Misc entertainment news 2008.03.12
I had quite a few stories in my backlog, so I’ve cut some out to keep this update reasonably short (or long).
- Back in February, talento Becky was at a PR event. The previous week, a tabloid had run an article claiming that she was dating young actor Yuya Yagira, and they supposedly went on a date to a game center. When the question came up during the PR event, Becky admitted that they had met, but denied that there’s any sort of relationship. According to her, she just gave him a ride for work, and that he didn’t even ride in the passenger seat.
- Comedian Kenji Tamura encountered a case of an eat-and-run last month. At the yakiniku restaurant he owns, two men came in and ate 11,360 yen worth of food (which is roughly $113 by today’s exchange rate of nearly $1-to-100 yen) before stealthily disappearing.
- For those who missed out on the news, the “Hana Yori Dango” movie finished its overseas shoots a couple weeks ago, traveling about 25,000 kilometers for the entire trip. They first went to Hong Kong, then flew to Los Angeles and Las Vegas (at Orleans and at Bellagio). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see any of it.
- Someone paid over 1.6 million yen for a collection of posters for all 48 films in the popular “Otoko wa Tsurai yo” film series, which ran from 1969 to 1996. The posters had been confiscated from a delinquent taxpayer and subsequently auctioned off online.
- Early this month, model Izumi Mori publicly acknowledged that she has a boyfriend, though she didn’t say who. Two years ago, she was reportedly seeing a former Johnny’s Jr., but it’s not known if that’s the same relationship as her current one.
- Cosplay retailer Cospa Inc. is giving everyone a chance to become Char Aznable. In June, the company will release a 7-piece costume, including cape and mask. They previously produced a Char costume through its luxury line that retailed for 65,100 yen, but the new outfit is a much more affordable 13,440 yen.
- Jazz pianist Yosuke Yamashita gave a daring display last week when he performed with a burning piano on a beach in Ishikawa. He was of course wearing a protective suit, and he played for a full 10 minutes before conceding to the fire’s smoke. This isn’t the first time he’s done this, though - he made a name for himself back in 1973 with the same feat.
- Nippon Broadcasting System once again apologized for the Kumi Koda comment, but the president apparently has gone even further and taken drastic (though dubious) measures to help prevent a similar incident in the future. HALF of the show’s staff have been replaced and are being retrained (no word on exactly how many people that is). Koda’s incident was taken very seriously by the station, especially since the show had been pre-recorded and should have been checked beforehand.
- Retired celebrity Ai Iijima may have to find work again, as she revealed on her blog that she is quickly going broke. On March 7, she wrote that she had 160,000 yen and some change, but by the next day that amount had dropped to only130,000. Then on the 11th, she wrote that she had gone to the movies and karaoke and had bought some DVDs, leaving her with only 98,000 yen.
- All you fujoshi may be happy to know that Japan now has its first true fujoshi portal site (here) . The site was launched on Tuesday by TreasureNet. So what exactly does this mean for the future of the fujoshi movement? I have no idea.