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Japanese Entertainment News & Info HERE! [part IV]
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Eita, Kaela Kimura tie the knot
Wed, September 1, 2010 (9:40am EDT)
 
Eita (27) and Kaela Kimura (25) are now officially husband and wife. They both announced on their websites that they submitted their marriage registration on Wednesday.
The two surprised everyone in June when they revealed that they were engaged and that Kimura was five months pregnant at the time. In their messages on Wednesday, they declared that they are looking forward to soon raising their child as a family of three. Kimura is due to give birth in November.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Charts: Kanjani8, Kobukuro
Wed, September 1, 2010 (11:46am EDT)
Kanjani8's latest single, "LIFE ~Me no Mae no Mukou e~," ranked #1 on the sales charts this week with 256,000 copies sold. This is their 10th number-one single.
Except for AKB48's "Heavy Rotation" at #4, the entire top ten consisted of new songs. Keisuke Kuwata's "Hontou wa Kowai Ai to Romance" was #2 with 110,000 in sales, followed by Kiyoshi Hikawa's latest release. At #5 was Yuzu, while the bottom half of the chart was occupied by Hannya & Fruit Punch, BIG BANG, °C-ute, supercell, and Mika Nakashima.
On the album ranking, Kobukuro's cover album "ALL COVERS BEST" sold nearly 291,000 copies to take the #1 spot. This sets a new record for highest first-week sales by a cover album, previously set at 281,000 copies by Yuki Koyanagi in May 2000.
The other new albums in the top ten came from WEAVER (#4), THE ALFEE member Toshihiko Takamizawa using the name "Takamiy" (#5), Katy Perry (#6), and Kaori Mochida (#10).
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Noriyuki Higashiyama stars as samurai in "Ogawa no Hotori" film
Wed, September 1, 2010 (8:40pm EDT)
Shonentai's Noriyuki Higashiyama (43) will star in a new movie called "Ogawa no Hotori." The film is being directed by Tetsuo Shinohara, who last worked with Higashiyama in the award-winning 2008 film "Yamazakura."
Like "Yamazakura," "Ogawa no Hotori" is based on a story by well-known author Shuhei Fujisawa. Higashiyama plays the part of a samurai in the fictional Unasaka clan (the clan appears in many of Fujisawa's works). For the climax scene, it is said that Higashiyama will undergo intense physical training.
Higashiyama's support cast consists of Ryo Katsuji, Ainosuke Kataoka, Machiko Ono, Chieko Matsubara, Takashi Sasano, Tokuma Nishioka, and Tatsuya Fuji. Theatrical release is scheduled for early summer 2011.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Keigo Higashino's "Himitsu" adapted to drama
Wed, September 1, 2010 (8:15pm EDT)
 
The Keigo Higashino novel "Himitsu" ("The Secret") is being turned into a live-action drama series this fall, starring Mirai Shida (17) and Kuranosuke Sasaki (42). The show will air in TV Asahi's Friday 11:15pm time slot, starting in October.
Published in 1998, "Himitsu" was nominated for the Naoki Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Prize, while winning the Mystery Writers of Japan Prize. In 1999, director Yojiro Takita adapted it as a movie, starring Ryoko Hirosue (30) and Kaoru Kobayashi (58). The story involves a married couple, where the wife dies but her spirit ends up inside the couple's daughter.
     
Naturally, Shida is playing the role of the daughter and Sasaki is playing the father. Hikari Ishida (38) has been cast as the mother. Other cast members include Yuika Motokariya (22), Tantan Hayashi (21), Satoshi Hashimoto (44), Shoko Ikezu (40), Takeshi Masu (54), Ryo Ryusei (17), Keiko Horiuchi (39), and Mitsuru Fukikoshi (45).
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Pink Lady returns!
Wed, September 1, 2010 (10:03am EDT)
The famous idol duo Pink Lady is back in action. On Wednesday, they held a press conference to officially announce their comeback, which includes a newly recorded best album.
Consisting of Mitsuyo Nemoto ("Mie") and Keiko Masuda ("Kei"), the duo was active from 1976 to 1981. Their debut single was the hit "Pepper Keibu," and it was followed by several other very popular songs, including "Carmen '77," "Nagisa no Sindbad," and "UFO." They even made their United States debut with a concert in Las Vegas in 1979. After their breakup in 1981, they had a few limited-time reunions, but this time they have declared that their return is more permanent.
Reporters asked whether they were concerned about the dominance of AKB48 as an idol group now, but Kei pointed out that she and Mie are old enough to be mothers of AKB48's members. She said that they don't think of AKB48 as rivals, but she laughingly admitted they would probably be excited if there were a "Pink Lady vs. AKB48" event on a television show.
Pink Lady will release new vocal versions of "Pepper Keibu" and "S.O.S," available digitally on September 29. On December 1, they will release a 2-disc, 26-song "new vocal best album," though the title has not yet been decided. They also plan to hold a premium live concert on March 31, 2011, which will be the 30th anniversary of their breakup. Those who purchase the album will have a chance to obtain tickets to the event.
The duo also revealed that on September 3, they are publishing a photobook of pictures collected from the height of their career, titled "Heibon Premium We are Pink Lady."
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Erika Sawajiri: Inside the head of Japan's outspoken star
By Robert Michael Poole
http://www.japantoday.com/images/size/200x/2010/09/sawajiri.jpg
TOKYO —
“Restricting talented people is the biggest problem in the entertainment business in Japan,” says 24-year-old Erika Sawajiri. “This is the 21st century and it has to change.”
The sheer frankness of the enigmatic model, actress and singer is certainly an unusual, and I must say refreshing, occurrence in conservative Japan. She has gained a reputation as a difficult, thorny character. But now, in her first ever English-language interview, Sawajiri simply comes across as honest, direct and passionate about changing how Japanese entertainers are treated by their agencies.
She has been a revelation to the orderly, deferential world of Japanese entertainers, causing controversy after controversy ever since her infamous “betsu ni” (“not really”) responses at a press conference in September 2007.
Speaking near-fluent English, and without hesitation—a real rarity in Japan—confidence and self-assurance clearly runs through her veins.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Movie uses CG to restore Hiroshima epicenter's prewar landscape
Friday 03rd September, 09:49 AM JST
HIROSHIMA —
A documentary movie that uses computer graphics to recreate the Hiroshima City area that became the epicenter of the 1945 atomic bombing was previewed Friday at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum.
The 60-minute movie, ‘‘Unrecognized Loss: A Message from Hiroshima,’’ shows a bustling downtown with cafes and movie theaters in central Hiroshima, in the former Nakajima district known today as Naka Ward. A 30-minute version of the movie was shown in May at the U.N. review conference for the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in New York.
Following the New York screening, many people said they want to know more about the lives of atomic-bomb survivors. In response to such requests, the full-length version incorporates more interviews.
It also details the interior of the building located at the epicenter—today’s Atomic-Bomb Dome—before the bombing, when it was known as the Hiroshima Prefectural Industrial Promotion Hall.
Film director Masaaki Tanabe, 72, who was born and grew up in the vicinity of the building, took about three years and three months to make the movie with the cooperation of California State University and others.
A free public screening will be held three times each on Saturday and Sunday.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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LUNA SEA is back! World Tour Reboot to kick off in Germany on November 27th and will perform in Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo
September 2, 2010 by J!-ENT
Many fans of the rock band Luna Sea have been wondering when they would return. We have speculated that they would return back in 2007 and we even bugged SUGIZO about it but it didn’t seem as if all the other members were on board.
But the band is back and will be on a world tour which is titled “20th Anniversary World Tour Reboot -to the New Moon-”.
Concert dates are as follows:
November 27 – Bochum, Germany at Ruhrcongress
December 4, 2010 – Los Angeles, USA at Hollywood Palladium
December 11, 2010 – Hong Kong, Asia World Expo
December 18 – Taiwan, Taiwan Trade Center
December 23-24 – Tokyo, Tokyo Dome
Source: www.nt2099.com/J-ENT |
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Announcer Kyoko Kamei celebrates second child
Thu, September 2, 2010 (8:36am EDT)
Freelance announcer Kyoko Kamei (28), formerly with TV Tokyo, is now a mother of two. She informed her fans through her blog that she recently gave birth to a son.
Kamei gave birth to her first child, a daughter, in 2008. About a year before that, she married Nippon Ham pitcher Masanori Hayashi (26), though he was with the Yomiuri Giants at the time.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Nishijima, Tokiwa star in next Amir Naderi film
Thu, September 2, 2010 (8:31pm EDT)
 
Acclaimed Iranian director Amir Naderi is currently shooting his new movie "CUT," and it has now been revealed that Hidetoshi Nishijima (39) and Takako Tokiwa (38) are leading the cast.
Nishijima first met Naderi in 2005 at the Tokyo Filmex festival. At that time, they promised to make a movie together, and Naderi later wrote the story of "CUT" specifically for Nishijima.
In "CUT," Nishijima stars as Shuji, an aspiring but unsuccessful filmmaker who has always been borrowing money from his older brother to fund his movies. One day, his brother suddenly dies, and Shuji learns that his brother had been taking loans from the yakuza for his sake. In order to pay off the remaining debt, Shuji begins earning money as a human punching bag ("nagurareya"). However, he also finds support from a bartender (Tokiwa) and a yakuza member (Takashi Sasano).
For Tokiwa, this is said to be her first role in 13 years for which she had to cut her hair short.
"CUT" is scheduled for release in 2011.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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'Norwegian Wood' debuts at Venice Film Festival
VENICE —
Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung crossed cultural and linguistic borders to direct his latest film, “Norwegian Wood,” based on the cult coming-of-age Japanese novel.
The Oscar-nominated director, who has taken home prizes from both Cannes and Venice, filmed the love story with an entirely Japanese cast—creating a painstakingly long process to perfect dialogue.
“We killed several interpreters,” Tran joked, ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in competition for the Golden Lion. “Sometimes when it was tough, the interpreter cried, because I asked her to say something really mean to an actress.”
It is hard to imagine the slight, clean-cut director having said anything mean to any of the actresses. However, he did take painstaking care with the dialogue, writing out what he wanted in English, having it translated into Japanese, and then listening to it spoken to make sure it was melodic, and not too clipped.
“I wanted it to be longer than usual ... to have the music of the lines. I don’t like when sentences are short and going very fast ... Even in my Vietnamese movies, it does not sound natural like in life,” Tran said.
Seeing the film in another language also made it immediately clear to him when something didn’t work—and surrounded by a crew who spoke a foreign language meant he could filter out unnecessary chatter he would have otherwise engaged in.
The film, like Haruki Marukami’s book, is set in Tokyo in the late 1960s. Watanabe, played by Kenichi Matsuyama, is a young university student struggling to choose between two women, one the girlfriend of his best friend who committed suicide, and the other self-confident and independent, representing the future.
The novel has won worldwide popularity, and many directors had approached the author to adapt it to film. More than 10 million copies of the book have been sold in Japan alone, with 2.6 million more sold in another 33 languages.
Tran said he didn’t know why he was chosen, but producer Shinji Ogawa said Murakami wanted an Asian director to project the region’s aesthetic.
“Obviously we did meet with Murakami. Not just once,” Tran said. Murakami made many notes on the first screen play, which Tran called “a fairly important document,” but said they were too numerous to elaborate.
“After this exchange of comments and notes, Murakami said, ‘Go with the film you have in your head. What you have to do is make the most beautiful film possible.’”
Tran said the story about new love easily transcends borders.
“It’s about the pain you feel when you are in the process of love. Love is growing and suddenly something stops it. It happens twice to Watanabe,” Tran said.
Much of the film was shot in urban Tokyo, giving a glimpse into the turbulent 1960s, a period when Japanese youth were opening their embrace to the West in rejection of their fathers’ conduct during World War II. But Tran also goes into the countryside, taking the story to the lush grassy meadows and barren, snow-dusted hillsides—the landscape echoing the mood of the protagonists.
Tran’s direction put the camera’s tightly on the actors’ faces, particularly the love scenes, where he said he wanted the focus to be on the emotion. He asked his cinematographer Mark Lee Ping-bing to use a digital HD camera to shoot the film—a decision that Lee, a Cannes-winning Taiwanese cameraman, has complained about in a new book.
Tran said Lee’s views were clear during the filming, but he stuck by his decision to go high definition in order to expose the actors—and their flaws—more.
“It’s really raw, you can really see everything. It’s really necessary for this film,” he said.
Viewers may be surprised that the Beatles classic from which the book takes its name makes little more than a cameo in the film.
“It’s only that the song is too soft, too cute, too sentimental. What happens with the characters is really stronger than that song,” Tran said. “I put the song at the end of the movie because it works like the beginning of the book.”
“Norwegian Wood” is among 22 films, plus a still-to-be announced surprise film, competing for the Golden Lion, which will be awarded Sept 11.
Tran won the Golden Lion in 1995 for “Cyclo,” which tells the hard-life tale of a young rickshaw driver, and his first film, “The Scent of Green Papaya,” took home the Camera d’Or from Cannes and was nominated for an Academy Award. “Norwegian Wood” is his fifth film.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Tsuji's advice to married couples: Have a fight once in a while
Saturday 04th September, 03:09 AM JST
TOKYO —
Actress Nozomi Tsuji, 23, who is a fixture on the family quiz show, “Hexagon,” gave a little bit of dating advice to an audience at a Tokyo press event for chocolatier Tohato this week. She advised newly married couples to “Have a good fight once in a while, and say everything you need to.”
Tsuji, who is six months pregnant with her second child, said, “I just learned recently that it’s a boy. I’m very happy about it!”
Her husband, actor Taiyo Sugiura, and the couple’s daughter, Noa, were reportedly also very excited about the news.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Koji Yakusho tells Meisa Kuroki: 'Let's play lovers sometime'
Sunday 05th September, 03:38 AM JST
TOKYO —
At a recent launch event for a new Epson Colorio printer commercial, veteran actor Koji Yakusho, 54, appeared on stage alongside 22-year-old actress Meisa Kuroki and told the young star: “I’d like to play your lover sometime.”
“I think the complete mismatch and implausibility of our relationship would make for an original love story,” he quipped.
However, Kuroki replied: “You seem like a caring, paternal figure, so I think I’d rather play your daughter.”
The new Colorio commercial goes on the air from Sept 15.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Conductor Ozawa makes brief comeback at concert
Monday 06th September, 05:00 AM JST
MATSUMOTO —
Conductor Seiji Ozawa made an orchestral concert comeback Sunday after refraining from concert appearances since December due to esophageal cancer, conducting the opening seven-minute movement of the ‘‘Serenade for Strings’’ by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
Ozawa, 75, conducted the Saito Kinen Orchestra in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, at the month-long Saito Kinen Festival through Sept 10. Prior to the performance, Ozawa apologized to the audience for cutting back on conducting due to the intensification of his chronic back pain.
‘‘I will be able to perform well next year,’’ he said. ‘‘I ask for your support again then.’‘
Tatsuya Shimono, the 40-year-old resident conductor of the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, took over from Ozawa, conducting the Saito Kinen Orchestra for two pieces of the day’s program, including ‘‘November Steps’’ by Toru Takemitsu.
Ozawa is scheduled to conduct the Saito Kinen Orchestra in December at Carnegie Hall in New York.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Olivia Newton-John heading to Japan for concerts
Monday 06th September, 06:00 AM JST
TOKYO —
Four-time Grammy Award-winning singer and actress Olivia Newton-John, 61, will kick off a four-city commemorative tour of Japan with a performance at Tokyo’s Orchard Hall on Nov 25. It will be Newton-John’s fifth visit to Japan and her first in 4 1/2 years.
Newton-John sings a wide variety of musical styles from rock, pop and folk to country. Promoters say she promises to dazzle fans with renditions of her classic songs like “Physical,” “Magic” and “Have You Never Been Mellow.”
Her visit to Japan comes in the run-up to the Oct 13 release of a 2-disc compilation album titled “Olivia Newton-John 40/40 - The Best Selection.” The 40 tracks on the album were voted for by Japanese fans.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Yu Kashii, Joe Odagiri expecting baby in February
Monday 06th September, 10:09 AM JST
SHANGHAI —
Actress Yu Kashii, wife of actor Joe Odagiri and star of the smash-hit Japanese movie ‘‘Death Note,’’ is pregnant and expecting a baby in February, her agency said Sunday. ‘‘I feel rejoiced that we have a new member of the family,’’ the 23-year-old Kashii, who married Odagiri, 34, in 2008, said in a statement.
After completing work on a new television drama scheduled to start showing in October, Kashii will take maternity leave.
Source: www.japantoday.com |
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Gekiranger's Miura to marry model Yamamoto
Fri, September 3, 2010 (8:32am EDT)
 
Model Yuki Yamamoto (23) announced on her blog on Friday that she is getting married to actor Riki Miura (26). In addition, she revealed that she is currently pregnant.
The news of her marriage and pregnancy was actually reported first by a newspaper on Thursday, but Yamamoto explained that she didn't want to announce it yet because her pregnancy has not yet reached the stable period.
Miura, who is best known for playing the part of Gou Fukami (a.k.a GekiViolet) in the "Juken Sentai Gekiranger" series, also announced the news on his own blog.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Miyavi collaborates with Good Charlotte
Fri, September 3, 2010 (8:58am EDT)
 http://api.ning.com/files/3MROtF ... bfQ-nonC-QdigYGarYD*EuP0pqUlzeO9zzs-Dr08AeBAZT2zGaeSJQwwP/good_charlotte.jpg
Miyavi is making a guest appearance on a song by American pop-punk band Good Charlotte, it has been learned. The song is "Like It's Her Birthday" from the band's upcoming album "Cardiology," which goes on sale in Japan on October 27, ahead of the U.S. release. On September 7, the song will be available as a digital single in Japan.
Good Charlotte apparently has a lot of respect for Japan, so they were looking for a cool artist to collaborate with. Their record label's staff recommended Miyavi after seeing his concert in New York, so the band's members watched his concert videos and went to a live performance. They decided to go forward with the collaboration, and on August 26, Good Charlotte and Miyavi met in person for the first time in Tokyo.
Miyavi remarked that he was initially offered just to do a solo part, but he ultimately ended up doing the whole song. He also expressed his desire to work with Good Charlotte again, if an opportunity arises.
Details of Miyavi's new album "WHAT'S MY NAME?" were also revealed on Friday.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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Mirai Yamamoto causes car accident
Fri, September 3, 2010 (11:44am EDT)
Actress Mirai Yamamoto (35) was at fault in a traffic accident last week, it has been learned. Nobody was injured, but police are treating it as an incident of negligent driving resulting in property damage.
According to Meguro police, Yamamoto was on the road at around 11:30am on August 27. At one intersection, she made a turn to the left, but her vehicle came in contact with a large truck on that side. It appears that Yamamoto was not sufficiently watching the road.
Source: www.tokyograph.com |
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