Archive for February, 2008

Misc entertainment news 2008.02.24

Monday, February 25th, 2008
  • Comedian Norio Nishikawa went on a trip to France last month with his wife. When they were checking out of their hotel, Nishikawa stepped outside to smoke a cigarette while his wife was waiting inside with their luggage. However, one of their bags disappeared, containing a large sum of cash and other valuables. Fortunately, their passports and plane tickets were safe, but they arrived back in Japan with only 2 euros left.
  • Akihiro Nishino of comedy duo King Kong revealed last week on his blog that he dislocated his right shoulder. He was enjoying himself at a music event, getting drunk enough that he had to be carried to a taxi by his younger colleagues. When he woke up the next morning at home, he realized he couldn’t move his right hand and went to the hospital.
  • Taiyo Sugiura (the husband of Nozomi Tsuji) and Tsunku had an amusing exchange on their blogs recently. Tsunku chided the actor for his forgetfulness, and Sugiura quickly apologized on his own site. What was it all about? It turns out that they had gone out to eat in Roppongi, and Sugiura had left behind a glove belonging to his baby Noa.
  • Last April, FRIDAY reported that Kyoko Fukada and Ryuji Sainei were an item, but Horipro denied the rumors on behalf of both celebrities. Last week, the same magazine published a fresh article about the pair on a yakiniku date, followed by them spending the night at Fukada’s place. However, their agency is still sticking to the story that the two are just friends.
  • Saturday marked a special milestone for the stage version of “Saiyuki.” It was the 1900th performance as the starring role for 87-year-old actress Mitsuko Mori, which extends her record for most performances as a sole lead. She has played that part for 47 years and has not once skipped a show. For the curtain call, she was joined on stage by 11 Johnny’s artists, including Masahiko Kondo and Noriyuki Higashiyama. They cheered her on towards reaching 2000, which she will be very close to by the end of this year.
  • The general ticket sale for X Japan’s 3 reunion concerts (March 28-30) opened on Sunday morning. Not surprisingly, the 150,000 tickets only lasted a few seconds before it was announced that the shows were completely sold out.
  • Two people were recently arrested for selling unauthorized DVDs of Koichi Domoto’s stage performances, including “Endless Shock.” It seems that they have sold approximately 1,000 discs of secretly-filmed footage in the last 4 or 5 years. Their final transaction took place last month near the Yurakucho station, selling a Kanagawa woman 7 DVDs for 65,000 yen (~$606).

Posted in Entertainment | 1 Comment »

Daily Japan 2008.02.24

Monday, February 25th, 2008
  • Kaho and Kazuma Sano at the premiere of “Tokyo Shojo” [Video: Yahoo] [Pics: Oricon]
  • Lou Oshiba and Saki Fukuda promoting the new “Keroro Gunsou” movie [Pics: Mantan Web, Oricon, Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
  • Maki Horikita and Ayaka promoting the new “Doraemon” movie [Pics: Oricon, Sanspo]
  • Satoshi Tsumabuki being announced as the star of NHK’s “Tenchijin” [Pics: Oricon, Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
  • Riko Narumi, Mariya Nishiuchi, Maki Tamaru, and Nicole Kidman at the Japan premiere of “The Golden Compass” [Pics: Oricon, Oricon, Sanspo]
  • Tadanobu Asano and Chara in Los Angeles for the Academy Awards [Pics: Sanspo, Sponichi, Sports Hochi]
  • BoA, DOUBLE, and others at the Kobe Collection fashion show [Pics: Oricon]
  • Idoling’s Ruri Koizumi in her first photobook [Pics: Sanspo, Sponichi]
  • Shota Shimizu at a special performance for his major label debut [Video: Yahoo]
  • The Possible performing at a release event for their new single [Pics: Oricon]
  • Saki Aibu in a new CM for internet service provider OCN [Video: Yahoo]
  • Miwa Asao in a promotional clip for Asahi Beer [Video: Yahoo]
  • Karina celebrating her 24th birthday [Pic: Sports Hochi]
  • Gravure idols Mayuka Okada and Junne at a mini-live for their CD debut as Pink Pie JacK [Pic: Sponichi]

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2008.02.19

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Misc entertainment news 2008.02.14

Friday, February 15th, 2008
  • Shoko Nakagawa is still one of Japan’s top celebrity bloggers - her blog recently reached 1 billion hits. The milestone was announced earlier this week, at the same event she announced her first original album (and declared she would run naked through Nakano Broadway in the very unlikely event the album tops the charts).
  • Electropop trio Perfume had an achievement of their own. On Tuesday, their “Perfume Complete Best” was certified gold, which in Japan means that it has sold 100,000 copies. This counts sales of both the original release (August 2, 2006) and the re-release (February 14, 2007). While 100,000 isn’t really that high, it’s a pretty big step for a group like Perfume. They’re also releasing a new album, titled “GAME,” on April 16.
  • Though not nearly as bad as the Kumi Koda faux pas, 53-year-old announcer Ichiro Furutachi also found himself apologizing for an on-the-air comment he made on Wednesday. Some were upset about his use of the phrase “adult children,” which he intended to refer to adults who still had the maturity of children, often due to being raised in dysfunctional families.
  • Also making an apology is JAM Project. The website Canned Dogs found a story about the music group getting drunk and causing a ruckus while returning from Nagoya on the Shinkansen. Some blogger got angry and wrote about the incident, which probably led to JAM Project’s official apology.
  • The media reported that owarai duo Charanporan is disbanding, but there’s more to the story. Member Kojin Onishi was the one who sent the fax out about the breakup, but apparently his partner Makoto Tomiyoshi wasn’t told beforehand. Yoshimoto Kogyo was still discussing future plans with the duo, but it seems Onishi decided on his own that he wanted out. His contract has consequently been terminated (which is likely what he was aiming for).

Posted in Entertainment | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2008.02.14

Friday, February 15th, 2008

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Daily Japan 2008.02.11

Tuesday, February 12th, 2008

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Misc entertainment news 2008.02.08

Saturday, February 9th, 2008
  • About two weeks ago, popular idol Aki Hoshino made the news with a lucky horse racing bet. She bought a 100-yen trifecta ticket and it won, paying out more than 24,000 yen (~$225). It was initially reported that her ticket had won over 140,000 yen (~$1,300), which would have been a much bigger story. Still, it was a decent win, and she’s apparently on a streak - she made a correct prediction the previous week as well.
  • Just over a week ago, pop group Globe announced that they are temporarily closing their fan club due to a lack of activity and services to offer. Members’ annual fees are being refunded.
  • Takarazuka top star Hana Hizuki (of the Cosmos Troupe) fractured her left ankle during a rehearsal last week. She is being replaced by Miou Kazune in the “Reimei no Kaze” production that just opened.
  • Yamapi fangirls got a treat in this week’s issue of anan magazine. The magazine ran a sexy pictorial of the young star, which included bedroom poses with a woman and a fully nude shot in the shower (from behind, at least).
  • Tutorial’s Yoshimi Tokui is apparently quite the playboy. FRIDAY magazine caught him on dates with 3 different women within a span of less than 2 weeks. First, he was seen with one woman at his home. A week later, he was with another woman at a goukon. Then only 2 days later, he was spotted sharing motsunabe with yet another girl. Is he actually romantically involved with any of them? Who knows. His agency, Yoshimoto Kogyo, opted for a “no comment.”
  • What would Akiko Wada look like in animated form? Perhaps like this. In episode 8 of the currently-running “Yatterman” anime series (set to air on March 3), Doronjo and her team will command a mecha named Wada Akko. A fairly frightening interpretation…
  • Actress Sae Isshiki once again proves that she’s a bad driver. On Tuesday, she was stopped for violating the ban on the use of cell phones while driving. She at first tried to pin the blame on her children, but she later apologized and said she would reflect on the incident. Will she really? In the past 3 years, she’s committed more than 10 traffic violations from parking to speeding to not wearing a seatbelt. Her license has now been suspended for the second time.

Posted in Entertainment | 2 Comments »

Daily Japan 2008.02.07

Friday, February 8th, 2008

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »

Wish List: Utada at Anime Expo

Tuesday, February 5th, 2008

I recently began thinking about this year’s Anime Expo. After the awesome lineup of musical guests last year (S.K.I.N., Anna Tsuchiya, ORESKABAND, Halko Momoi, Aya Hirano/Yuko Goto/Minori Chihara, Chiaki Ishikawa), I imagine expectations are pretty high for the upcoming guest list, and I’m curious to see who they’ll invite this time around.

Anyway, I was driving to work earlier today when Traveling started playing on my iPod, and a thought hit me - Utada! Could we possibly get Utada at AX?

Seriously, the timing’s perfect! While Hikki hasn’t been known for anime-related music (Kingdom Hearts was the closest), 2007 brought us Beautiful World, the theme song for the highly-anticipated Evangelion 1.0, connecting her to one of the most recognized anime franchises in history. And you can bet that AX will try to get the movie screened during the convention, which would make things even more awesome - imagine getting to watch Evangelion and see Utada perform the song live at the same event!

It’s also been reported since last year that Utada is considering a second English album. If so, AX could easily be tied in to any promotional efforts (if the album’s coming sooner), or just used as a gauge for the album’s reception (if it’s coming later). Either way, Utada benefits too.

Of course, I can’t pretend I know how much it would cost to get her to come to AX, or how much money AX has available, but based on last year’s lineup, it seems that they can somehow manage to get some pretty big names. With the right connections, you never know…

I know I’m being really optimistic here, but if there was ever a time to get Utada at an anime convention, it would be now. I’ll keep my fingers crossed!

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Daily Japan 2008.02.03

Monday, February 4th, 2008

Posted in Daily Japan | No Comments »