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Atsuko Maeda, an original member of all-girl pop group AKB48, has given birth to a baby boy, her first child, her husband said Monday.
"I'd like to report that a baby boy was safely born the other day," 32-year-old actor Ryo Katsuji, Maeda's husband, posted to his Instagram account Monday morning, adding that both mother and baby are in good health.

Maeda, 27, a native of Chiba Prefecture, married Katsuji in July last year. She was voted AKB48's most popular member in the group's annual fan poll in 2009 and 2011. She later left the group, formed in 2005, to pursue a career in acting.

Katsuji has appeared in various TV programs, movies and theater productions, including the hit series "Amachan," which aired on NHK in 2013.

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Actor Miura Shohei (30) and actress Kiritani Mirei (28) have announced their marriage.

In a joint statement, the couple wrote, "While spending time together as co-workers, we were drawn to each other's personalities and started dating with marriage in mind. We each have many things that the other doesn't have, so we feel that we will be able to support each other and overcome any hardships and difficulties that we might face in the future. We hope to build a family that can endlessly laugh about silly things together."

Miura and Kiritani co-starred in the 2016 drama 'Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto.' Last year, they were spotted on dates, and it was reported that their relationship started that spring. Earlier in May, rumors surfaced that the two would be getting married soon to which both agencies commented that nothing had been decided yet. When Miura was interviewed by reporters in June, he confirmed that he and Kiritani were dating.

Congratulations to the newlyweds!

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The official website for the live-action series of Kousuke Oono's The Way of the Househusband (Gokushufudō) manga announced on Thursday that Haruna Kawaguchi (Haruhi in live-action Ouran High School Host Club, Mei in live-action Say "I love you".) will play Miku, the wife of the protagonist Tatsu.

As previously announced, Hiroshi Tamaki (live-action Nodame Cantabile's Shinichi Chiaki, live-action Ōoku: The Inner Chambers movie's Matsushima, MW's Michio Yūki) will play Tatsu.

The series will air on NTV on Sundays at 10:30 p.m. this October. Tōichirō Rutō (Ossan Love) is among the directors of the series, and Uda Manabu (99.9 -Keiji Senmon Bengōshi-) is one of the show's scriptwriters.

The Way of the Househusband follows a retired yakuza member known as "Immortal Tatsu" who is living out his post-crime career as a house husband. He still manages to find his way into trouble from time to time, except it's in the grocery aisle instead of some back alley.

Oono launched the manga on Shinchosha's Kurage Bunch website in February 2018, and Shinchosha published the fifth volume on June 9. Viz Media is publishing the manga in English, and it released the third volume on May 9.

The manga already inspired a live-action commercial directed by and starring Kenjiro Tsuda as Tatsu last December. Maaya Sakamoto voiced the wife Miku.

The manga won in the Best Humor Publication category for this year's Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. It was acknowledged as a runner-up in last year's Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Awards' web manga category and came in at #9 in this year's Web Manga General Election. The Kono Manga ga Sugoi! guidebook for 2019 ranked Gokushufudō as #8 for its top manga series for men. The series also ranked on Honya Club's "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics" lists for 2018 and 2019.

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Japanese actress Haruna Kawaguchi has been chosen as Taiwan’s tourism ambassador in Japan this year, the Tourism Bureau told a news conference yesterday.

The popular 28-year-old actress has starred in many films and TV series in Japan, including Silent, which premiered on Fuji TV last year.

Japan is one of Taiwan’s most important markets for international tourists in the post-COVID-19 era, bureau Deputy Director-General Trust Lin (林信任) said.

“Surveys that we conducted in Japan during the pandemic showed that Taiwan would be one of the top three travel destinations for Japanese tourists after the pandemic eases. Japanese women aged 20 to 39 are particularly interested in traveling overseas,” Lin said.

“Our surveys also showed that our target customers overlap with Kawaguchi’s fans in Japan. She was Japan’s ‘Queen of Endorsement Advertising’ last year, serving as a spokesperson for many Japanese products. Her personality and popularity match our criteria for a tourism ambassador in Japan,” he added.

As Japanese travelers visit Taiwan mainly for the food, culture and outdoor activities, Kawaguchi would visit travel destinations across the nation to shoot tourism commercials for the bureau in the next four days.

“We hope that the Japanese would be touched by Kawaguchi’s travels in Taiwan and motivated to follow in her footsteps,” Lin said.

Kawaguchi, who arrived in Taipei yesterday to start the commercial shoots, told the news conference that it was her second time to visit Taiwan.

She said through a translator that although she did not travel much around Taiwan during her first visit as she was working, she was impressed by the warmth and passion of Taiwanese.

“I am looking forward to visiting different places in Taiwan this time,” she said.

About 2.16 million Japanese tourists visited Taiwan in 2019, the bureau said.

From January to April, Taiwan welcomed 1.62 million international travelers, led by visitors from South Korea, followed by Japan and North American countries, bureau data showed.

Japan did not downgrade its COVID-19 status until April 29, paving the way for the start of overseas travel for Japanese, Lin said.

“We are positive about the prospects of the tourism market in Japan. Taiwan ranked as the No. 2 overseas travel destination for Japanese tourists during Japan’s Golden Week from April 29 to May 5. We are also confident about Miss Kawaguchi’s influence,” he said.

“Taiwan on May 1 downgraded the status of COVID-19 to that of a less serious disease. This month, we will begin distributing incentive funds for international tourists. We are expecting our 2 millionth international visitor to arrive toward the end of this month,” he said.

Since 2001, the bureau has been retaining tourism ambassadors as part of its marketing strategies to attract Japanese tourists, including Japanese actress Masami Nagasawa, Taiwanese boy bands F4 and Fahrenheit and Taiwanese singer Show Lo (羅志祥).

It also recruited several goodwill tourism ambassadors, including Japanese singers Mai Kuraki, Sachiko Kobayashi, Masaharu Fukuyama, Takuya Kimura, as well as Taiwanese baseball player Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼).

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Since leaving her position in the wildly popular idol troupe AKB48 in 2012, Maeda Atsuko has been exploring her range as an actor. In 2022 she appeared in the film version of a hit 2015 play as part of a star-studded cast. A talk with Maeda about her acting career and the challenges she faces as a working mother.

Playwright and director Nemoto Shūko, who writes and produces all the pieces for an eponymous monthly theater troupe, first presented her piece Motto chōetsu shita tokoro e (To a More Transcendent Place) in 2015. Recently, she also helped adapt it into a screenplay for the 2022 film version, which featured a star-studded cast including Maeda Atsuko, Kikuchi Fūma of the pop group Sexy Zone, and Chiba Yūdai.

The film’s director, Yamagishi Santa, who made a name for himself with the 2018 drama Bōkyaku no Sachiko (Forgetful Sachiko) and music videos for pop star Hoshino Gen, depicts the painful story of four women who struggle with the trials of love and their attraction to “bad boys,” using unexpectedly bold compositions and visual techniques.

In the film, one of the bad boys in question is struggling musician Reito (Kikuchi Fūma), who shows up out of the blue looking to room with Machiko, played by former AKB48 star Maeda Atsuko. He treats her with condescension and privilege, despite not even paying any rent or living expenses. Machiko eventually begins a romantic relationship with him, but is outraged to learn that his ex-girlfriend still sends him money every month.

“I like the worldview that Nemoto brings to her work,” says Maeda. “When I read the script, there wasn’t a single part that I didn’t get. The whole time I was acting, I was thinking ‘I bet this is what Nemoto felt.’ All the scenes full of anger and tears seemed to come from a much more emotional than rational space, so I told myself not to think with the head. How do you react to what your partner brings? We all have moments where we use our heads to think, like concentrating on work or hanging out with friends, but I think we also have others, like when you’re fighting with your partner, and you encounter this unknown part of yourself.”

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On July 6, actress Kiritani Mirei (30) updated her Instagram account announcing the birth of her first child, a baby boy. Her husband, actor Miura Shohei (32) also made the announcement via his Instagram account.

Kiritani wrote, "I am very sorry to be talking about my personal matters, but I gave birth to a baby boy the other day. Thankfully, both myself and baby are healthy." She expressed, "I am thankful that he was born healthily. From now on, we will do our best as a family."

Kiritani continued, "Right now, I really feel the preciousness of life. My heart aches from the heavy rain damage. I am praying from the bottom of my heart that the damages won't get any worse."

Miura similarly stated, "Right now, we live in unprecedented times with lots of sad news around the world. I hope that things don't get any worse."

The two deepened their relationship after co-starring in Fuji TV's drama 'Suki na Hito ga Iru Koto' in 2016 and tied the knot in July of 2018. Earlier in February, Kiritani announced that she was expecting her first baby.

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Star-crossed romance has long been a staple in Japanese cinema, though medical catastrophe, more than a disapproving society or opposing parents, has become a common force tearing lovers apart in contemporary films. This does not always mean a tragic finale: In Takahisa Zeze’s 2017 hit “The 8-Year Engagement,” the heroine recovers from a long coma to wed her devoted fiancee.

Eiji Uchida’s “Silent Love” adds a twist to this staple trope — both principals are afflicted with disabling conditions: Mika (Minami Hamabe) is an aspiring pianist who was blinded in a traffic accident, and Aoi (Ryosuke Yamada), a custodian at Mika’s music college, is mute from a wound incurred in a street brawl.
Based on Uchida’s original script, the film is a full-throated melodrama like his 2020 “Midnight Swan,” a box-office smash that won a pile of awards in Japan. But while the earlier film said something true about the marginalization of LGBTQ+ people in Japanese society, the new one feels antiquated and artificial, devolving into cliched action that seems to belong in another movie.

Also, Uchida’s two leads — unknowns compared to “Midnight Swan” star Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, a former member of the J-pop mega-group SMAP — don’t add much depth or nuance to their stereotypical characters. Not that actors even better than Kusanagi, who won prizes for his hammy turn as a transgender entertainer, could have transcended the formulaic script.

The story begins with Aoi stopping Mika from flinging herself off a rooftop in despair. Distraught, she doesn’t thank him for saving her life, and, unable to speak, he can’t greet her when he sees her later on campus. Instead, he becomes her silent protector, helper and, if you view his infatuation negatively, stalker.

Soon enough, they establish a fragile channel of communication with the aid of a small bell Mika dropped on the rooftop and later recognizes when Aoi rings it. Noticing that she wants to practice on a piano in a room off-limits to students, Aoi finds the key, opens the door and escorts Mika in. Although he delights in her performance, she is dissatisfied since her hand was injured in the accident.

Then, she asks him to play for her, mistaking him for another piano student. Eager to please, he comes up with a subterfuge: Ask a handsome and arrogant piano virtuoso, Kitamura (Shuhei Nomura), to be his stand-in. Kitamura agrees to play for pay as he is dangerously indebted to an underworld casino, but his fee forces the already cash-strapped Aoi deeper into poverty.

At this point, I was expecting an ironic O.-Henry-like twist — think “The Gift of the Magi” transposed to modern-day Japan — but the plot instead drags in gangsters, metal objects wielded as deadly weapons and other elements that take “Silent Love” into a noisy, violent manga-esque place indeed.

This turn of events is not unexpected — we see early on that the hot-tempered, working-class Aoi can hold his own in a fight — but it leads to developments that strain credulity. And the privileged Mika fails to make an obvious moral choice I won’t detail.

O. Henry, who honed his storytelling technique while serving time for embezzlement in the Ohio State Penitentiary, would have created a more self-sacrificing and sympathetic heroine. In “Gift of the Magi,” Della cuts her magnificent hair to buy a present for her beloved; Mika would have sent him a ¥500 Amazon gift certificate.

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This year's 41st issue of Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump will announce on Monday that Mirei Kiritani (live-action Gyakuten Saiban/Ace Attorney's Mayoi/Maya) will join the cast of the second Assassination Classroom film, Ansatsu Kyōshitsu: Sotsugyō-hen (Assassination Classroom: Graduation Edition~), as Aguri Yukimura.

In addition, the film cast the original "God of Death." [highlight white text to read spoilers] Arashi band member Kazunari Ninomiya, who is voicing Koro-sensei for the live-action films, will also play the God of Death.

The film will open in Spring 2016.

The first live-action film adaptation opened in Japan on March 21. The Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal hosted the film's international premiere on July 17. The Fantastic Fest film festival, which will be held in Austin, Texas from September 24 to October 1, will screen the film's US premiere.

Eiichirō Hasumi (Umizaru films, Wild 7) directed the film, and Tatsuya Kanazawa (Saru Lock The Movie, Lucky Seven) wrote the script.

Viz Media is publishing Yūsei Matsui's original manga in North America, and it describes the story:

A humorous and action-packed story about a class of misfits who are trying to kill their new teacher – an alien octopus with bizarre powers and super strength! The teacher has just destroyed the moon and is threatening to destroy the earth – unless his students can destroy him first. What makes things more complicated is that he's the best teacher they've ever had!
The television anime series premiered in Japan on January 9, and Funimation streamed the series as it aired. A second series will premiere in 2016.

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