Japanese Entertainment News

Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture: :D

March 2, 2006

At yesterday's Golden Arrow awards, the big winners were singer Koda Kumi (23) and actress Ito Misaki (28). The awards go to people who played the biggest role in several entertainment categories. The sexy Koda had a breakthrough year in 2005, with a string of consecutive Top 10 singles. The beautiful Ito is the new ratings queen, starring in two popular drama series during the year, "Densha Otoko" and "Kikenna Aneki". She showed up to the awards in a suitably colored gold dress. There were five awards for the most prominent newcomers, including pop duo WaT, who made their pro debut just four months ago. WaT, made up of 20-year old toy boys Wentz Eiji and Koike Teppei, started out in 2002 playing in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park every Sunday.

• Actress Yasuda Narumi (39) is to appear in her first TV drama in six years. "Saigo no Yakusoku", a "human drama special" based on a true story, will air on Fuji TV on Apirl 4. Yasuda plays the wife of a sake brewer (Tachi Hiroshi) who is diagnosed with terminal cancer. In real life, she is the wife of comedian Kinashi Noritake (43) of the duo Tunnels.

• Rock band ARB is taking a break after 17 years, due to the tax evasion of singer and actor Ishibashi Ryo (49). The group formed in 1978 and broke up in 1992 when Ishibashi decided to pursue his acting career. They reformed in 1998 and have been active since, last year recording the team song for the Rakuten Golden Eagles when they became the first new baseball franchise in 50 years.

Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture: :D

March 3, 2006

Popular comedian Razor Ramon HG (30) finally has finally made the gossip weeklies. The HG stands for Hard Gay, but the other party in this "romance scandal" is busty pin-up girl Suzuki Anna (23), a former member of the "sexy group" Minisuka Porisu (Miniskirt Police). The two were spotted out on a date in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by photographers from the weekly magazine Friday. HG has had perhaps the biggest breakthrough in comedy over the last year with his studded black leather outfits, sunglasses, outrageous comments, posing and the catchphrase of "Fohhh!" The tall and well-built former wrestler, whose real name is Sumitani Masaki, formed comedy duo Razor Ramon with partner Debuchi Makoto (31) in 1997 and joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency. But it wasn't until the creation of the HG character that they began to become popular. Debuchi has tried to cash in with his RG (Real Gay) character, but has had limited exposure.

Director and scriptwriter Kuze Teruhiko died of a heart attack at his Tokyo home yesterday. He was 70. He was best known for the popular 1970s TBS TV dramas "Jikan Desu Yo" and "Terauchi Kantaro no Ikka".

• The hardest-working man in Japanese showbiz has taken on yet another job. With the new talk show "Mino Monta no Sashinomi" set to start in April, Mino (61) now has a whopping ten regular weekly shows, nine of them on TV and one on the radio. The latest addition to his busy schedule is on NTV at 11:45pm on Mondays, so he now has shows in the morning, afternoon, evening and late at night. Mino was most recently in the news following his back surgery immediately after hosting the Kohaku spectacular on New Year's Eve, after which he spent two weeks in hospital.

Popular comedian Razor Ramon HG (30) finally has finally made the gossip weeklies. The HG stands for Hard Gay, but the other party in this "romance scandal" is busty pin-up girl Suzuki Anna (23), a former member of the "sexy group" Minisuka Porisu (Miniskirt Police). The two were spotted out on a date in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by photographers from the weekly magazine Friday. HG has had perhaps the biggest breakthrough in comedy over the last year with his studded black leather outfits, sunglasses, outrageous comments, posing and the catchphrase of "Fohhh!" The tall and well-built former wrestler, whose real name is Sumitani Masaki, formed comedy duo Razor Ramon with partner Debuchi Makoto (31) in 1997 and joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency. But it wasn't until the creation of the HG character that they began to become popular. Debuchi has tried to cash in with his RG (Real Gay) character, but has had limited exposure.

Hahaha! That's hilarious. And extremely ironic.

MissMonika wrote:

Popular comedian Razor Ramon HG (30) finally has finally made the gossip weeklies. The HG stands for Hard Gay, but the other party in this "romance scandal" is busty pin-up girl Suzuki Anna (23), a former member of the "sexy group" Minisuka Porisu (Miniskirt Police). The two were spotted out on a date in Tokyo's Shinjuku district by photographers from the weekly magazine Friday. HG has had perhaps the biggest breakthrough in comedy over the last year with his studded black leather outfits, sunglasses, outrageous comments, posing and the catchphrase of "Fohhh!" The tall and well-built former wrestler, whose real name is Sumitani Masaki, formed comedy duo Razor Ramon with partner Debuchi Makoto (31) in 1997 and joined the Yoshimoto Kogyo agency. But it wasn't until the creation of the HG character that they began to become popular. Debuchi has tried to cash in with his RG (Real Gay) character, but has had limited exposure.

Hahaha! That's hilarious. And extremely ironic.

Real Gay, Hard Gay, Brokeback Bishounen...i'm seein' a trend here, miss monika :P

Real Gay, Hard Gay, Brokeback Bishounen...i'm seein' a trend here, miss monika :P

oh i kno, huh! :hehe: :rofl:

MissMonika wrote:

Real Gay, Hard Gay, Brokeback Bishounen...i'm seein' a trend here, miss monika :P

oh i kno, huh! :hehe: :rofl:

smile! :)

Tu_triky wrote:Brokeback Bishounen...

Two gay samurai with the Battle of Sekigahara in the backdrop?? ;)

bmwracer wrote:
Two gay samurai with the Battle of Sekigahara in the backdrop?? ;)

perhaps that's the revisionist version of history :P

Does this mean that the Concord Mariner SG watch is "Super Gay?" :headscratch:

bmwracer wrote:Does this mean that the Concord Mariner SG watch is "Super Gay?" :headscratch:

:rofl::hehe:

The Hard Gay
[image]

jade_frost wrote:The Hard Gay
[image]

Looks like a washout from the Village People.

Looks like a washout from the Village People.

Lol. Oh, you're pretty close. Have u seen his music video? It gets better...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lqbOk7UAzgw[/quote]

MissMonika wrote:

Looks like a washout from the Village People.

Lol. Oh, you're pretty close. Have u seen his music video? It gets better...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lqbOk7UAzgw

LOL.

That's way too off the beaten path for me. :hehe:

MissMonika wrote:

Looks like a washout from the Village People.

Lol. Oh, you're pretty close. Have u seen his music video? It gets better...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lqbOk7UAzgw

[/quote]
I never knew he was a singer. Wait, I forgot I was dealing with Japanese entertainment. :sweat: :hehe:

dochira wrote:
I never knew he was a singer. Wait, I forgot I was dealing with Japanese entertainment. :sweat: :hehe:

the crazy shiet is he's not even really gay...what ppl will do for fame...

Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture: :D

March 6, 2006

Comedian Kimura Yuichi (43) and talento Henmi Emiri (29) are to hold a wedding ceremony and reception in April. The couple married on January 9, and Kimura said at the launch of his new cookbook on Saturday that the finals details have yet to be decided. It's likely that any formal announcement will come from the PR department of Yoshimoto Kogyo, the agency that represents Kimura, known by his nickname of "Kimuni".

• "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" got off to a good start at the box office. It opened on 800 screens on March 4, and looks set to break the opening-day record for Disney productions set in 2003 by "Finding Nemo" with \400 million. Nemo pulled in \11 billion altogether, while Narnia is expected to break the \15-billion mark. It has already made almost $670 million in 67 countries worldwide.

• The Rolling Stones are to release a Japan-only CD set that includes 8 of their mid-career LP albums. Not just a re-release on CD, the set includes reproductions of the original album covers and all liner notes, posters etc. For example, it includes the set of 12 postcards that came with the 1972 album "Exile on Main Street". The set covers albums from 1971's "Sticky Fingers" to 1981's "Tattoo You". It goes on sale from Toshiba EMI on March 15. There is sure to be great interest from fans outside Japan. The Japan leg of the Stones' A Bigger Bang world tour has six dates, from March 22 (Tokyo Dome) to April 5 (Nagoya Dome).

Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture: :D

March 7, 2006

Hollywood star Tom Cruise (43) spoke to members of the Japanese media recently and offered them some world exclusive tidbits. First off, he revealed that Tokyo is the main contender to be the location for "Mission Impossible: 4". He also gave the first official word that he and fiancee Katie Holmes (27), currently expecting their first baby at the beginning of April, are to have a wedding ceremony in September. Cruise, who shook everyone's hand and congratulated the Japanese reporters on Arakawa Shizuka's recent gold medal at the Winter Olympics, promised that he would visit Japan with his new family. He also revealed some details about "M:i:3", currently in production after delays of several years - his character, Ethan Hunt, is retired from active service and working as an instructor at IMF, but gets caught up in an incident where he has to come to the rescue of a pupil and his own fiancee, played by Michelle Monaghan. Filming has taken place in Italy and China as well as the US, and total production is said to have run to $150 million. It is scheduled to open in the US on May 5 and here on July 8. Meanwhile, Cruise won just one of the three Golden Raspberry awards he was nominated for, taking the newly introduced "most tiresome tabloid target" award. Asked about the awards by the Japanese press, he said he disliked their negativity and the fact that they make fun of people.

• Mai, the talented daughter of musician Hisaishi Joe, is to make her recording debut. She will release a cover of "Sakura ga Saita Yo", written by her father in 1994, on March 8. The new single will be available only from the iTunes website. Hisaishi Snr. is famous for his work on the movies of Kitano Takeshi and anime features by Studio Ghibli. For the 1984 classic "Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind", he used the young Mai's voice for the wel-known "Lan-lan-lalaa" melody. Her interest in singing was sparked again years later while studying in the US.

bmwracer wrote:Cruise, who shook everyone's hand and congratulated the Japanese reporters on Arakawa Shizuka's recent gold medal at the Winter Olympics, promised that he would visit Japan with his new family.

This seemed odd to me at first. In fact, each time I read this sentence it gives me an image of confused reporters....unless of course she was in the room.

he's making another Mission Impossible? My goodness, he should just stop already.

This seemed odd to me at first. In fact, each time I read this sentence it gives me an image of confused reporters....unless of course she was in the room.

yea, i can totally picture that, too. only i would wonder why Arakawa Shizuka would be at a press conference for Tom Cruise. :confused:

MissMonika wrote:
yea, i can totally picture that, too. only i would wonder why Arakawa Shizuka would be at a press conference for Tom Cruise. :confused:

I can imagine one of the reporters yell, "Baka." And Cruise responding, "Um, the name's Tom, not Baka." :hehe: