J-Dorama.de News

Kenji Sakaguchi saves Tokyo in drama special

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:07:46 +0100

Kenji Sakaguchi (34) will star in a drama special on Fuji TV, tentatively titled "Keiji Narusawa Ryo ~Shuu~." The show is based on a popular series of police novels by author Shunichi Doba (46).

"Shuu" is the title of the sixth novel in the series, and it is said to be the best one. Altogether, the books have sold more than 1.5 million copies.

Described by the media as a Japanese "Die Hard," the drama is a mixture of action and suspense. Sakaguchi plays police detective Ryo Narusawa, fighting a series of terrorist bomb plots, racing against time to stop a mysterious criminal threatening to blow up the entire city of Tokyo.

Sakaguchi's partner is a female cop played by Akiko Yada (31). Also appearing in the drama are Kenichi Endou (48), comedian Gori (37), YOU (45), Susumu Terajima (46), and Naoto Takenaka (53).

Filming starts early next month. The broadcast date has not been decided yet, but Fuji TV plans to air it sometime this year.

Misaki Itou headed for motherhood

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:01:03 +0100

Actress and model Misaki Itou (32) is going to be a mother soon. It was learned on Monday that she is currently six months pregnant and is expected to give birth to her first child this summer.

Itou has been married since November to Yoshinori Enomoto (41), the head of pachinko machine maker Kyoraku Sangyo. They had been dating for about a year before that. They held their wedding in Hawaii, where they first met in November 2008 at the wedding of a friend.

Itou's last work before going on maternity leave was a commercial for Shiseido that was shot last month. The commercial begins airing on television on April 9. Commenting on her plans after the baby is born, she indicated that she wants to continue acting, but she will make her decision based on factors such as her health.

Mirei Kiritani stars in "Jotei" sequel

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:57:19 +0100

TV Asahi recently announced a new television drama time slot: the "Nichiyo Night Drama" will occupy Sunday nights at 11:00pm. The network has now revealed that the first show lined up for the time slot is "Jotei Kaoruko," featuring model Mirei Kiritani (20) in her first starring role for a TV series.

"Jotei Kaoruko" is yet another live-action adaptation based on a manga by Ryo Kurashina. The original comic is a loose continuation of "Joutei," which was turned into a drama starring Rosa Katou (24) in 2007. Like other Kurashina works such as "Jyouou," the "Joutei" series focuses on the world of hostess clubs.

Kiritani plays a young woman named Saya, who becomes a Ginza hostess after finishing high school. Saya is looking for her mother, whom she has been separated from all her life, while Saya's rival Miki is another young hostess in search of her own father.

"Jotei Kaoruko" will premiere in April.

Umika Kawashima covers Ryoko Hirosue

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:51:36 +0100

Idol Umika Kawashima (16) of the pop group 9nine will be singing the theme song for her upcoming movie "Watashi no Yasashikunai Senpai." The song is a cover of "Maji de Koi Suru 5 Byou Mae," the 1997 hit debut single of actress Ryoko Hirosue (29).

The original "Maji de Koi Suru 5 Byou Mae" was produced by singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi (54). At the time of its release, it reached #2 on the Oricon sales charts, further establishing Hirosue's status as a rising teen star.

This time, Kawashima will be covering the song under the artist name "Umika as Yamako." Yamako is the name of Kawashima's character in the film, which tells the story of a high school girl unable to confess her love for another student (Jingi Irie). Her unsent love letters get discovered by a "disgusting" upperclassman (Satoshi Kanada), leading to even more problems for the troubled Yamako.

"Watashi no Yasashikunai Senpai" opens in theaters this summer.

Love Psychedelico does "Zettai Reido" themes

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:23:28 +0100

The band Love Psychedelico, which is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its debut this year, has been chosen to provide two theme songs for the Fuji TV drama series "Zettai Reido."

As was revealed earlier this month, "Zettai Reido" stars Aya Ueto (24) in her first role as a police detective. The series is set to premiere on April 13.

Love Psychedelico is in charge of the drama's main theme and opening song. The main theme is a remake of "dry town," a song originally from the band's 2002 album "LOVE PSYCHEDELIC ORCHESTRA." The opening song is "Shadow behind," taken from their "ABBOT KINNEY" album released this past January.

Also called Delico for short, the band is launching a concert tour on June 26, their first one in about two and a half years.

"Trick" gets another special episode

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 18:18:16 +0100

The highly popular drama franchise "Trick" is already getting a third movie on May 8 and a spinoff series starting on April 9, but it was revealed on Sunday that it is also getting a new 2-hour special episode, titled "Trick Shinsaku Special 2."

The first "Trick Shinsaku Special" aired in November 2005. Although the new episode has not been given a broadcast date yet, it is expected to air this spring. Starring the combo of Yukie Nakama (30) and Hiroshi Abe (45), the story this time is set in a village where an ancient custom still remains, and a mysterious lullaby seems to bring misfortune.

The episode's guest cast includes Yuuko Asano, Kento Nagayama, Satomi Tezuka, Atom Shimojo, and Mari Hamada.

Keiichirou Koyama to be news reporter

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:23:00 +0100

Broadcaster NTV previously announced that its weekday evening show "NNN News Realtime" is being replaced by a new program called "news every." More details have been revealed, including the appointment of NEWS member Keiichirou Koyama (25) as a regular reporter.

The show will have announcer Takahiko Fujii (38) as the main newscaster, with sportscaster Kimiko Jinnai (45) and newscaster Izumi Maruoka (38) also appearing regularly. Koyama will be on the show once a week, covering human interest stories.

"news every." will start on March 29.　The show will occupy the same time slot as "NNN News Realtime" (4:53pm-7:00pm Monday-Thursday, 5:00pm-7:00pm Friday). Koyama is currently scheduled to appear on Thursdays.

Haraguchi, Fukushita tie the knot on White Day

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:09:38 +0100

Comedian Akimasa Haraguchi (34) and talento Megumi Fukushita (25) announced on their blogs that they registered their marriage on March 14, which is White Day in Japan. Sources say that they filed their marriage in the morning, before Haraguchi went to work.

Haraguchi and Fukushita's relationship was first made public this past January. The two originally met five years ago through a television show, but they only started dating early last year.

The pair plan to hold a simple wedding ceremony in Yokohama in mid-April, limited to family and close friends.

First child for Monkikki, Yamakawa

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:20:48 +0100

Comedian Monkikki (41) and talento Erika Yamakawa (28) have just become parents. They revealed in their blogs that Yamakawa gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday.

The pair married in February 2007. They announced the news of the pregnancy last August.

"Kaibutsu-kun" cast revealed

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:23:43 +0100

Last month, it was announced that Arashi's Satoshi Oono (29) will star in a live-action drama series based on the "Kaibutsu-kun" manga. On Wednesday, more of the cast members were revealed, along with their costumes.

The fantasy story follows young Kaibutsu-kun (Oono), the prince of a land of monsters, who travels to the human world for training. Takeshi Kaga (59) plays the king of that world, while other monsters include Dracula (Norito Yashima), Wolf Man (Ryuhei Ueshima of Dachou Club), Frankenstein (Choi Hong Man), and Jijiya (Kazuaki Hankai).

Members of the demon world include the prince Demokin (Masahiro Matsuoka), Demorina (Izumi Inamori), and Akkuma (Kanji Tsuda). The human world includes Utako Ichikawa (Umika Kawashima), Hiroshi Ichikawa (Tatsuomi Hamada), and a policeman (Hiroki Miyake).

The series premieres on April 17.

Jejung joins "Sunao ni Narenakute" cast

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:10:31 +0100

TVXQ member Jejung (24) has been cast in his first Japanese drama. He will appear in Fuji TV's "Sunao ni Narenakute," which stars Eita (27) and Juri Ueno (23) in a story of five friends who meet through the social networking service Twitter.

The series was first unveiled last month, with four of the five key characters revealed. Each character struggles with his or her own problems, but their friendship helps them overcome those issues. In Jejung's case, he plays a doctor who moves with his sister from Korea to Japan, where he begins working for a medical equipment manufacturer. However, he is burdened with a lot of pressure, as he finds himself unable to produce strong results for the company.

"Sunao ni Narenakute" premieres in April.

Yamashita confirmed for "Ashita no Joe" movie

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:05:51 +0100

It has now been confirmed that the classic boxing manga "Ashita no Joe" will be turned into a live-action film, starring NEWS member Tomohisa Yamashita (24) as the protagonist Joe Yabuki. The movie is being directed by Fumihiko Sori ("Ping Pong," "ICHI") and is scheduled for release in early 2011.

The original manga, written by Asao Takamori and illustrated by Tetsuya Chiba, was published between 1968 and 1973. The manga's volumes have sold more than 20 million copies combined, and the story has been turned into two animated television series (1970-1971, 1980-1981), two animated films (1980, 1981), and a live-action film (1970) starring Shoji Ishibashi.

Yamashita was offered the role about a year ago. He has been a boxing fan for a long time, and has even trained on his own at a boxing gym in the past. He will soon begin serious training to prepare for the role, as filming is set to start in early April.

Actor Teruyuki Kagawa (44) has been cast as Danpei Tange, the former boxer who becomes Joe's mentor. Kagawa himself is a boxing aficionado - he used to write regularly for the monthly Boxing Magazine and has served as commentator for WOWOW's televised boxing matches.

The rest of the cast has not yet been revealed. A newspaper recently reported that the manga is also being turned into a drama series on TBS with actress (and Yamashita's rumored girlfriend) Keiko Kitagawa (23) playing the heroine role. However, TBS denied both claims, stating that Kitagawa doesn't even have a role in the movie.

Sayaka Aoki becomes mother

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:52:52 +0100

Popular comedienne Sayaka Aoki (36) has just given birth to her first child. The baby girl was born at about 3:30am on Monday morning, her agency has announced.

Aoki has been married since October 2007 to a dancer three years younger than her. She is a regular on seven different shows, but she has been on maternity leave since January. She hopes to return to work soon.

New drama series for Kansai Johnny's Jr.

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:50:43 +0100

This spring, Kansai TV will broadcast a new drama series featuring members of Kansai Johnny's Jr. Tentatively titled "Daremo Shiranai J Gakuen," the show will run for 10 episodes, each starring a different person.

The school-themed drama has been scheduled for late Wednesday nights, in a half-hour block starting around 1:30am. The first episode, titled "Gakkou no Kaidan," will air on April 28, with Akito Kiriyama (20) of B.A.D. taking on the lead role. Although he played a high school student in "Gokusen 3" two years ago, this time he is playing a rookie teacher.

The network is still selecting Kansai Johnny's Jr. members for the ten starring roles. So far, eight have been decided.

Tsutomu Ikeda rescues fallen man from tracks

info@j-dorama.de (Daniel Franz) — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 09:46:22 +0100

Actor Tsutomu Ikeda (31) displayed his heroism last Thursday night, when he helped save a man who had fallen onto the railway tracks at a station in Tokyo's Minato ward.

According to the Tokyo Fire Department, the incident occurred at around 9:15pm on Thursday at the Omotesando Station stop of the Tokyo Metro Ginza Line. A drunk 71-year-old man fell onto the tracks, and Ikeda, who was on the platform at the time, quickly jumped down to rescue the man. He was helped by a 23-year-old salaryman named Yoshinori Akiyama, who also jumped down after noticing the elderly man fall.

The man hit his head and could not get up, but Ikeda and Akiyama managed to carry him back onto the platform. Fortunately, another person pressed the emergency button, so the oncoming train was able to stop about 420 meters before the station.

A doctor who happened to be on the platform treated the man before he was taken to the hospital. Although he hit his head when he fell, it is said that his condition is normal.

Ikeda is currently appearing in the Kohei Tsuka play "Hiryuden 2010." The play had finished its Tokyo run at the end of last month, and Ikeda was on break until the next performance, which was held in Nagoya on Saturday.

Ikeda is also known for being involved in an incident in 2003, when five people were injured during the filming of a TV show in Nagoya. Ikeda was behind the wheel of a car for one scene, but he lost control and ended up driving into a crowd of spectators.