Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 4:48 am Post subject:
MissMonika wrote:
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 19, 2006
Ichiro and Nakama Yukie are Japan's most popular stars. Video Research yesterday released its twice-yearly rankings of the most popular celebrities on Japanese TV. Seattle Mariners center-fielder Ichiro (32) was the No.1 male choice for the third time, pushing perennial favorite, comedian Akashiya Sanma (51), into second place despite the fact that his TV appearances are limited mainly to commercials. Fellow baseball star Matsui Hideki (32) dropped from #7 to #17. This is largely due to his not playing in this year's inaugural World Baseball Classic (where Ichiro led Japan to a heroic title) and missing most of the season through injury. Comedians and musicians made up most of the Top 20.
Actress Nakama Yukie (26) has starred in some of the most popular TV dramas of the last couple of years, but has made the No.1 spot for the first time. Also getting a big boost from the popularity of her drama roles is former Takarazuka star Amami Yuki (39), up from #12 to #3. Sandwiched between them is pop duo Dreams Come True, led by vocalist Yoshida Miwa (41).
• Comedian Kinashi Noritake (44) performed with his new soul band Ajisai in Tokyo yesterday. One half of the duo Tunnels, who have released quite a few big-selling singles, Kinashi had been performing with the musicians for two years before deciding to make them into a formal band. They performed their debut single "Futari Dake no Sekai" at an invitation-only event for 500 fans at the O-East live house in Shibuya.
the article i just posted references this same poll
Last edited by Tu_triky on Fri Oct 20, 2006 11:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 2652 Location: The OC Country:
Posted: Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:41 pm Post subject:
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 20, 2006
Legendary manga-ka Matsumoto Leiji (68) has a bone to pick with pop duo Chemistry. It seems that some of the lyrics to their song "Yakusoku no Basho", written by singer/songwriter Makihara Noriyuki (37), were lifted without permission from Matsumoto's famous manga "Ginga Tetsudo 999" (Galaxy Express 999). The phrase used is not exactly the same, but is almost identical to the famous line which translates as, "Time does not betray a dream as long as the dream does not betray time." Makihara's agency deny any attempt at plagiarism and are discussing the matter with their lawyers. Matsumoto said, "I've been using this phrase in speeches to cheer up young people for more than ten years. I don't want to take the matter to court or anything, but I just want a sincere apology." Matsumoto collaborated with French duo Daft Punk on the 2003 full-length anime feature "Interstella 5555: The 5tory of the 5ecret 5tar 5ystem". The major club hit "One More Time" featured a video by Matsumoto (pic).
• Actor Ishida Junichi (52) and actress Sugimoto Aya (38) have teamed up to record an "adult" duet. Both are divorcees, twice in Ishida's case, and renowned for flaunting their sex lives on TV variety shows. They have recorded "Gyaku ni, Sorette Ai Kamo Ne" (Then Again, That Could Be Love) in the style of the ballads popular in the postwar Showa Era. For Ishida, it's his first recording since the album "Egoist" in 1992. He says they are aiming for an ivite to perform on NHK's "Kohaku Utagassen" song spectacular on New Year's Eve. The single, which is already being used in a TV commercial for throat lozenges featuring the pair, will be released on November 22. 11/22 is read as "ii fufu" in Japanese, which can also mean "good married couple".
• Victoria Beckham (32) was in Tokyo yesterday to promote her original jewelry designs. She met the press at the Kita-Aoyama head office of popular brand Samantha Thavasa, for whom she has previously designed accessories. _________________
Joined: 13 Oct 2004 Posts: 8550 Location: California Country:
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:00 am Post subject:
Tu_triky wrote:
the article i just posted references this same poll
One notable name absent is Kimura Takuya. I can't imagine he's at best 11th ranked male in Japan, and that his fellow SMAP Shingo is ranked higher than him.
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 1:03 am Post subject:
dochira wrote:
One notable name absent is Kimura Takuya. I can't imagine he's at best 11th ranked male in Japan, and that his fellow SMAP Shingo is ranked higher than him.
good point...because in the recent An An poll kimura takuya was still ranked no. 1 for the 13th year in a row.
One notable name absent is Kimura Takuya. I can't imagine he's at best 11th ranked male in Japan, and that his fellow SMAP Shingo is ranked higher than him.
Polls are lame... There's too many factors that would affect results.
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 2652 Location: The OC Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 1:57 pm Post subject:
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 23, 2006
Singer Fuji Keiko (55, real name Utada Junko) returned briefly to Japan to give Fuji TV an exclusive interview, which aired last night, in an effort to clear her name following some recent bad press. The mother of pop princess Utada Hikaru (23) was found with a huge amount of cash at an airport in New York back in the spring. Authorities, suspecting the $420,000 in cash had links to drugs, decided to confiscate it and have yet to return it. Reports on the incident, revealed on the U.S. website The Smoking Gun, said sniffer dogs had detected drug traces and that Fuji was described as acting strangely. The report said she claimed that she planned to donate the money to an orphanage in Las Vegas. In last night's interview, conducted in the back of a car, she made no mention of that plan. She said it was normal for her to carry that kind of cash, particularly when visiting Vegas, where she is a regular guest at the Wynn hotel. By way of explanation, she showed her passport to the camera, revealing a jet-set lifestyle that has seen her visit dozens of countries over the last few years. She claims to have spent something like \500 million in the last five years. As an executive in her daughter's management company, she is thought to have earned about ¥170 million last year. Fuji was a very successful singer back in the 1970s before suddenly giving it all up and moving to the U.S. in 1979.
• Pop idol Matsuura Aya (20) has bounced back from the medical condition that forced her to cancel concerts just two weks ago. She will have to continue medical treatment for the arthritis-like problem that affects her jaw and was causing intense pain when she sang. She gave a tearful apology yesterday to 2000 fans at the Tokyo Kouseinenkin Hall, where she performed an afternoon and an evening show. There was no mention of whether she still had to use painkillers just to get through a performance.
• Actor Fujioka Takuya died from chronic kidney failure Friday afternoon at a Tokyo hospital. He was 76. He was best known for his role in the long-running TBS drama series "Wataru Sekken wa Oni Bakari", but stepped down from the show after 16 years in February due to pneumonia.
• The 19th Tokyo International Film Festival kicked off on Saturday. In his opening speech, new Prime Minister Abe Shinzo (52) called it a "music festival" before quickly correcting himself. The festival will run until October 29 and features over 300 films. _________________
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 23, 2006
Singer Fuji Keiko (55, real name Utada Junko) returned briefly to Japan to give Fuji TV an exclusive interview, which aired last night, in an effort to clear her name following some recent bad press. The mother of pop princess Utada Hikaru (23) was found with a huge amount of cash at an airport in New York back in the spring. Authorities, suspecting the $420,000 in cash had links to drugs, decided to confiscate it and have yet to return it. Reports on the incident, revealed on the U.S. website The Smoking Gun, said sniffer dogs had detected drug traces and that Fuji was described as acting strangely. The report said she claimed that she planned to donate the money to an orphanage in Las Vegas. In last night's interview, conducted in the back of a car, she made no mention of that plan. She said it was normal for her to carry that kind of cash, particularly when visiting Vegas, where she is a regular guest at the Wynn hotel. By way of explanation, she showed her passport to the camera, revealing a jet-set lifestyle that has seen her visit dozens of countries over the last few years. She claims to have spent something like \500 million in the last five years. As an executive in her daughter's management company, she is thought to have earned about ¥170 million last year. Fuji was a very successful singer back in the 1970s before suddenly giving it all up and moving to the U.S. in 1979.
UTADA'S ONLY 23
I thought she was on her late 20's.. _________________
Joined: 15 Jun 2004 Posts: 46182 Location: Los Skandolous, California Country:
Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 11:39 pm Post subject:
MissMonika wrote:
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 23, 2006
Singer Fuji Keiko (55, real name Utada Junko) returned briefly to Japan to give Fuji TV an exclusive interview, which aired last night, in an effort to clear her name following some recent bad press. The mother of pop princess Utada Hikaru (23) was found with a huge amount of cash at an airport in New York back in the spring. Authorities, suspecting the $420,000 in cash had links to drugs, decided to confiscate it and have yet to return it. Reports on the incident, revealed on the U.S. website The Smoking Gun, said sniffer dogs had detected drug traces and that Fuji was described as acting strangely. The report said she claimed that she planned to donate the money to an orphanage in Las Vegas. In last night's interview, conducted in the back of a car, she made no mention of that plan. She said it was normal for her to carry that kind of cash, particularly when visiting Vegas, where she is a regular guest at the Wynn hotel. By way of explanation, she showed her passport to the camera, revealing a jet-set lifestyle that has seen her visit dozens of countries over the last few years. She claims to have spent something like \500 million in the last five years. As an executive in her daughter's management company, she is thought to have earned about ¥170 million last year. Fuji was a very successful singer back in the 1970s before suddenly giving it all up and moving to the U.S. in 1979.
an interview in the back of a car???? gimme a fuggin' break! i don't care how rich she is nobody walks around with bricks of cash that she allegedly donates to orphannages.....in Vegas???? first she said she was going to donate the cash, now she says she rolls with that kind of cash everywhere she goes...she just should have kept her mouth shut.
Joined: 17 Nov 2005 Posts: 2652 Location: The OC Country:
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 7:13 am Post subject:
Entertainment news from Japan-zone.com-Your Guide to Japan and Japanese Culture:
October 24, 2006
Folk duo Kobukuro have topped the Oricon album charts for the fourth week in a row. Sales of their double hits album, "All Singles Best", have topped 1.8 million making it the year's best seller. It has been almost two and half years since Utada Hikaru (23) kept the No.1 spot for four straight weeks, and the last male artist to do it was rock band B'z in 1998. Kobukuro received a message of congatulations and thanks from L.A. Dodgers pitcher Saito Takashi (36). Saito, who had a successful season in the MLB, said he owed some of that success to Kobukuro's music. "I always listened to it before a game. It always got me fired up. I wouldn't be surprised to see them top the chart for ten weeks!" Kuroda Shunsuke (29) and Kobuchi Kentaro (29) first met in Osaka in 1998 when both were performing as street musicians. At the time of the major label debut in 2001, they were compared to fellow "Neo-Folk Duos" Yuzu and 19 (Juku). The name Kobukuro comes from the first four letters of their family names.
• Newscaster Yamamoto Mona (30) has officially been kicked off the TBS late-night news show "News23". Just days after she started on the show at the end of last month, it was revealed that she was having an affair with handsome but married politician Hosno Goshi (35). Hosono is a member of the Minshuto opposition party, and ironically Yamamoto's first report was on the Minshuto party conference. At first TBS refused to comment on what they called a private matter, but Yamamoto went on indefinite "sick leave" after just a week on the show. She apologized through her management agency, who suggested she plans to continue her media career, presumably after an appropriate period out of the spotlight. The political career of Hosono, who has a wife (31) and one child, is likely to carry on as usual.
• Model Mori Izumi (24) is romantically involved with a former Johnny's idol. The weekly women's magazine Josei Jishin identified him simply as 27-year-old former Johnnys Jr. member "T-san" and said that he works in the import business. The pair are said to have been dating since before Mori's modeling debut. She is the grand-daughter of fashion designer Mori Hanae (80). _________________
Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 9573 Location: �o�J�i�_ Country:
Posted: Wed Oct 25, 2006 9:36 am Post subject:
BOGCHI wrote:
UTADA'S ONLY 23
I thought she was on her late 20's..
Me too. I thought around 28 or so, like Ayumi.
Tu_triky wrote:
an interview in the back of a car???? gimme a fuggin' break! i don't care how rich she is nobody walks around with bricks of cash that she allegedly donates to orphannages.....in Vegas????...
I bet she works part time as a hooker. Do they even have orphanages in Vegas?
MissMonika wrote:
... The political career of Hosono, who has a wife (31) and one child, is likely to carry on as usual. ...
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