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Oricon: favorite announcers
Fri, March 21, 2008 (1:44am EDT)



In a recent survey, Oricon asked a thousand people, "Who's your favorite female announcer or newscaster?" The research firm has conducted the same survey three times in the past two years, and the #1 choice has always been the same. Now, for the 4th time in a row, Fuji TV's Aya Takashima (best known from "Mezamashi TV") is at the top of the list.

#2 was Minako Nakano, who also appears on "Mezamashi TV." TBS's Maya Kobayashi ("King's Brunch") ranked #3, and #4 was a tie between NTV's Yukari Nishio ("Zoom In!! SUPER") and Fuji TV-only announcer Christel Takigawa.

TV Asahi's Mariko Dou was #6. She was followed in order by Mao Kobayashi, Natsuko Kojima, Kyoko Uchida, and Emi Takeuchi.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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NTV gets first prime time music performance show in 18 years
Fri, March 21, 2008 (1:45am EDT)

This spring, NTV is adding to its lineup a program called "The M," which will be the network's first prime time music performance show in 18 years. It originally aired as a late night special on January 2, and its 7.2% ratings suggested that it might succeed as a regular show.



Targeting viewers in their 30s, "The M" will be hosted by two artists who gained popularity in the '90s: Tatsuya Ishii, who made his debut as the vocalist of Kome Kome Club, and actress Noriko Sakai, whose biggest hit was "Aoi Usagi." Comedian Hitori Gekidan will be their co-host.

While other music performance shows generally include a short talk segment with the guest artists before they perform, "The M" promises to present a more human side of the artists, illustrating the course of their careers from their debut to the present.

"The M" will air on Tuesdays at 9:00pm, starting on April 22.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Hinano Yoshikawa dating former Da Pump member?
Fri, March 21, 2008 (1:47am EDT)



FRIDAY reports that talento Hinano Yoshikawa and former DA PUMP member SHINOBU are currently in a relationship. The magazine spotted the pair returning to Yoshikawa's apartment after having a meal together.

Management for both celebrities denied any romance, however. SHINOBU's agency acknowledged that they did go out to eat, but said that they are not in a relationship. Yoshikawa's agency said they became good friends after meeting two years ago in Okinawa when Yoshikawa obtained her scuba-diving license.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Gonzo announces worldwide, same-day streaming of new titles
Fri, March 21, 2008 (10:23am EDT)

GDH has announced that its Gonzo animation studio is launching a new initiative to offer online streaming of its new series. The video streams, available through YouTube, Crunchyroll, and BOST, will be accessible worldwide on the same day that the shows broadcast on Japanese television. The episodes will have Japanese audio and English subtitles.

Anime News Network notes that GDH's press release also mentions "fee-based download of high-resolution movie files."

The first shows to be streamed are "The Tower of Druaga: the Aegis of Uruk" (premieres April 4) and "Blassreiter" (premieres April 5).

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Kyodo News reported, 揫b]Aya Takashima, 29, who is a popular announcer at Fuji Television, faces a problem. She cannot easily get married and quit the company due to her enormous popularity. A typical 揷areer path

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[JAPAN] Japanese writers to pen TV scripts for South Korean stars

Daily Yomiuri reported, 揚opular Japanese scriptwriters are to write television drama scripts for South Korean stars in a bid to promote exchanges between the two countries

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Ging Nang Boyz vocalist in Kudokan movie
Sat, March 22, 2008 (7:31pm EDT)



Kazunobu Mineta, the vocalist of rock band Ging Nang Boyz, has been cast in the Kankuro Kudo comedy film "Shonen Meriken Sakku."



The movie stars Aoi Miyazaki as a record company employee in charge of signing new artists. Through an online video site, she finds a band called Shonen Meriken Sakku, whose vocalist is played by Mineta.

Mineta has gained a reputation for stripping naked during some Ging Nang Boyz shows, but he reportedly keeps his clothes on for the movie. One of the songs performed during the film is titled "New York Marathon," composed by Mineta and written by Kudo. The song is also being used as the movie's main theme. It will possibly be released as a single under Shonen Meriken Sakku's name.

Filming has already started, with theatrical release aimed for this fall.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Actor Shigeo Ozawa dies
Sat, March 22, 2008 (7:57pm EDT)

Stage and television actor Shigeo Ozawa died of a stroke at a Saitama hospital on Thursday. He was 81.

As a member of the acting troupe Budounokai, Ozawa made his first stage appearance in 1949 in Junji Kino#a's "Twilight Crane." His television roles include "Bus Dori Ura" and several NHK taiga dramas.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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"Gal" compilation album includes AV actress
Sun, March 23, 2008 (2:52am EDT)

On Saturday, a compilation album titled "Mero Raba (Melodic Lover)," targeted at the "gyaru" ("gal") demographic, was released. Among the participating artists are popular fashion models Shizuka Muto, Eri Aoki, and Tsubasa Masuwaka, as well as hostess-turned-singer TSUKASA and male comedian Kei.

One surprising inclusion is AV actress Hotaru Akane, currently one of the most prolific in the industry. This album marks her singing debut with a song titled "Ai no Kuni," for which she wrote the lyrics.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Tamaru, Narimiya win Fur of the Year awards
Sun, March 23, 2008 (3:07am EDT)



Actress Maki Tamaru and actor Hiroki Narimiya were the recipients of this year's Fur of the Year awards, which were presented on Friday. Like other similar awards that are used to promote fashion industries, these are given to celebrities who are said to look good wearing fur.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Southern All Stars vocalist Kuwata Keisuke (52) gave an historic concert performance on Sunday night. His acoustic concert on the Okinawan island of Ishigakijima was the first ever live show broadcast on all 53 FM radio stations in Japan. In a career that now spans 30 years, it was also Kuwata's first performance on the island, a remote but popular tourist attraction in the far south of the country. Included in the 20-song set was a duet with Begin, the most famous band to have come from the island. They performed their song "Nada Sousosu", which was a hit for local singer Natsukawa Rimi and is perhaps the best known song to have originated in the southern islands. There was also a surprise appearance from Kuwata's wife and fellow SAS member Hara Yuko (51). The audience of about 1,000 included 800 inhabitants of neighboring islands who were invited to the show free of charge.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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A busy schedule meant that actor Enari Kazuki (23) was unable to attend his university graduation ceremony yesterday. The popular young star of the long-running TBS drama "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari" majored in cultural history at Seijo University in Tokyo. He has already started to further his studies of world history and plans to attend another college.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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He may not have been in the crowd to see his old school make their first appearance at Koshien, but X Japan leader Yoshiki made sure that just about the whole school was there. Chiba Prefecture representatives Awa High School won their debut at the national high school spring invitational baseball championship on Saturday. And they were cheered on by most of their schoolmates, thanks in part to a donation from Yoshiki that paid for 15 busloads of students to make the trip halfway across the country. The spring and summer tournaments are held every year at the venerable Koshien stadium in Hyogo Prefecture, which is also home to the Hanshin Tigers. Another victory for Awa in the second round on Thursday would set the right mood for X Japan's long-awaited comeback concerts in Tokyo this weekend.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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Teppei Koike to star in "Homeless Chugakusei"
Mon, March 24, 2008 (4:58am EDT)



WaT's Teppei Koike has been chosen to star in "Homeless Chugakusei," the upcoming film adaptation of the same-named autobiography by Kirin comedian Hiroshi Tamura.

The book was a best-seller last year, and the film version was announced in December. It has now been revealed that Tomoyuki Furumaya will direct, with Koike playing Tamura. No other casting choices have been announced yet.

Filming begins in Okinawa this month and is scheduled to wrap up in late April. The film is expected to be completed in June, in time for a fall release.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Ryo Kase to star in "Gravity Clown"
Mon, March 24, 2008 (5:08am EDT)



Actor Ryo Kase, who picked up several awards for last year's "Soredemo Boku wa Yattenai," will have his next starring role in Junichi Mori's "Juryoku Pierrot" ("Gravity Clown"). The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Kotaro Isaka.



The story revolves around a family linked to a series of arsons. In particular, the primary characters are the family's two brothers, played by Kase and Masaki Okada. Fumiyo Kohinata and Kyoka Suzuki play the parents. Other cast members include Atsuro Watabe and Yuriko Yo#aka.

Asmik Ace plans to distribute the film next year.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Actress and singer Nishikawa Mineko (49) has filed for divorce from her husband. In an interview in today's issue of weekly magazine "Josei Jishin", she says they are separated and have already held their first hearing at the Tokyo Family Court. The couple married in July 2001, after Nishikawa proposed on just their sixth date. The following year, thanks in part to his wife's fame, Murakami Takashi (42) successfully ran in a municipal election in his native Shimane Prefecture. Nishikawa paid to have a new home built there and she later also funded a restaurant in Tokyo's Setagaya ward. But last April saw the end of Murakami's five-year term, the closing of the restaurant, and the beginnings of divorce. Nishikawa has moved back to the Tochigi Prefecture home where she lived before getting married. That home was in the news in 1998 when, just one month after it was built, it was destroyed by a typhoon. Now a fairly minor name, Nishikawa's heyday as a singer was in the late 1970s. She got back in the headlines in 1993 when she published a book of nude photos. She is currently appearing in an afternoon drama series on TBS.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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Veteran actor Tanaka Kunie (75) is to take on his first drama lead role in more than five years, it was announced yesterday. Best known for the long-running "Kita no Kuni" series, which was most recently revived for a special in September 2002, Tanaka will star in the Fuji TV special "Kujira to Medaka". The story tells of a company president who is ousted by his son and unsure how to live out his remaining years. He encounters a junior high school girl (Shida Mirai, 14), also trying to figure out how to live her life. Written by director Matsuyama Zenzou (82), the drama will air in May.



Source: www.japan-zone.com

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Tsunku (39), Sharan Q vocalist and the "father" of the Hello! Project and Morning Musume, is to be an actual father, it was revealed yesterday. His wife Kanako (27) is expecting their first child in mid-May. The music producer and the former model married in June 2006. Through his various musical projects, Tsunku has brought to life some 1,100 J-pop songs that have sold somewhere in the order of 53 million CDs.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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The latest romance rumor about recently divorced kabuki actor Nakamura Shido (35) links him with actress Suzuki Sawa (35). The two were photographed at a posh yakiniku restaurant in Tokyo by the weekly gossip magazine "Flash". They worked together in 2004 on the NHK taiga drama series "Shinsengumi". Nakamura split with his wife, popular actress Takeuchi Yuko (27), last year but their divorce was formalized less than a month ago.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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Avril Lavigne writes for Puffy
Tue, March 25, 2008 (1:07am EDT)



It was made known on Monday that Puffy's new single, "All Because of You," was written by Avril Lavigne and singer/songwriter Butch Walker, who has produced for both Puffy and Lavigne in the past.

The song will be released on May 21, coupled with two other songs. One is their cover of Tamio Okuda's "Frontier no Pioneer," which is currently being used in Kagome's "Yasai Seikatsu" commercial. The other is a new version of "Closet Full of Love" (from their "honeycreeper" album released last September), remixed by famous twin DJ group RYUKYUDISKO.

It has also been announced that Puffy will perform in Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya to celebrate the single's release. Tickets for "PUFFY All Because Of Live 2008" will go on sale through a mobile phone site starting on Tuesday, March 25th at 9:00pm.

Source: www.tokyograph.com