Comedian Kimura Yuichi (48) and actress Nishikata Ryo (31) have decided on a marriage date. During a taping of the variety show “Oh! Doyagao Summit,” he revealed that they plan to register their marriage on May 8 of this year.
Kimura and Nishikata’s relationship was first discovered in 2009. The two met when Nishikata made her acting debut in “Nisesatsu,” Kimura’s first film as a director. Last November, it was reported that they got engaged.
Kimura said they chose the May 8 date because it fell between the marriage date of Kimura’s …

Actress Erika Sawajiri is making her debut as a fashion producer. The project is a collaboration with the popular brands Samantha Thavasa and Mercury Duo, in connection with Sawajiri’s mobile phone drama “L et M: Watashi ga Anata wo Aisuru Riyuu, Sono Hoka no Monogatari.”
It was previously announced that fashion magazines sweet and GLAMOROUS are providing most of the outfits for the drama. However, Sawajiri used a special Samantha Thavasa bag in the 2nd episode, which she designed from scratch, from the materials to the stitching. The “L” version of …

Talento Wakatsuki Chinatsu has announced on her official blog that she and her boyfriend got married on January 17. Wakatsuki also revealed that she is currently five months pregnant, due to give birth this June.
Wakatsuki says that she and her husband, who is not in show business, first met three years ago. They dated for one year and 3 months before they tied the knot.
Although Wakatsuki’s television work has dwindled in recent years, she is currently active as a fashion producer and is in charge of the popular brand WC.

New Year’s Day is the most revered holiday in Japan. Celebrated in a four-day period, most Japanese spend it with family, quietly visiting shrines and feasting on traditional New Year’s dishes.
But the scene outside the popular Laforet mall in Tokyo’s Harajuku district looked more like a concert today. Lines of shoppers spilled out into the streets as security guards watched closely.
Laforet employees wore colorful Jinbeis (a Japanese traditional short jacket) with megaphones in hand, while the sound of traditional taiko drums echoed through the hip shopping district.
Read the rest of …

A recurring theme in the Strange Boutique column has been the question of what has gone wrong with pop music in Japan. Amid discussions of the pernicious influence of advertising agencies, record industry conservatism in the face of declining sales, and the faceless, self-replicating Eurobeat monstrosity from out of Akihabara, there was one fundamental thing that Japanese pop seemed to have lost: The ability to make you go, "Wha…?"
For many, however, a pinprick of light emerged from the shade of not-quite-as-influential-as-it-was Tokyo fashion hub of Harajuku this July with the …

According to this week’s issue of FRIDAY, actor Matsuda Shota (26) and model Kuroda Eimi (23) are in a romantic relationship.
The magazine published a photo of the pair leaving a bar together a few days ago. They later got in a taxi with another couple and got out at Matsuda’s apartment.
It is said that Matsuda and Kuroda’s apartments are within walking distance, so Kuroda has been visiting Matsuda once or twice a week. The two were also seen together at Matsuda’s mother’s birthday party on October 8.
A friend of Matsuda’s …

AMERICANS are expected to spend nearly $110 billion on dental care in 2012, according to the United States Department of Health and Human Services, with much of it to straighten, whiten and repair less-than-perfect teeth.
Meanwhile, in Japan, a new fashion has women paying to have their straight teeth purposefully disarranged.A result of tooth-crowding commonly derided in the United States as “snaggleteeth” or “fangs,” the look is called “yaeba” in Japanese or “double tooth.”
Japanese men are said to find this attractive: blogs are devoted to yaeba, celebrities display it proudly, …

DOG coats that repel nuclear radiation are in high demand in Japan as the nation seeks to protect its pets in the aftermath of the countrys nuclear disaster.They come in a range of styles and colours, they repel water and radiation — and anxious Japanese are buying them as fast as they can be manufactured.The Japanese spent 1.38 trillion yen $17.9 billion on their pets last year, but the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant has convinced many that dog clothing is a question not just of fashion, but …

The Sports Hochi newspaper reported yesterday that model and actress Kiritani Mirei (21) and actor Kasahara Hideyuki (28) seem to be in a romantic relationship. Sources say that they became close during the summer of last year when they both appeared in the drama series “Natsu no Koi wa Nijiiro ni Kagayaku,” and that they have been dating for about a year now.
Another person close to the couple says that this past summer was tough for the couple, because their filming schedules left them little time together, but they overcame …

Fashion model and DJ Takahashi Ayumi (26) has been arrested on charges of possession of marijuana. According to police, she has admitted to using the drug since about a year ago.
Takahashi was reportedly dating a 32-year-old man with gang connections, and he was arrested in a separate case. As part of the investigation into that case, police searched Takahashi’s home, where they discovered 0.9 grams of marijuana. She stated that she purchased the drugs from a man she met at a club.
Takahashi also admitted that she has been buying stimulants …