Japanese Entertainment News & Info HERE! [part II]

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"Code Blue" SP to air on January 10
Mon, November 24, 2008 (1:06am EST)



Fuji TV has announced a broadcast date for its "Code Blue" drama special. The episode is scheduled to air on January 10 at 9:00pm.

The special is a continuation of the "Code Blue" drama series from this past summer, which starred Tomohisa Yama$hita, Erika Toda, Yui Aragaki, and Yosuke Asari as four young doctors training in an emergency helicopter program. The show started out with 21.2% ratings and finished with an average of 15.9%, the highest of the summer dramas.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Studio Ghibli best album on sale this week
Mon, November 24, 2008 (2:10am EST)

This Wednesday, a compilation album titled "Studio Ghibli no Uta" will be released, featuring music from the studio's past works. The two-disc collection contains 26 songs taken from 20 films, ranging from the "Nausicaa" theme song to the recent "Gake no Ue no Ponyo" tune. The lyrics booklet will also include images from the movies and their posters.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Keisuke Koide's first starring role in "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru"
Mon, November 24, 2008 (3:10am EST)



Actor Keisuke Koide has been given his first leading role in a film. He will star in "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru," based on a novel by Shion Miura about a group of college students aiming to challenge the Hakone Ekiden, a long-distance relay race. His co-star will be young actor Kento Hayashi.

Koide plays the captain of his school's team, while Hayashi plays a talented freshman runner. Their team is an amateurish bunch - including a manga otaku, an exchange student from Africa, and a bar exam candidate - but they never give up.

Koide and Hayashi have been going through hard physical training since July. Filming is scheduled to start in mid-December, and the movie has been tentatively set for a November 2009 release. Sumio Omori is directing.

A stage version of "Kaze ga Tsuyoku Fuiteiru" starring Masato Wada will begin performances in January. The story has also been adapted by Sorata Unno as a manga series, currently running in Young Jump.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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30 million yen paid for Komuro's bail
Mon, November 24, 2008 (12:58am EST)



On Friday, music producer Tetsuya Komuro was indicted for fraud by the Osaka District Public Prosecutors Office. On the same day, he was released on bail, after having spent the past 17 days in prison. His bail had been set at 30 million yen, and the amount was paid by several parties, including his wife KEIKO and his record label Avex.

The press was waiting for Komuro as he was released. He apologized again for the incident, and expressed his desire to get back on track and continue with his music career. Komuro currently has no work lined up, and his band Globe is also on hold for now. Since April 2007, he has been a guest instructor at Shobi University in Saitama, but he has been dismissed by the university.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Veteran actor Matsukata Hiroki (66) reeled in a massive tuna at a fishing event over the weekend. The "Hagi Kuromaguro Tournament" takes place annually off the coast of the small island of Mishima, near Hagi City in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Matsukata, who often appears in fishing programs, was a guest participant in the event but he stands a good chance of winning it. It took him about an hour to reel in the monster fish, which weighed at least 300kg (the event's scales only went as far as 300!) making it about six times bigger than anything he'd ever caught. He often fishes around Hagi but it's his first time to take part in the annual event, which ends today. Matsukata is a veteran of TV and movies who often plays gangster or authority figures and is best known for the "Jingi Naki Tatakai" yakuza movies and the TV samurai drama "Toyama no Kin-san."

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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The lineup has started to take shape for this year's "Kohaku Uta Gassen" on NHK. The annual New Year's Eve song contest has been a TV institution for decades but recent years have seen a steady decline in audience ratings. NHK has tried various new approaches to reverse the decline but is currently trying to focus on the songs and the theme of old fashioned family ties. Emcee'ing the event this year are actress Nakama Yukie (29) and SMAP's Nakai Masahiro (36). The two were paired for Kohaku in 2006 and more recently worked together portraying a married couple in the movie "Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai," which is currently in theaters. It will be Nakai's fifth time as Kohaku emcee, Nakama's third. Several artists have been named to appear on the show for the first time. The biggest name is the band Mr. Children, who NHK have been courting for years and who finally gave their as-yet informal consent. Definitely making their debut are: African-American enka singer Jero (27), who will realize a lifetime ambition by appearing on the show; actor Mizutani Yutaka (56), who recently resumed his singing career after a 32-year break; popular singer and university student Aoyama Teruma (21); late-blooming singer Akimoto Junko (61), who recently topped the enka charts for three weeks with "Ai no Mama de..."; and the trios Shuuchishin and Pabo, both formed on the quiz show "Hexagon" and known mainly for their exceedingly low IQ's.

Red Team

    * aiko
    * Thelma Aoyama
    * Junko Akimoto
    * Ayaka
    * Angela Aki
    * Ikimono Gakari
    * Sayuri Ishikawa
    * Ai Otsuka
    * Miyuki Kawanaka
    * GIRL NEXT DOOR
    * Kumi Koda
    * Natsuko Godai
    * Sachiko Kobayashi
    * Fuyumi Sakamoto
    * SPEED
    * Yoshimi Tendo
    * Mika Nakashima
    * Mitsuko Nakamura
    * Ayumi Hamasaki
    * Perfume
    * Yo Hitoto
    * Ayaka Hirahara
    * Ayako Fuji
    * Fujioka Fujimaki and Nozomi Ohashi
    * Kaori Mizumori
    * Akiko Wada

White Team

    * Masafumi Akikawa
    * Aqua Timez
    * Hiroshi Itsuki
    * EXILE
    * Saburo Kitajima
    * Takeshi Kitayama
    * Kimaguren
    * Yusaku Kiyama
    * Kobukuro
    * Jero
    * Shuchishin (with Pabo)
    * SMAP
    * TVXQ
    * TOKIO
    * Hideaki Tokunaga
    * Kiyoshi Hikawa
    * Ken Hirai
    * Akira Fuse
    * Porno Graffiti
    * Kiyoshi Maekawa
    * Kenichi Mikawa
    * Mr.Children
    * Yutaka Mizutani
    * Shinichi Mori
    * Naotaro Moriyama
    * WaT

Source: www.japan-zone.com & www.tokyograph.com

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Double, Namie Amuro to release DVD
Tuesday 25th November, 03:56 AM JST



TOKYO

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Shibasaki ties up with Doraemon
Tue, November 25, 2008 (1:30am EST)



Kou Shibasaki has been given another movie tie-in, this time with the popular "Doraemon" franchise. "Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer" (also known as "Doraemon the Hero 2009") will be opening in Japan on March 7, and Shibasaki is providing the theme song with a ballad called "Taisetsu ni Suru Yo."

This is Shibasaki's first time doing an anime theme song. Coincidentally, the movie is based on the earlier film "Doraemon: The Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer" from 1981, the same year that Shibasaki was born.

"Taisetsu ni Suru Yo" will be released as a single in March.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Sakaguchi stars in Okinawan police drama
Tue, November 25, 2008 (1:41am EST)



Kenji Sakaguchi will be playing the lead in a police drama series titled "Honjitsu mo Hare. Ijou Nashi," set to air on TBS this winter. Sakaguchi stars as a cop assigned to a fictional remote island in the Okinawa prefecture, modeled after the real island of Hateruma.



Nao Matsu$hita appears as the heroine, the only primary school teacher on the island. Matsu$hita will also be singing an insert song for the show. Other cast members include Noriko Aoyama and Yoshimasa Kondo.

The drama will run on Sundays at 9:00pm, starting on January 18.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Next Superboy chosen
Tue, November 25, 2008 (2:36am EST)

The 21st JUNON Superboy Contest concluded on Monday. This year's Grand Prix winner was 17-year-old Tomohiro Ichikawa, a second-year high schooler from Tokyo. The runner-up was Shu Watanabe, also 17 years old.

Past winners of the audition include Teppei Koike, Yuta Hiraoka, and Junpei Mizobata.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Yuji Oda stars in Italy-based film
Tue, November 25, 2008 (1:20am EST)



One of Fuji TV's 50th anniversary projects is a movie called "Amalfi: Megami no 50 Byou," directed by Hiroshi Ni#ani. Actor Yuji Oda has been chosen to star in the film, which will be the first in Japanese history to be shot entirely in Italy. In addition, the movie will be filmed at the historic studio Cinecitta.

The story begins in Rome around Christmastime, starting with the abduction of a Japanese girl. Oda plays Kuroda, a diplomat based in the city of Amalfi who learns about the incident and launches an investigation, while happening to fall in love with the girl's mother (Yuki Amami). The movie is described as part suspense, part romance.



Fuji TV's Chihiro Kameyama and Toru Ota are producing. Yuichi Shinpo, who wrote the original novel that served the basis for Oda's 2000 film "Whiteout," is currently finishing the script for "Amalfi." Principal photography starts on December 15 and is expected to last until the end of February. Koichi Sato and Erika Toda have also been cast.

Fuji TV aims to release the film in July 2009.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Horikita, Matsuyama team up with American director
Tue, November 25, 2008 (12:50am EST)



Maki Horikita and Kenichi Matsuyama have been cast as co-stars in a new movie directed by American filmmaker Hans Canosa ("Conversations with Other Women"). Although the movie is being made primarily for the Japanese market, there are plans to have the film screened in the U.S., and some of the dialogue will be in English.

The movie's working Japanese title is "Naku$hita Kioku." It is based on the novel "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" by American author Gabrielle Zevin, which tells the story of a girl named Naomi who loses the last four years of her memory after falling down a staircase. While Naomi tries to re-establish her identity, she also has to deal with romance in the form of Yuji (Matsuyama), an older schoolmate.

Filming begins this Wednesday. The movie's Japanese premiere is planned for fall 2009, and a U.S. release will hopefully follow in 2010.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Live-action "Bubblegum Crisis" moving forward
Tue, November 25, 2008 (11:15am EST)



The anime franchise "Bubblegum Crisis" may see a live-action film adaptation in a couple years. Animation studio Anime International Company has signed a basic agreement with the Singapore-based Cubix International PTE Ltd., approving that company's film proposal.

Cubix is reportedly setting aside a budget of several billion yen for the movie with a target release date of 2011 for the U.S. and other countries.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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Kago talks more about her high school studies
Tue, November 25, 2008 (11:18am EST)



Two weeks ago, Ai Kago announced that she is currently working towards completing her high school education. She has now revealed that she has been enrolled in an international school since this past April. The institution is apparently called Aoyama International Academy and is a branch of a school based in Connecticut.

According to Kago's agency, she will do about two years of correspondence studies, and if she graduates, she will earn the equivalent of an American high school diploma. She has been taking courses online and attending English classes with a foreign teacher. Her courses are conducted entirely in English, which has led Kago to spend about three hours a day preparing for her lessons.

After completing her high school education, Kago will possibly take the university exams and may even decide to enroll in a U.S. school.

Source: www.tokyograph.com

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The full lineup for this year's "Kohaku Uta Gassen" was announced yesterday. The number of artists has been reduced from last year's 58 to 53, the lowest number in the last ten years. The lineup features 14 names that are new to NHK's annual New Year's Eve song contest. Irish singer Enya (47) is to be the first western artist to appear on the show since Andy Williams and Sarah Brightman back in 1991. Enya will perform as part of the environmentally themed "Save The Future" section of the show, along with singer and former vocalist of rock band The Boom, Miyazawa Kazufumi (42). For every chaku-uta download of "Trains And Winter Rains", Enya's first studio single accompanying her new album "And Winter Came," the Mottainai environmental group has agreed to plant a tree. Big names such as Southern All Stars front man Kuwata Keisuke, Takeuchi Mariya and rock giants B'z all turned NHK down but Mr. Children have been officially confirmed for the show after 15 years of persuasion by NHK. The group recorded the network's theme song for this summer's Beijing Olympics. Kohaku will also feature its youngest ever artist, the 9-year-old Ohashi Nozomi. She and duo Fujioka Fujimaki had a hit this summer with the theme to the anime movie "Gake no ue no Ponyo." But Fujimaki Naoya (56) has said that health problems meant that his partner Fujioka Takaaki (56) was unlikely to appear on Kohaku.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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British actor Daniel Craig (40) and other cast member of the latest James Bond movie were in Tokyo yesterday to promote "Quantum of Solace." Craig, Ukrainian Bond girl Olga Kurylenko (29) and Swiss-German director Marc Forster held a press conference to talk about the movie, which opens here on January 24.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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img]http://japanglish.typepad.jp/tokyo_overload/images/2008/03/15/med0803141755000n3.jpg[/img]

A newly released DVD which features a bikini beauty on a beach and in other locations around the city of Hachinohe in northern Japan has entered the Oricon weekly rankings at No.41. Nothing unusual about that except for the fact that "Love Navi Hachinohe" features Fujikawa Yuri (28), a member of the Aomori prefectural government. The DVD is the third-highest ever new entry in the chart by a female idol.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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Talento Wakatsuki Chinatsu (24) has reopened her popular blog. It was the most popular celebrity blog in Japan for nine straight months until she closed it down last New Year's Eve. It is hosted on the same Ameba service as the blog of actor Kamiji Yusuke (29), which was recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the most popular in the world. That blog has recorded more than 13 million pageviews in a single day.

Source: www.japan-zone.com

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ayumi hamasaki PREMIUM COUNTDOWN LIVE 2008-2009 A

November 25, 2008 by J!-ENT



The following promotional for people to purchase their tickets for Ayumi Hamasaki抯 揳yumi hamasaki PREMIUM COUNTDOWN LIVE 2008-2009 A擺/b] concerts on December 30th and December 31st.

Image courtesy of Avex Entertainment, Inc.

Source: www.nt2099.com/J-ENT

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Mika Nakashima sings beneath Tokyo's biggest Christmas tree
Tuesday 25th November, 03:57 PM JST



TOKYO