Japan Series in 2006, though they failed to defend that title last year, losing the 2007 series to the Chunichi Dragons. Popular not just for his good looks, Darvish is considered one of the best young pitchers in Japan. He’ll be on the Japanese team at the Olympics this summer and a year from now he may well lead the team at the Baseball World Championships. And then the inevitable comparisons to Matsuzaka Daisuke and his move to the Major Leagues.

Actress and singer Nishikawa Mineko (49) has filed for divorce from her husband. In an interview in today’s issue of weekly magazine “Josei Jishin”, she says they are separated and have already held their first hearing at the Tokyo Family Court. The couple married in July 2001, after Nishikawa proposed on just their sixth date. The following year, thanks in part to his wife’s fame, Murakami Takashi (42) successfully ran in a municipal election in his native Shimane Prefecture. Nishikawa paid to have a new home built there and she later also funded a restaurant in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward. But last April saw the end of Murakami’s five-year term, the closing of the restaurant, and the beginnings of divorce. Nishikawa has moved back to the Tochigi Prefecture home where she lived before getting married. That home was in the news in 1998 when, just one month after it was built, it was destroyed by a typhoon. Now a fairly minor name, Nishikawa’s heyday as a singer was in the late 1970s. She got back in the headlines in 1993 when she published a book of nude photos. She is currently appearing in an afternoon drama series on TBS.

• It’s been a while but Amuro Namie (30) is back on top of the pop charts. Her latest single “60s, 70s, 80s” entered the Oricon rankings at No.2 last week and became her tenth chart topper this week. That’s an unusual pattern these days, with most strong releases going straight to No.1. The latest album from Utada Hikaru (25) has done just that. Her sixth No.1 album, “Heart Station” has sold almost half a million copies in its first week.

• One of Amuro’s idols was in the news yesterday. Mariah Carey (37) announced that she’s coming to Japan at the end of May to promote the follow up to her 2005 comeback album “The Emancipation of Mimi”. The new album, which goes on sale April 16, will include a lottery ticket that offers fans a chance to meet the star.

• Veteran actor Tanaka Kunie (75) is to take on his first drama lead role in more than five years, it was announced yesterday. Best known for the long-running “Kita no Kuni” series, which was most recently revived for a special in September 2002, Tanaka will star in the Fuji TV special “Kujira to Medaka”. The story tells of a company president who is ousted by his son and unsure how to live out his remaining years. He encounters a junior high school girl (Shida Mirai, 14), also trying to figure out how to live her life. Written by director Matsuyama Zenzou (82), the drama will air in May.

• Tsunku (39), Sharan Q vocalist and the “father” of the Hello! Project and Morning Musume, is to be an actual father, it was revealed yesterday. His wife Kanako (27) is expecting their first child in mid-May. The music producer and the former model married in June 2006. Through his various musical projects, Tsunku has brought to life some 1,100 J-pop songs that have sold somewhere in the order of 53 million CDs.

• The latest romance rumor about recently divorced kabuki actor Nakamura Shido (35) links him with actress Suzuki Sawa (35). The two were photographed at a posh yakiniku restaurant in Tokyo by the weekly gossip magazine “Flash”. They worked together in 2004 on the NHK taiga drama series “Shinsengumi”. Nakamura split with his wife, popular actress Takeuchi Yuko (27), last year but their divorce was formalized less than a month ago.

Southern All Stars vocalist Kuwata Keisuke (52) gave an historic concert performance on Sunday night. His acoustic concert on the Okinawan island of Ishigakijima was the first ever live show broadcast on all 53 FM radio stations in Japan. In a career that now spans 30 years, it was also Kuwata’s first performance on the island, a remote but popular tourist attraction in the far south of the country. Included in the 20-song set was a duet with Begin, the most famous band to have come from the island. They performed their song “Nada Sousosu”, which was a hit for local singer Natsukawa Rimi and is perhaps the best known song to have originated in the southern islands. There was also a surprise appearance from Kuwata’s wife and fellow SAS member Hara Yuko (51). The audience of about 1,000 included 800 inhabitants of neighboring islands who were invited to the show free of charge.

• A busy schedule meant that actor Enari Kazuki (23) was unable to attend his university graduation ceremony yesterday. The popular young star of the long-running TBS drama “Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari” majored in cultural history at Seijo University in Tokyo. He has already started to further his studies of world history and plans to attend another college.

• He may not have been in the crowd to see his old school make their first appearance at Koshien, but X Japan leader Yoshiki made sure that just about the whole school was there. Chiba Prefecture representatives Awa High School won their debut at the national high school spring invitational baseball championship on Saturday. And they were cheered on by most of their schoolmates, thanks in part to a donation from Yoshiki that paid for 15 busloads of students to make the trip halfway across the country. The spring and summer tournaments are held every year at the venerable Koshien stadium in Hyogo Prefecture, which is also home to the Hanshin Tigers. Another victory for Awa in the second round on Thursday would set the right mood for X Japan’s long-awaited comeback concerts in Tokyo this weekend.

Model and talento Mie (25) and Japan’s top international pro surfer Tajima Teppei (23) are engaged to be married, it was revealed yesterday. They plan to hold a small wedding ceremony in Tokyo on Sunday. Tajima heads off to compete overseas next month, but Mie is likely to stay behind as she’s currently four months pregnant. Last week she took part in the Tokyo Girls Collection, a major fashion event that will be her last job as a model. A “JJ” magazine cover girl while a student at Aoyama Gakuin University, she has also worked as a presenter on TV shows such as Fuji TV’s “Mot-Supo!” and TV Asahi’s “Warai no Kin Medal”. A scheduled appearance on Fuji’s “Tamacchi!” on Monday will be her last. Fluent in English, she plans to support her husband’s career on the international surfing circuit. A pro since he was 16, last year Tajima became the first surfer to win four World Qualifying Series events in a row and is now the No.1 surfer in Asia. On hearing that Mie was pregnant, he proposed to her on the same Chiba Prefecture beach where they first met in July of last year.

• Also currently riding a wave of success is British singer Leona Lewis (22), who yesterday announced her first visit to Japan. Her debut album “Spirit” topped the charts for seven weeks and sold over 2 million copies in the U.K. at the end of last year. The single “Bleeding Love” has been getting a lot of airplay here, and recently entered the U.S. chart Top 10. “Spirit” is released in Japan on April 23 and Lewis will support the album with a live tour in early May.

• Details of the upcoming tribute concerts to the late X Japan guitarist hide were announced yesterday. May 2 will be the tenth anniversary of his death at the age of 33, and the two shows at Ajinomoto Stadium, in the western Tokyo suburb of Chofu, will be held May 3&4. In addition to his old bandmates, the concert will feature some 20 acts including Dir En Grey, Luna Sea and T. M. Revolution. The main organizer of the “Hide Memorial Summit” is hide’s younger brother and personal manager, Matsumoto Yuji.

• The Hokkaido town of Yubari celebrated the re-opening of its International Fantastic Film Festival yesterday. Actress Ayase Haruka (22) was on hand for the screening of her latest movie “Boku no Kanojo wa Saibogu” (My Girlfriend is a Cyborg). The event, which was launched in 1990, missed a year in 2007 due to the town’s bankruptcy, which drew nationwide attention.

• Hip hop artist Kreva (31) held a show last night to commemorate the reopening after four and a half years of the Akasaka Blitz live house in central Tokyo. He performed all sixteen tracks from his hits collection “Kreva no Bestban”, which went on sale Wednesday.

• According to the latest survey by chart company Oricon, Fuji TV’s Takashima Aya (29) remains the country’s most popular announcer. She clinched the top spot for the fourth year in a row, holding off her “Mezamashi Terebi” co-presenter Nakano Minako (28).