Classic japanese song genres such as enka have always been around, but tenor singer Masafumi Akikawa’s “As the wind of thousands” (Sen no Kaze ni natte) topped Oricon charts and sold over 1,000,000 copies. This is the first time that a classic singer became a million seller in the Japanese music history.
The song came out in May of last year, but really started selling after Akikawa’s appearance on Kouhaku Utagassen (this show on New Years that almost every Japanese household watches; shows all the singers who sold really well throughout the year). On January 22th, 2007, the song dominated by placing 1st on both weekly and monthly Oricon charts.
One of the hot topics of the day, Taichi Saotome (15) called the “Prodigy Female Role” (天才女形- “Tensai Onnagata”, or a man who plays a woman) had his first photography event on 8/11. He is a professional japanese dancer, and just for reference, in the old theatrical days (and even now), unless it wasn’t Miyako Odori (which is exclusively for women), every part was played by men, and if you had a pretty and sensitive body structure, you’d play a woman.
These days, he’s gaining himself another name: The sexy eyed-prince (nagashime ouji – “流し目王子”). He doesn’t really like the name though.
Just in case you might be interested in him, he even said his preference for an ideal woman: “A cool person. More than a nice person, I’d prefer a cool and blase person. But I don’t like to chase” (「クールな人。優しいよりちょっと冷たいくらいの人がいい。でも追うのは好きじゃないんです」).
That’s right, you heard it. Koutaro Koizumi (29), an actor and the ex-PM’s son, will be in your household TV promoting “DHC for MEN” in commercials. His dad, Junichiro Koizumi (65) is in full support of this, saying “I think I’ll be using this”
Gachapin, the sensational character from Ponkikki, the show that even I watched when I was a kid, truly showed himself a kid’s hero at the Air Guitar 2007 Japan Finals. The green creature came in 3rd place and even won a special recognition award.
He played his air guitar along 「ギリギリｃｈｏｐ」by B’z, and he lost to the 1st place winner by .5 points.
He comments: “
I made some mistakes and I’m a little disappointed, but I was SOOOO happy I got an award~. I still have to challenge more and more from now on!
Another relationship is out! singer/actor Kazunari Ninomiya (嵐, 24) and actress Masami Nagasawa (20) are going out! Well, they’ve been going out secretly for the past 2 years and we only found out recently. The two met and started going out in 2005 when they worked on the show “Yasashii Jikan” (A Kind Time -「優しい時間」) by FujiTV. Since both are really busy as Nagasawa is a well-loved and renown actress and Ninomiya is a world-class actor/singer, only recently did they stabilize their relationship environment and move to a new house where the two can live happily together.
You might wonder: How’d they get so close in one show? In the actual drama, the two played lovers, and by the last episode they held hands in the very last scene. Naturally, the love sprouted. After the drama ended, the relationship started. At first, they were like brother and sister, talking about their interests, and they continued to escalate their relationship.
Since they were both stars in the industry and the news would bring too much attention and pressure, the two decided to keep the relationship on the down low. One friend comments “If they went outside, people would know about the relationship, so the two would always spend time in each others’ homes”. At the time (2005-2006), they lived far away, but now, they’ve become close neighbors.
Right now, there are no plans for marriage, but Nagasawa faintly touches the topic, and comments “I think marriage might really be about timing. Maybe I’ll get married tomorrow…I doubt it though ^_^. How I want to be proposed to? That’s a secret” while blushing. What’s kind of funny is that she was in “Proposal Daisakusen” which was all about marriage and timing.
They’ve kept it a secret for so long, and now that they’ve said it, they’ve become the hottest and most famous couple around!
Actress Atsuko Sakurai (34) had her first baby (on the 4th)!! The newborn weighed 3056 grams/ 6.7 lbs, and is really healthy. Mrs. Sakurai is overjoyed and comments “I really really wanted to see her…I wished and waited for that for 10 months, so I am very delighted and fortunate right now!!”
Sakurai married Mr. Kawashima (島川博篤, 35) on March 5th this year. They met through the show Omiya-San 「おみやさん」 which they both worked on as actress and AD.
After the team’s game against Rakuten Eagles on the 9th, on the baseball field, Nippon Ham (Baseball Team) Player Darvish Yuu (ダルビッシュ有 (20) announced that he is currently dating and will marry actress Saeko (サエコ, 20) in early autumn. The two met during a friends birthday party, and started dating in early Spring. There were rumors and scadals zooming across Japanese papers about their relationship, and they finally let it out!Additionally, Saeko is pregnant with their baby. oh geez, the marriage age just seems to get lower and lower by the day!
P.S. Yuu Darvish is one of the fastest (REALLY FAST..like ZOOOM) pitcher for the Nippon Ham Fighters. The team is currently ranked 2nd after the Tokyo Giants (1st).
タカトシ・タカ (TakaToshi/Taka&Toshi), the famous comedian duo for its 欧米か！(“Oubei Ka!” – oubei refers to western things) gags, have written their first book 「本音か！」(“HonNe Ka!” – “Is that the Truth!?”) which came out in bookstores on the 12th.
They had their opening event at the Yoshimoto Hall (ヨシモト∞ホール) in Shibuya, Tokyo, where they explained how the book talks about their road in the comedian world and showed their oubei gags.
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