TV commercial of the week: Staff Service with Cyborg

TOKYO —

 This commercial is for Staff Service which is a big recruiting company.

Staff Service currently shows two kinds of Cyborg commercial series. One features the Cyborg temp worker 022 (the number “022″ refers to the phone number of Staff Service), and stars Mikako Tabe. The other features Cyborg full-time worker 003 (Cyborg 003/Françoise Arnoul) from the famous cartoon/animation “Cyborg 009.”

In this version, featuring Tabe, workers have to clip 50 sets of material together for a presentation in 30 minutes and worry that they cannot make it. Then Cyborg temp worker 022 transforms her right arm into a Gatling gun and does the job in no time at all.

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Kuroki, Akanishi deny they are dating

Meisa KurokiJapan Today

TOKYO — There have been several tabloid reports recently that actress Meisa Kuroki, 23, and former KAT-TUN singer Jin Akanishi, 27, are a couple. But both stars this week denied the couple were in a relationship.

“We’re friends but he is not my boyfriend,” Kuroki said in a statement released by her agency, while Akanishi’s agency, Johnny’s Jimusho, released a statement in which he said “We are not going out.”

The gossip started when the pair were spotted together at Tokyo DisneySea on Jan 22, Sankei Shimbun reported. A Johnny’s spokesperson said that Akanishi did go to Tokyo DisneySea, but he wasn’t alone with Kuroki. They were among a group of friends, the spokesperson said.

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Chinatsu Wakatsuki announces she's 5 months pregnant and married

Chinatsu Wakatsuki

TOKYO —

Model and “tarento” Chinatsu Wakatsuki, 27, is pregnant and married.

Wakatsuki said on her blog this week that she has married an older man, described as a company employee, and that she is five months pregnant.

She said she had submitted marriage registration papers to her ward office in Tokyo on Tuesday.

Wakatsuki said she intends to keep working after she gives birth.

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Ayumi Hamasaki to divorce husband of 1 year

Ayumi HamasakiIMAGE.NET

TOKYO —

Pop diva Ayumi Hamasaki, 33, has announced through her official fan club that she is to divorce Austrian actor Manuel Schwarz, 31. The couple who were wed in Las Vegas on New Year’s Day of 2011, are to file for a divorce after a year of marriage.

Hamasaki told fans that she had initiated the split, explaining that she felt unable to keep the promise she made to Schwarz, who lives in Los Angeles, that the pair would live together in America. “Since the Tohoku disaster, I have had the feeling that I don’t want to be apart from Japan,” she wrote. “As a result I have been spending more and more days away from him.”

“We spoke about this and we thought we could maintain our relationship by traveling to see each other, but at some point, physical distance becomes emotional distance,” she explained. “When I thought about our future, I realized I couldn’t see myself returning to the state of mind I was in when I agreed to live in America.”

It is reported that Hamasaki will file for divorce through a lawyer in the United States.

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Erika Sawajiri says there will be nude scene in new movie 'Helter Skelter'

Erika Sawajiri(C) "Helter Skelter" Production Co

TOKYO —

Erika Sawajiri, 25, returns to the big screen on July 14 when she stars as the main character in “Helter Skelter,” directed by Mika Ninagawa. The film is based on Kyoko Okazaki’s manga that includes many sexually graphic scenes and Sawajiri said there will be some nudity in the film.

Sawajiri plays Ririko, a model who has undergone extensive plastic surgery all over her body. When the clinic is investigated for its shady business practices, Ririko’s beauty to starts fade. Her mental condition also starts to deteriorate.

The film marks Sawajiri’s first movie starring role since “Closed Note” in 2007. That was the start of her troubles when she displayed a bad attitude during a stage appearance at the Japan premiere.

Sawajiri told reporters that she enjoyed making “Helter Skelter” and that she is happy to be back in business, Sankei Shimbun reported. She said the choice of Ririko is a good match for her own character. But she wouldn’t say how much skin she’ll reveal in the movie.

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TV commercial of the week: Google Chrome and Hatsune Miku

TOKYO —

The popular and famous Hatsune Miku, who is the mascot character for audio-editing software Vocaloid, appears in this commercial for Google’s web browser Google Chrome.

Some of the video responses include “Hatsune Miku is a miracle diva made from social media” (in Japanese), “never get bored even I looped this video many times” (in English); and “Even though this video is a Japanese local commercial, it is very popular in foreign countries too” (in Japanese) and so on.

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Nozomi Tsuji reportedly living apart from husband

Nozomi TsujiJapan Today

TOKYO —

“Talent” and former Morning Musume singer Nozomi Tsuji, 24, is living separately from her husband Taiyo Sugiura, 30, Josei Seven magazine reports.

According to the article, Tsuji “borrowed” an apartment in the center of Tokyo far from her home earlier this month. The magazine says the cause of the separation is financial troubles concerning Sugiura’s relatives.

However, Tsuji’s agency said the couple aren’t separating and that Tsuji has moved into the apartment to prepare for her return to work.

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