Talk about romantic musical chairs! The latest romantic interest for kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizo (29) seems to be actress Takaoka Saki (34), according to the latest issue of weekly women's magazine "Josei Jishin". The pair were spotted last week taking ...

Tokyo governor Ishihara Shintaro (74) won a third term yesterday, with the victory coming much more easily than most pundits expected. His re-election was confirmed as early as 8pm, and he looked clearly relieved after a hard-fought campaign that had ...

Japanese baseball fans had to be up at 3am if they wanted to watch the Major League debut of Matsuzaka Daisuke (26). But it was worth the loss of sleep as Japan's ace lived up to the massive hype that ...

The gossip magazines finally have something to print about actor Enari Kazuki (22). According to today's issue of weekly magazine "Josei Seven", he and flautist Yumi (23) were recently spotted on a date. Though he is a veteran of sixteen ...

It's being billed as Japan's version of "We Are the World". 44 of the country's top celebrities and sports stars have given their time to a charity music project organized by top producer Suhou Shougo (31). They appear in the ...

Pop duo Kobukuro finally have a No.1 single, as "Tsubomi" topped the latest Oricon singles chart listing. Though sales of their "All Singles Best" compilation album hit the 2.5-million mark yesterday, their previous highest singles chart entry was "Kokonishika Sakanai ...

Popular model Tanami Ryoko (32) has married entrepreneur and playboy Nojiri Yoshitaka (34) earlier than expected. We reported here last month that the pair were planning to get married this summer, but they registered their marriage at the local municipal ...

The latest movie project for actor Sanada Hiroyuki (46) sees him captaining a spaceship. In "Sunshine 2057" he plays the captain of a ship that sets out to re-ignite the dying sun 50 years into the future. The movie is ...

The court battle has begun between legendary manga-ka Matsumoto Leiji (69, photo left) and songwriter Makihara Noriyuki (37, right). Their lawyers met yesterday at the Tokyo District Court with both parties prepared to fight the charges of plagiarism and libel. ...

Ueki Hitoshi, one of Japan's top postwar comedians, died yesterday morning of respiratory failure ata Tokyo hospital. He was 80. He worked up until last November, making a guest appearance in the movie "Maiko Haaaan!!!", and his final public appearance ...

Actress Nakatani Miki (31) was the only big Japanese winner yesterday at the first ever Asian Film Awards. The event was held last night in Hong Kong to coincide with the opening of the 31st Hong Kong International Film Festival. ...

The first details have been revealed of the next project for master animator Miyazaki Hayao (66). "Gake no Ue no Ponyo", his follow up to 2004's "Howl's Moving Castle", will be drawn entirely by hand and is scheduled for release ...

The Red Hot Chili Peppers have suddenly cancelled their Japan dome tour. Due to start at the Kyocera Dome in Osaka today and move to Tokyo Dome on March 22-23, the sold-out tour was called off on Saturday. The reason ...

Call it a new era in Japan-China relations. The man behind Morning Musume has decided to give the group a more international look, and producer Tsunku (38) announced yesterday that the latest addition to the lineup will be two Chinese ...

Singer and actor Suzuki Hiromitsu died yesterday of liver cancer at a Tokyo hospital. He was 60. He made his name in the late 1960s as the vocalist of The Mops, a band that was part of the "group sounds" ...