Risa Honma Stars in New Calligraphy Club Dorama!

Risa Honma, best known for playing CereCere in 2001 and Sailor Mars from 2004-2005, has a supporting role in a new dorama called Tomehane! Suzuri Koko Shodobu. This show is about a girl from Canada who returns to Japan after many years, and finds that she likes Japanese calligraphy. She joins her new high school’s calligraphy club, but the tiny club is in danger of being abolished without enough students. This is a slice of life drama, and Risa plays Arisa Hatakeyama, a member of a prestigious calligraphy school’s staff. The dorama is a live-action adaptation of a popular manga in Japan which ended last year by veteran mangaka Katsuoshi Kawai. Calligraphy is not just about learning the different characters and making them, but also “performance calligraphy” which involves dancing and drawing them. This series began January 7th on NHK. It was only meant to be a 6 episode special, and just ended on February 11th. Since Sera Myu ended, you may be surprised to know that Risa is a budding Sailor Pluto! She lists astrophysics as a hobby, and studied physics at Nihon University, Japan’s largest university!

Kousei Amano Plays a Host and is in a Special Boy Band!

Kousei Amano (Tuxedo Kamen in 1999) is now starring in a dorama that is adapted from a popular novel by Miaki Kato. Indigo no Yoru (or Tough Times at Club Indigo) began on Fuji TV in January, and tells the story of Akira Takahara, a woman who once was a successful editor at a major Japanese publisher. One day, her fiance suddenly disappeared, and an unfortunate embezzlement incident later caused her to lose her job. She ends up as the manager of Club Indigo, a strange host club in Shibuya. With various shenanigans happening every night around the club, she and her hosts become amateur detectives to try to solve the cases. Kousei plays a host named “Inu Man” (or Dog Man in English). But what’s even more interesting is that he is ten years older than the youngest host, and the two of them along with the famed Takagi twins have formed a pop unit! They are called INDIGO 4 and sing the theme song to the show “Kokoro -Dear my friends-“. The single is set to be released today! This show also has a connection to PGSM, as Masu Takeshi (Rei’s Dad) also appears in this show playing a supporting role as Mama Nagisa. And if the name of this author sounds familiar, it is! Miaki also wrote the Mop Girl novels, which were later turned into a dorama starring none other than PGSM Sailor Mars, Keiko Kitagawa! The story has also been adapted for the stage, and is set to debut on April 30th at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.

Yuu Shirota in New Movie Based on Popular Dorama!

Yuu Shirota (Tuxedo Kamen from 2003-2004) reprises his role as the condemned criminal Mariya Kyousuke in the just released Koshonin: Time Limit at 10 000 m Above the Ground. This movie is a spinoff from the popular Koshonin: The Negotiator dorama in Japan which lasted for two seasons. The show’s premise seems very familiar to that of Flashpoint, but with detectives involved with the Special Investigations Team (SIT). An airplane is hijacked in this movie, but the team’s lead negotiator Usagi Reiko is on the flight, and races against time to save the day.

We also came across this very special interview that was conducted by Cinema Today to celebrate his 24th birthday. Yuu Shirota is half-Japanese, half-Spanish, and was largely raised by his Spanish mother. He was asked about cultural differences with Spanish people, and he noted that he lived in Spain when he was a child. He said something interesting that Japanese people are shier than Spanish people. For example if you bump into someone and they drop their handkerchief, in Japan they very hurriedly say “Sorry!” and keep going. In Spain though, people are a lot friendlier and the conversation would go something like “Hey, I dropped my handkerchief!” “Oh, I’m sorry! Can I help you?” He thinks people feel closer in Spain to each other. He has immense respect for his mother since she raised him and his 4 siblings alone in Spain, and had a hard time raising them in Japan where she didn’t understand a word of Japanese. She had been through so many hard times, but she raised them all “splendidly”. He has immense respect for her, and how she helped them all to grow. On his birthday each year, he says that he thanks his mother for giving birth to him. He thinks that the day when children get presents should be a day when they thank their mothers for giving birth to them, since they are the reasons that they are alive and living happily! And, he especially notes that mother hurt her belly giving birth to him, and that the father’s genes are important too.

Mikako Tabe is Everywhere!

Mikako Tabe (Yaten Kou/Sailor Star Healer from 2003-2004) is starring in a new adaptation of a critically acclaimed Japanese novel by Toyoko Yamasaki. Fumo Chitai (The Waste Land) began last October on Fuji TV and continues to run. This series follows Iki Tadashi, a former military leader who was captured by the Soviets during World War II. Treated as a war criminal, he was sentenced to many years of labor in a harsh Siberian detention camp. After 11 years of imprisonment, he is released. He returns to Japan and begins readjusting to life as a civilian, rejecting an offer from his former colleague to work on a defense project. Tadashi has decided to never involve himself in war again, much to the joy of his family. Instead, he attempts to set off on a new path working at a major trading company. Mikako plays his daughter, Naoko in teh series. The series was not only shot in Japan, but also in New Zealand to re-create the Siberian detention camp, and is loosely based on the life of Ryuzo Sejima. This drama is doing very well in the ratings and is one of the more popular shows in Japan.

A brand new recording was released of famed Japanese poet Noriko Ibaragi‘s greatest works. When I was Most Beautiful ~ Words to Live By ~ was released on January 30th, and Mikako can be heard reading her most famous poem “When I was Most Beautiful” about the unfairness of war among the poems included. Fans can read an English translation of the powerful poem here (and wander around and read her other poems too – they are great!). The poem, since its publication in 1957, has been translated into many different languages, and was even put to music by Pete Seeger in the late 60s.

And, last December 4th, Japan’s prestigious Elandor Awards were handed out. These awards recognize excellence in Japanese cinema and TV dramas. Mikako won a “Rookie Award” for her acting in the Japanese fantasy film, Fish Story. Fans can learn more about the time-traveling adventure in a review from Variety (yes, this is in English). She played the schoolgirl Asami in this punk-rock themed movie about fate through the ages. There may be an international release of this film, but as of this writing no one has picked it up internationally (hey FUNImation, here’s a Japanese film actually worth licensing). Congratulations!

Only one more day to go – guess who’s modeling, and guess who won an award for his performance in a Japanese production of a Shakespearean play?

2009 has been a significant year in the world of Sailor Moon. Hard to believe, but it has been 5 years since PGSM has come to an end. Many fans of PGSM have continued to follow the careers of the cast members since the show has ended, and there is some recent news to report.

Keiko Kitagawa Rumored to be Dating? and is Cast Once Again!

Once again, the cleanest idol in Japan’s industry has been the subject of tabloid fodder once again. This time, she is rumored to be dating another star – actor Tomohisa Yamashita, who is a year older than her. The two starred together in the drama Buzzer Beat, and also went to the same college (he was a year ahead of her). They have been spotted out and about holding hands. On November 21st, he performed his first solo concert show (“Short But Swell”) at Yokohama Arena. Fans can read a review of the concert in English here – he even performed a rendition of Michael Jackson’s Thriller! One of his songs is titled Daite Senorita and after the concert ended, our poor Sailor Mars was bombarded with reporters asking if she was Tomohisa’s senorita. She snapped back at then and said they were just friends who sometimes go out to dinner together. Poor Keiko just can’t catch a break, can she?

Kitagawa has continued to obtain acting roles in the wake of the success she has earned playing Sailor Mars in PGSM. Kitagawa will portray the role of Rie Saito (a number 1 hostess) in the TBS drama Hitsudan Hostess. The story is somewhat based off of Saito’s personal life, as the title character becomes deaf at the age of one due to an illness, and she rebels against her strict parents. Kitagawa’s new role will require very little dialogue, making this one of her most challenging acting roles to date. The two hour long episode is based off of a best selling book by Rie Saito, of which Keiko is a big fan of. Keiko is looking forward to utilizing her skills in calligraphy and writing – skills that she obtained in her childhood.

Kaori Moriwaka Writes Hit Song!

In September of this year, popular J-Pop singer Maki Goto (pictured) released a new album with her new collaboration featuring her record label Avex, popular radio station J-Wave, and Japanese social networking site Mixi. She called the collaboration (and the album) “SWEET BLACK” because those two words describe perfectly the positives and the negatives in the life of today’s women. The album has 8 tracks, featuring unique collaborations with people like Japanese reggae star BIGGA RAIJI, mangaka Erika Sakurazawa, and Japanese rapper Ken the 390. The song TEAR DROPS, featuring the singer KG is a sad and beautiful song, and has a connection to PGSM – Kaori Moriwaka (Ikuko Tsukino) wrote the song! This is a little different since we’re normally used to hearing rockier tunes from her! Fans can watch the video here, and read a lyrics translation here.

Two Rival Fashion Magazines Get Together For a Fashion Show That Thunders! and Jupiter Speaks Up.

Excuse the horrible Sailor Jupiter pun! Mew Azama was one of a handful of CanCam magazine models chosen to appear in a special fashion show with rival models from ViVi magazine that was sponsored by Sony Ericsson. Sony Ericsson was launching the S002 “THE SUPER FIT” which is a phone being marketed as the worlds smallest “WanseguKeitai” (or “oneseg” cell phone capable of mobile TV). The fashion show took place on December 1st at Tokyo’s JCB Hall, and some of the fashions modeled had a “sexy santa” theme. Fans can check out more pictures here – and Mew is sporting a new, shorter, haircut! She’s the one in the beige gown pictured here! It’s a relief to see some pictures of Mew in classier clothing compared to the ridiculous things she sometimes wears as the weather girl on NTV’s Zoom! Saturday.

And speaking of which: Mew Azama was also featured in a Hochi Sports (part of Daily Yomiuri) article!  For the first time, she speaks of her role as a weathercaster on NTV’s Zoom Saturday!    She made her debut on the show over a year ago in October of 2008.   She was anxious since she didn’t think that she was good at public speaking, but got serious and took lessons!  It was a struggle, but she persevered!   When she first started, even though she had her script memorized, she kept stopping because she was so nervous.  She would often fear she would forget something on her cheat sheet when it would be taken away from her and she worried that people could tell that she was in a hurry.  Sometimes she would have to wake up at 2 or 3 to get to her shoots on time, and sometimes she couldn’t operate on a couple hours of sleep!  Now she is fully adjusted to her schedule and she is also getting used to this just like she had to for her early morning modeling shoots. 

We’ve featured a few of her strange costumes on this blog before, asking fans to caption the photos!  But her fans in Japan have come to love her costumes, and also the clothing she wears on the show.  She even talks about her outfits on her blog.   She looks forward to doing more in 2010, and hopes to be an anime seiyuu too.  Our fearless Mew can accomplish anything she puts her mind to, with a little perseverance!

New Idol DVD and a Strange Dream for Rina Koike!

PGSM’s youngest star has another new idol DVD out, this time co-starring two other young stars, Yui Koike and Aya Koike. Despite sharing surnames these three are not closely related in real life, but they play sisters in the movie. Rina also made mention of a strange dream she had involving Michael Jackson. As best we can tell, she dreamed she was on a plane that crashed in a jungle in the Amazon, and Michael Jackson came riding in on a blue throne set on an elephant and brought two other people to rescue her. After Rina had the dream, she called her friend and she said it was all in her head. An interesting dream indeed!

Gundam Character Astrology Book!

Keiko Han (Luna in the anime and PGSM) has a new book out, “Fortune Telling of Sune” Written from the perspective of her character Lalah Sune from Mobile Suit Gundam. The book is illustrated by Hideki Ohwada, author of a Gundam parody comic and is meant for Gundam fans to enjoy!

Editor’s Note: Among the few files which I lost on my computer was the backup of a very important widget I used to keep tabs on all the stars of Sailor Moon. This means I have to build it up again from scratch. PGSM had the smallest cast and crew, so I thought that was a good place to start before hitting the behemoth casts that are the musical and the cartoon. So for now, this update will cover the stars of PGSM.

Keiko Kitagawa Ranked 7th Most Popular Teacher According to Oricon!

Japanese survey giant Oricon recently completed a poll asking people who they thought played the best teacher. Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars in PGSM) came in 7th place! The article’s writer said that of all the actors in this ranking, Keiko is “the new kid on the block”. According to some of the surveyors’ opinions, they found her cute and lovable, and that with time it was very possible she could be a wonderful teacher. Coming in first place was Nanako Matsushima, second place went to Misaki Ito, and third was Kyoko Fukuda.
And while we’re talking about Keiko, we’re going to sneak in another couple tidbits we came across. Keiko’s new movie, Handsome Suit is just around the corner, and the Daily Cyzo web magazine is having a contest for ten pairs of tickets to a preview of the movie October 9th! For more details (you have to be living in Japan) click here. The contest deadline is September 19th. This picture we have here of Keiko was taken at a promotional event for the movie last week. When Keiko was 17 years old, she read a novel called Norwegian Wood, about a man who remembered his college experiences back in the 60s. The novel became one of her favorites, and as fate would have it, the novel is now being turned into a movie. She read it again after 5 years, and had a different perspective about it’s meaning now that she is an actress and has a good idea of what her identity is. She called on all her blog readers to read it too. Keiko will also be endorsing a new cell phone in Japan, the Prada Phone by LG (we wish we had this!). And lastly, we’d like to congratulate Keiko Kitagawa upon finishing her degree in Commercial Science at Meiji University! She will graduate in the spring.

Kaori Moriwaka to Give Free Q&A and Mini-Performance in Harajuku!

Kaori Moriwaka (Ikuko Tsukino in PGSM) will be having a free Q&A session and mini-performance at the Harajuku KDDI design studio on September 20th. No other details have been released at this time, as the event is being shrouded in secrecy – what does she have planned, we wonder? One detail that has emerged is that this is to promote her new podcast being offered through KDDI. This has already been a big year for Kaori with the reunion of her old girl band, the Go-Bang’s.

Narushi Ikeda Cast in New Movie!

Narushi Ikeda (Sugao Saito, Minako’s Manager in PGSM) has been cast in a new movie called Don-Jyu. This movie is about childhood friends who are torn apart, and eventually reconcile. The movie will be released some time next year. Filming began on September first. It is based on the award winning Chinese movie from 2005 of the same name. The movie will be directed by Tetsuya Nakashima, and stars another star who has worked with someone else from PGSM! Tadanobu Asano plays a leading role in the movie, and he worked with Keiko Kitagawa on the Docomo 2.0 commercials!

Masu Takeshi Directing New Play!

Masu Takeshi (Rei’s Dad in PGSM) is seen here first from the left on the bottom row. He is directing a new play Puzzling Sunday which begins on the 19th in Tokyo. This play is a revival of a play which was very popular in 1996. It’s a comedy about the dwellers of a luxury apartment: a daughter who refuses to obey her father’s wish for her to get married, along with other quirky visitors. Masu has had to overcome great obstacles to work on this play, just last year he underwent surgery to fight stomach cancer. He says that his health is good today, and that he can even drink alcohol now to celebrate his play. We wish him all the best with his new play and continued good health!

Jyoji Shibue in New Drama!

Jyoji Shibue (Tuxedo Kamen in PGSM) stars in a new drama starting September 26th in Japan! It’s a tragic story called Romera Love Feud and it is about Nanase, a 39-year-old woman whose father died in a car accident when she was 15, and her mother later ran away. Nanase is trying to pick up the pieces of her broken life as she tries to fall in love. The show also tells his story by going back and forth from the present to when he was younger. Jyoji plays Satoru, Nanase’s best friend from her younger years. He is pictured at a promotional event announcing the premiere third from the left.

And finally, we came across some Aya Sugimoto news that is definitely for our older readers only after the jump!


Aya Sugimoto Engages in Some Strange Business?!

Aya Sugimoto (PGSM Queen Beryl) has long been known to be in touch with her sexuality. Just a few days ago, Japanese ISP Biglobe announced a new partnership with her, wherein she offers advice for couples to get more sensual with each other. This is by far the strangest endeavor we’ve seen from Aya. We know during the time of PGSM she gained a lot of notoriety for what she said about her ex-husband during their divorce, but reading this new website of hers gave us the creeps. However, there are some other cleaner but still awkward productions of hers on the way. In November, she will be doing a Tango dance show exploring womanly desires (we’ve got the poster pictured here). She feels that she needs to express the feelings of a woman. She also has a recipe book out, and the title loosely translates to “Cooking That Will Capture a Man”. She has also posed for the Japanese branch of PETA, sitting down on a white block, wearing only white stilettos and holding a sign over her chest that says “Fur? I’d rather go naked”. That news alone is making headlines all over the world, and we can even point you to an article in English. We’re not entirely sure what phase of life Aya is in right now, but if she’s happy, then we’re happy.