PGSM - Fall 2010 Update

Keiko Kitagawa (PGSM Sailor Mars) has recently landed an endorsement for Knorr in Japan. The commercial (which is currently on the air in Japan) finds Kitagawa paired with Haruma Miura, and together they pitch a cup soup and bread meal. Keiko and Haruma represent different ways of enjoying the soup and bread - Keiko is for soaking the bread in the soup while Haruma is for dipping the bread in it. The official site is also taking a poll to determine which is the best way to enjoy the soup! Keiko fans will also want to know that she will be starring in a live action rendition of the popular manga series “Paradise Kiss”. Shooting for the film has included a surprise guest appearance at a fashion show, in which footage will be used in the movie. Keiko has also appeared in the remake of the classic French movie "Ascenseur pour l'echafaud", playing Mikayo Matusmoto, a character whose car is stolen during the movie. The movie saw a release date of October 9, and Kitagawa appeared alongside the rest of the cast for the movie premiere. Keiko described the movie as one of her most challenging roles, but found the overall results to be satisfying. On October 19th, Keiko started shooting a new commercial, in which she met an unidentified member of the PGSM production staff (on her blog entry, titled "It's Funny to Have This Happen", Keiko did not identify the member). Keiko received a warm welcome and great praise from the PGSM staff member for her continued evolution as an actress since her time playing Sailor Mars back in 2003. Keiko states in her entry that she felt confident during the shoot, and that she was not expecting to be in contact with this person after the end of PGSM (she was going to try to keep in contact with the staff member, however the two did not meet until this most recent commercial shoot). For a fun side story, Kitagawa has also been promoting Hello Kitty merchandise (and even appearing alongside Hello Kitty) in collaboration with fashion designer Samantha Thavasa. Keiko has been a fan of Hello Kitty since she was growing up, and she has stated that she has been having fun promoting the merchandise.


Aya Sugimoto (PGSM Queen Beryl) has also been busy lately - she has recently been promoting the DVD release of the American drama “Lipstick Jungle” (this is another series created by Sex and the City creator, Candace Bushnell). During the promotional event, Sugimoto participated in a question and answer session, which focused primarily on the relationships between men and women. In an interesting and controversial twist, Sugimoto stated during the question and answer session that no person should be committed to another person in a relationship, and she has no problems with cheating. She also stated that as long as one finds their perfect partner, that having fickle tastes in an relationship is okay. Sugimoto has also penned her autobiography in the last year - the book "Liberal Life" is currently available on Amazon. Fans of Sugimoto will find this book to be an intriguing read – she opens up about a suicide attempt at age 15, the separation of her own family, as well as her own problems with marriage and divorce. Sugimoto has described the writing process as being able to “free her heart” of the problems she has encountered in her life. Sugimoto has also revealed her plans to enter the world of cosmetics – fans will want to check out her new company called Liberata.

Mariko Tsutsui (Ami’s mother in PGSM) will be appearing as a minor character in a BeeTV television drama called “Sekai No Owari ni Saku Hana”. This drama is about a young couple who is suffering from kidney disease and are waiting for a transplant. Tsutsui has landed the role of Manami Yano, the mother of the boy who is suffering from the kidney ailment. The series has been running on television in Japan since September 20th, and a total of 12 episodes are planned to air.



Kaori Moriwaka (Ikuko Tsukino) was busy this summer promoting her J-Rock band the Go-Bangs. She recently performed at a function called Nexus: Battle 80’s”,“ which featured J-Rock bands from the 1980’s engaging in a head on battle. . She will also be rocking out on November 21st at "Nexus Respectable 80s" in Shibuya's C.C. Lemon hall in Tokyo. Tickets for this event have just gone on sale!







Jyoji Shibue (PGSM Tuxedo Kamen) has recently appeared in a new romantic comedy called “Miss Kurosawa”. In this movie (directed by Taku Watanabe), he falls in love with a female comedian – like most romantic comedies, the couple starts to get closer to each other until the inevitable setbacks occur. He plays himself in this movie (as does everyone else), a hunky actor who is a big fan of the comedian!This is definitely a movie for all you Shibby fangirls, and it is even an award winner! It won the top award at the 2nd annual Okinawa Film Festival! The movie opened on October 9th. The entire cast wore white tuxes and wedding dresses. All of the press surrounding this film is around the star Kazuko Kurosawa, and there has not been a lot heard from Shibby in the press. Earlier, Shibby noted that Kazuko was his complete opposite!

PGSM Update - July 2010

Sawaii Miyu, who portrayed Usagi/Sailor Moon in the live action series in 2003-2004, has recently been starring in a musical adaption of the classic fairy tale Snow White. The musical production of Snow White began its eight day run on July 16th. Miyu has also been spotted in a Box Corporation program to celebrate the company’s 30th anniversary. http://www.sanspo.com/geino/news/100717/gnj1007170501003-n1.htm

Fans of Aya Sugimoto (PGSM Queen Beryl) will definitely want to check out the new feature length Kamen Rider movie "Double Forever: A to Z/The Gaia Memories of Fate", where she will be appearing as a guest character named Maria S Cranberry. The movie was recorded with 3D technology in mind, making it the first feature length movie of the 3D Kamen Rider series. The movie will hit theaters on August 7, 2010. (http://www.japantoday.com/category/entertainment/view/aya-sugimoto-to-appear-in-3-d-kamen-rider-movie)

Ayaka Komatsu (Minako Aino/Sailor Venus) has been busy lately promoting a new movie called “Neck”. The movie, which was assembled by Shirakawa Professional, is a hybrid of both horror and comedy as it details the twists and turns of a group of junior college students.(http://www.moviecollection.jp/news/detail.html?p=1379)

Rina Koike (Sailor Luna) has also landed a new role as the main heroine in the detective drama production "Akechi Three Generations". Right now in Japan, Koike can be spotted making some public appearances to support her new acting role, alongside her current co-star Tanabe Seiiti. http://journal.mycom.co.jp/news/2010/06/27/008/?rt=na

Finally, no PGSM news update would be complete without some Keiko Kitagawa sightings. The live action Sailor Mars actress was recently a presenter at the 12th annual Taipei Film Festival, where she was greeted with huge support from her Taiwanese fan base. Keiko admitted to being nervous about the presentation on her blog, and she was relieved to have finished it successfully. Keiko can also be caught starring in a new Fuji TV drama called “Lovers Of The Moon”. http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/N0025561 Apparently the recording schedule for the show was gruelling – Keiko stated on her blog that she was getting as little as 2 hours of sleep at night.

February PGSM News Update

Rika Izumi Gives Exercise Lessons

Rika Izumi (PGSM Sailor Mercury) recently made an appearance on the TV Asahi program Easy Sports. The purpose of Easy Sports is to make athletics and a healthy lifestyle accessible to women of all body types and ages. Viewers who were watching the program during the week of January 18 to January 22 would have been treated to some footage of Izumi performing various yoga lessons. Izumi, who lists Pilates as one of her favourite sports on her profile, showed viewers five different poses for the week long stretch that she was featured. We're also linking you to videos that we have been able to find! Monday's lesson was for a triangle pose, which enhances thigh flexibility and strength of physique. Tuesday's lesson was an Extended Side Angle pose, which helps the back and improves blood circulation. Wednesday's exercise was the Bound Angle Pose which strengthens the back and abdomen. Thursday's exercise was the Upward Dog Pose, which strengthens the back of the legs and improves posture. Finally, Friday's lesson was the Bridge Pose, which strengthens the abdominal and back legs. For pictures and descriptions of Izumi's lesson, visit here.

In other Rika Izumi news, the former PGSM actress will be appearing in a supporting role on "BeeTV", a station geared towards mobile devices and the internet. She will be making some cameo appearances on the omnibus love dorama, "Onna-tachi wa Nido Asobu". Aibu Saki, Koyuki, Hazegawa Kyoko, Yuuka and Misukawa Asami will be the full time cast members that Izumi will be acting with. A typical episode of this show will feature five different mini-episodes within its 24 minute run time.

Also Buzzing Around on BeeTV is A Turtleman!

Poor Masaya Kikawada (PGSM Motoki Furuhata), your infamous turtle antics from PGSM will live with us fans forever...He is also appearing on a dorama on BeeTV that is also a collaboration with FujiTV called Hidamari no Basho ~Hatsukoi~, which translates to "Place of Sunshine ~First Love~". He plays a supporting role in this show about a delinquent who falls in love with the most perfect girl at school. Fans can click here to learn more about the show and watch a trailer!

Masaya also posted something pretty quirky on his blog. Last December, he admitted to really liking the scent of Downy (y'know, the fabric softner?). He was the happiest person in the world when he discovered that popular Japanese laundry detergent Bold has a limited edition detergent out that has the scent of Downy in it (similar to the "Tide with a Touch of Downy" we have here). He thinks that now he is washing his clothes with this, that he will be more attractive. We couldn't help but laugh reading this entry!


Mew Azama Endorses Suntory Products

Suntory, a company which specializes in various drinks, has put together a special campaign for Jug-Nana, a popular line of beer. Suntory has gathered six young idols for its latest promotion, one representing each day of the week. Sharing Thursday for this promotion is none other than Mew Azama (PGSM Sailor Jupiter) . Some of the idols representing the other days of the week are Yuriko Yoshitaka (Monday), Sayo Aizawa (Tuesday), Airi Taira (Wednesday), and Inamori Izumi (Friday). All six idols will represent Saturday and Sunday.

PGSM Stars Reunite (Well, Almost...)

Special thanks to reader RB for sending in this sighting! Mew Azama and Ayaka Komatsu (Sailor Venus) hosted a combined birthday party for Mew and a New Years' Party a little over 2 weeks ago. The only one who couldn't make it this time was Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars). Miyuu Sawaii (Sailor Moon), Rika, and Ayaka all posted images and a few thoughts on their blogs! Rika remarked that it was fun to get together with everyone again after a long time, and that they are so close that they can talk for hours. Ayaka also said that she was happy to see everyone, and that they were so restless when they caught up with each other! Miyuu just wrote that they had a great time and they talked a lot. Here come the photos:

From Rika's Blog:


From Ayaka's Blog:


From Miyuu's blog:


Keiko Kitagawa is Valentine's Queen, Journalist Offender, and a Hair-Raiser!

Keiko is too busy doing promotions for her new productions and filming others, but she still continues to make some quirky appearances in Japanese news. On February 3rd, she was voted a Valentine's Day Queen in the categories of Drama Heroine and Most Fascinating Female Celebrity. This was a survey done by 300 Japanese High Schoolers sponsored by both Oricon and Pocky. Valentine's Day is a little different in Japan - women give men chocolate, and then men return the favor giving women chocolate exactly a month later. So, Keiko was voted the woman that these High Schoolers would most like to receive chocolate from! Standing alongside her is Japanese idol Masuwaka Tsubasa (who is best known for her Gyaru modeling). Keiko was quoted during the event: "I attended a girls’ school for junior high and high school. Making homemade chocolates was not one of my strong points. Instead, I often received really cute chocolates made by other girls." Mishapen or lumpy Keiko, it's the thought that counts! Fans can watch some highlights from the event here. Keiko also wrote something that offended journalists a few days later on her blog (English translation here), ranting about how she finds it difficult to keep her answers consistent during interviews ahead of the March 10th premiere of her upcoming movie After the Flowers, and that she thought she put all the intense stress on her brain away after she graduated. We hope that this doesn't hurt the press because the movie looks really good (and could hopefully be picked up for international distribution). On the bright side, some critics have already lauded her performance in this movie "Hair-Raising","Trembling" and "impressive" at a preview screening held on January 26th.

Natsumi Kiyoura Releasing First Album!

Natsumi Kiyoura (Sailor M) is releasing her debut album, and boy has she come a long way since her days on PGSM. She is a singer, and has even sung the theme song for Spice and Wolf "Tabi no Tochu". The song is featured on her upcoming album "19 Colors", which is produced by many big names in the industry. It even has a song ("Anone Demone") produced by Yoko Kanno, who is legendary among anime fans for her work on anime movie and TV show soundtracks. This long awaited release will come out on February 24th, and fans should order it now from overseas retailers as it is predicted to be a hit!

PGSM Winter 2009 Update Extravaganza!

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.

Masaya Kikawada Goes to Vienna!

Masaya Kikawada (Motoki Furuhata) co-hosted a documentary about life in Vienna, Austria, along with Japanese actress Yoshino Kimura. Yoshino appeared in the movie Sukiyaki Western Django (which is not a movie that is everyone's cup of tea). In the documentary, Yoshino sought to discover what made life comfortable in Vienna, and also met with the conductor of the world famous Vienna Philharmonic (Rainer Kuchl). Masaya took another route and learned about how the people live in Vienna, and visited lots of markets and taverns. http://www.blogger.com/%3Ca%20href=">Producer Yutaro Mimuro was quoted that he aimed to look beyond the history and tradition, to discover why the people of Vienna had such a richness in life. While we were unable to find any pictures of Masaya in the documentary, we did find an entry on his official blog with a picture of him in the Vienna airport. He said that he was having a fun time and was sad that the final scenes were going to be shot that next week. It was an experience that he will never forget!

New Voice Role For Ayaka Komatsu!

Ayaka Komatsu, who recently portrayed Minako Aino (Sailor Venus) in the live action version of Sailor Moon, is turning towards voice acting for her latest role. PGSM fans might want to check out a movie called Goey-ETO, which is an adaption of a one-off manga chapter in the June 1998 edition of Weekly Shonen Jump. The story is centered on the relationship between male and female rabbit like aliens. In this movie, Komatsu will be voicing a male character named Shibushige.

Host Club Drama for Takeshi!


Masu Takeshi, who portrayed Rei's father in PGSM is currently starring in a host club drama called "Rondo Of The Wind". This soap opera is part of Tokai Fuji's "TV's Night Indigo", and its start date is January 5, 2010. In this drama, a successful female editor loses her husband and her job due to an embezzlement accusation, leading her to decide to manage a host club. The female editor and her co-workers work together as a team of detectives in an attempt to restore her reputation.

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!

Keiko Kitagawa : Finding Fame in Her Own Way!

Real Sports Web posted an interesting editorial about Keiko Kitagawa, and how her clean past is keeping her with her agency, Stardust Promotion. The agency recently dropped one of its "breadwinner" stars, Erika Sawajiri over allegations of drug abuse. Given the recent arrests of many stars in Japan for drug abuse, Stardust is axing any star with even the slightest hint of a drug problem. The article then talked about how Keiko is now playing many leading roles, such as the recent TV Drama Buzzer Beat, and in her very first Japanese period movie, Hana no Ato. We have a beautiful shot of her from this movie featured today (more can be found here)! Keiko will be featured next in the movie Elevator To The Gallows. She has been called a starlet who is "a step ahead of today's generation". Originally, she had been a local model, but later transitioned to drama. Playing Sailor Mars in PGSM was her first role, however in recent times her agency has tried to keep knowledge of that at bay. Keiko has never been one to show very much of her body, and the article makes special mention that she is the only star of PGSM who has not turned to the world of gravure idols (and makes specific mention of Miyuu Sawaii in this context). However, because there were a few shots of her bloomers, this has somewhat taken away from her wholesome image. However, now that Keiko has a more "developed figure" and that she is now a more respected model, this isn't a huge deal anymore (though some still think that PGSM is an obscure credit). The writer ends the article hoping that Keiko tries more, and that she also cosplays a bit in the future.

In Japanese society though, gravure idols aren't seen as being "dirty" like they are perceived in North American culture. For many girls in fact, the only way for them to really get their start in the industry most times is to get into gravure modeling. We have to admire Keiko Kitagawa for avoiding these things largely and becoming a respected star in Japan. Fans, what are your thoughts on this? Do you think Keiko necessarily made the wrong decision in not pursuing a gravure career after PGSM ended?

Sailor Moon Musical Number to be Presented by Cosplayers in Seoul!

Since 2005, there has been a festival which happens at the same time in Japan and the Republic of Korea (South Korea) to celebrate friendly ties between the two countries. The Japan-Korea Exchange Omatsuri will begin on September 19th, and will take place simultaneously at the Roppongi Hall Arena in Tokyo , and the Seoul Plaza (which happens to be in front of Seoul City Hall) in Seoul. One very interesting event that we hope someone posts video of, will be Korean cosplay group Moonstone going a step further than their usual Sera Myu cosplay! On September 20th, they will be performing a musical number with the use of traditional Korean and Japanese instruments! We don't know what song they will sing from Sera Myu, but this sounds like it could be a very interesting and fun show! For those of our readers in South Korea, this will take place at 7:30. We would love to see pictures and video of the event if you are going! From the pictures of their appearance in a cosplay parade last year (we have featured them below), they sure put in a lot of effort into their costumes and we think they are pretty close to the original! Also, if any of you know anything about Moonstone (we haven't been able to find out a lot about them), please tell us, we'd love to tell the fans a little more about them! There will also be a lot of youth participating in performance groups there as well along with Moonstone. There will also be a Japanese cultural parade in Seoul, and in Tokyo there will be a Korean cultural parade, as well as a Kimchi festival, which will teach Japanese people about how to make it, and also a little bit about Korean culture. Perhaps Keiko Kitagawa and Jung Woo-Sung should attend that (we kid, we kid)!

MOONSTONE Appearance at Omatsuri 2008:

Tabloids Being Unfair To Keiko

It seems Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars in PGSM) has been the subject of many tabloids' fodder lately. The first one came a little over a week ago, where she was compared to Aya Ueto. Aya Ueto is an idol who has a nickname in the Japanese press, she is known as the "low-ratings idol" since she mostly appears in magazine, commercials, and low-rated dramas. According to this article, Aya has some competition with her "low-ratings" crown in the form of Keiko Kitagawa, who over the last nine months has been seen in the same sorts of things that Aya used to conquer! The article goes on to say that Aya has had a 10-year career, while Keiko has only been on the scene for 6 years. But it makes light of dramas which they starred in and their dwindling ratings. There's an error in this article, as he calls Keiko only an actress and Aya an actress and a singer. Keiko has sung songs for PGSM which we're pretty sure were well loved (at least it wasn't Miyuu Sawaii's singing). The writer of this article, at the end shows a shred of humanity saying that he doesn't want fans to be angry with his decision about who the new low-ratings idol is. He ends saying Keiko is winning against Aya right now, but has more faith in Keiko having a better career in the future. He also notes that it is hard for many idols to achieve a lot of popularity. Aya is pictured here ->.

Yes, we know this article was garbage, but we really don't think that this was fair to even put her in that category! Sure her latest dramas haven't had wide appeal (Homeroom on the Beachside lost ratings steadily), however she is one of the few stars of PGSM who is steadily working hard towards stardom (even though she is not as successful as others)! Plus, she is featured frequently on commercials for cosmetics giant Kanebo (as is Aya). We remember reading in an interview a long time ago that she didn't feel like she was worthy enough to be with all the other, more beautiful, idols that were in the commercials. To us, Keiko seems willing to try different things to put herself out there, and we know that she will never be a low-ratings queen to us!


We also came across this scan of Keiko's various romantic interests and other men she has starred in movies and dramas with. We can't name any of them unfortunately - if any of you know who they are, please tell us! Miyuu Sawai and Ayaka Komatsu are only in there to connect to her debut work, PGSM.

And thirdly, it seems that Keiko was involved in yet another scandalous mishap! Last week, she appeared on Tunnels: Food Prejudice King, a variety show in Japan. Tunnels features a campy quiz show for the first 20 minutes, and then the other 40 are devoted to celebrity food tasting, and then everyone has to guess the food that the other one hated. Alongside Keiko was a South Korean actor named Jung Woo-sung. Unfortunately, at the end of the show, he spelled Kimchi wrong (writing Kimuchi instead of Kimchi), and many South Koreans got offended. This led him to issue a huge apology out to his fans. We have a couple clips from the show for you all!

First: The Introductions, and Wine Tasting! Keiko doesn't like the wine and seems a little shy...


Second: Kimchi/Kimuchi confusion! Keiko finds Kimchi spicy!



For those of you who want to know about Korean romanization and why "Kimuchi" causes a bit of an uproar, hit the jump for a very special explanation from our seasonal writer, Starcat!



Here's Starcat's explanation!

(please note that for this article I don't use a standard romanization system -- I simply write out how I think things are best phonetically pronounced to American English speakers, with hyphens to indicate between syllables. If you are from another country or have another accent you might not sound "Korean" when you pronounce things this way, but I think it works the best to my eyes and ears! I'm also calling it the "English" alphabet rather than Latin because romanization tends to follow the English way of pronouncing each letter.)

The Korean language, 한국어 (han-guk-oh), and Korean alphabet, 한글 (han-guhl), don't really match the typical sounds given to English letters, so there can be a lot of variation for one word. It can get somewhat closer to most English words than Japanese due to the use of final consonants other than n (as in kim-bap, kal-bi, ta-sot, and an-nyohng--yes, the ng is one letter in Korean!) Some words are really easy to romanize into English -- kimchi is written very much as it is in Hangul: ㄱㅣ ㅁ (김) ㅊ ㅣ (치), 김치. it can be spelt gimchi as well (and some people/places write kimchee or other variations on the same pronunciation) because the first consonant, ㄱ, falls slightly between these two English letters. (There are two more variations on this letter that produce a more distinct k-sound or a short gg/kk sound, as well, further complicating romanization into English, but since we're only concerned with a simple word, kimchi, it's not our problem.) The -chi part is slightly less complicated, because the ch, ㅊ, is already what's called an "aspirated" consonant, which means it's pronounced almost exactly like "ch" is in English. The letter it's based on, ㅈ, is more of a j/ch combination--again, causing romanization problems in a different way.

Japanese, though, does not have these ending consonants. To write "kimchi" in Japanese, you must write ki-mu-chi, or キムチ. The u sound is usually dropped or only briefly pronounced so it ends up sounding very close to kimchi in Korean. It's not a problem, right?

Well, to the Korean people, it is. The Japanese occupied Korea for a long time, and there is still a bit of jealousy and tension between the two countries. Japan has tried to get Korea's national dish standardized in English as "kimuchi". While I am not a Korean national or even Korean by heritage, my guess is that this misspelling was so offensive because of two reasons: for one, it's the Japanese way, not the Korean way; for two, an unknowing English speaker would pronounce kimuchi different than kimchi. In short, the romanization directly from Korean is the best way and to do it otherwise is weird and insulting, particularly for such a high-profile dish! Even though this K-Pop star was in Japan, he should have been representing Korea and spelling it the Korean way.

I'm still a learning Korean student--if anyone knows if "kimuchi" is a real word in Korean (the basic hangul spellings I tried in Google Translate produced nothing) please write in and let us know!


sources/references:

For more information on how to pronounce Korean consonants: http://www.wright-house.com/korean/korean-consonants.pdf

The English article about this scandal from All K-Pop.com: http://www.allkpop.com/index.php/full_story/jung_woo_sung_apologizes_for_spelling_kimchi_as_kimuchi/

More on kimchi as a food: http://www.kimchi.or.kr/eng/index.html

BREAKING NEWS: Two Lost Souls Have Returned!

In the last few days, two very important people involved with Sailor Moon have finally returned to our radar!

Sailor Moon R II: The Promise of Naoko

Forgive us for the Sailor Moon Return pun :p. For the last few years, pretty much the only news we had heard of Princess Naoko came from people who had been around her, from students in 2004, to more recently, Naoko's own husband. On New Years' Day of this year, it looks like Princess Naoko's Room has returned in a much different form to the official Sailor Moon Website. And, we were lucky enough to get a picture of Naoko (even if it is from last October). In Shizuoka City, lies Bandai's Hobby Center, which is their main toy factory. The toy factory has a showroom, and also aspires to be the first green toy factory with zero emissions, and wants to be a pioneer in plastics recycling. Naoko visited the Bandai Hobby Center in October, and had the opportunity to check out some Gundam plastic models (known as "Gunpura") and has joined the ranks of other mangaka in drawing their characters in a Gundam style (it is Gundam's 30th anniversary after all!). Naoko says that this is a drawing of Usagi in a Hobby Center Uniform. The entry hints that there may be more updates from Naoko to come in 2009! To check out a full translation, go visit here! We are so happy to finally have a new picture and some words from Naoko in many years! Naoko, please continue to update your site - we miss you!

Rika Izumi Makes a New Splash!

Rika Izumi (otherwise known as Chisaki Hama) is well-known for playing Sailor Mercury in PGSM. After the show wrapped in 2004, she disappeared altogether, and castmates were rumored not to be allowed to talk about her on their blogs or post pictures. Last summer, she made her return modelling in magazines, and she even got a role in the movie Clearness playing the character Reiko. She appeared in 3 scenes in the film, the last of which we have pictured here for you with an arrow. The movie is a romance based on a keitai shosetsu (mobile phone novel), about love in the sex trade. More recently, she has appeared in a noodle commercial as the beautiful Kimono Girl of a lonely boy's dreams (played by SMAP's Masahiro Nakai). This morning, we read an article all about her "re-debut"! Rika confirms that she gave her school the priority after PGSM ended, and that she graduated with a literature degree from Meiji University in 2007. Shortly afterwards , she took up modeling again! She wants to do more acting, and she hopes to be able to express herself as sexy and as lovely as Marilyn Monroe did. She wants to costar with everyone that she can, and she is still good friends with her former costars of PGSM. The article makes special mention of her friendships with Keiko Kitagawa and Mew Azama (Sailors Mars and Jupiter). When she was ready to return to the entertainment business, she sent her own shots around to agencies before she was signed. The article also features a brand new photo shoot, along with a few shots from her noodle commercial. Click here to see! Fans can also go to A Fruitful Spring to check out her most recent magazine appearances!

News From The Other Side Of The Pond #17

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.

PGSM Stars Reunite!

Ayaka Komatsu (PGSM Sailor Venus) turned 22 on July 23rd, but didn't have her birthday party until last Thursday! Joining her were her other four costars from PGSM, Miyuu Sawai (Sailor Moon), Rika Izumi (Sailor Mercury), Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars) and Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter). Three of them blogged about it and all featured this picture that they took at a restaurant with Ayaka's amazing birthday pastries (we hope they tasted as good as they looked). Our birthday girl remarked on her blog that it had been a long time since she had seen her costars, and that they are so strong when they are together. She couldn't believe that they have known each other for five years already! Keiko had invited them for a preview and press conference for her upcoming movie, Handsome Suits and Ayaka (while looking forward to Keiko's movie) also put in a quick plug about her own movie, Pandemic which will be out in theaters shortly in Japan. Ayaka was also lucky enough to be given a bottle of champagne that was personalized! Mew says that she is a little scared of turning 22, and she will be there in a few months. She wrote that the time really flew from her PGSM days until now, but she was glad to see everyone and that the party could not have been great unless all five of them were there! Keiko blogged that at the press conference, she wore a very trendy Donna Karan pink spangled dress. Her character in the movie wore clothes that weren't very fashionable and with light makeup so she wanted to show up at this conference with a bang! She had invited all her PGSM costars to come, but Miyuu Sawai couldn't make it because she had to work. At Ayaka's birthday party the day after, she wrote that they were told a lot by the crew that when the 5 girls would get together that they would fight a lot. But it still isn't true, the 5 of them are still the best of friends years later. They talk a lot about their auditions and the 14 months they spent together on PGSM. They will all be friends for life, she says! She also thinks her acting in PGSM was so horrible for her own debut that she doesn't want to watch it anymore, but she is so glad she met the other actresses! She hopes that they can get together again for her birthday party, and ended her entry with some old PGSM pictures for old times' sake!

In other PGSM news, Mew Azama is now part of an elite group of models whose blogs on Ameblo have been fused with idol magazine CanCam. This new portal will also allow users of Ameblo to access some pretty cool features, including the same skins that the models use on their blogs. Mew sure seems to be doing a lot these days with the cyber world, in our last update we learned that she is now a special celebrity answerer with MSN's Questionbox. Rika Izumi is now a model with Sun Music Brain, and has posed for photos with Ray Magazine. Ayaka Komatsu's movie Pandemic has something to do with the world being hit with some kind of superbug and will be out in January. Keiko Kitagawa's Handsome Suits is a comedy about a man who is a horrible Italian Chef, but who one day has a change of heart in his career and opts to work at a men's fine clothing store! This one will be released sometime in November. Aya Sugimoto (Queen Beryl) achieved tabloid notoriety again when Jason Lewis (who played Smith Jerrod in the Sex and the City Movie) appeared for a promotional event ahead of the movie's release in Japan. Aya appeared on the stage and he swept her off her feet with a typical Hollywood kiss (and that's what we've got pictured). As of this writing, we're not entirely sure if she had a dubbing role with the movie in Japanese or if she was just at the premiere because of her celebrity status.

Commercials Corner #27: Keiko Kitagawa Edition!

We finally came across Keiko Kitagawa's (Sailor Mars in PGSM) commercials for Kanebo's Winter 2007-2008 and Summer 2008 Coffret D'or Cosmetics campaigns and we've got 'em posted just for you! Keiko stars alongside four other idols; Kou Shibasaki, Tokiwa Takako, Miki Nakatani, and Erika Sawajiri.

Winter 07-08

Group Commercial (60 sec):

Keiko is the second model to appear in this commercial.



Group Commercial (30 sec):

Keiko is the second model to appear in this commercial.



Keiko's Solo Commercial:



Summer 2008:

Group Commercial (30 sec):

Keiko is the second model to appear in this commercial.



Keiko's Solo Commercial:



Keiko blogged about this campaign saying she really liked the eye shadow she wore in this commercial, the rose variation of their fluffy shine eyes eyeshadows (first one on the page). It took the models two days to shoot all of these spots, and she was surprised that so much work was needed to make a commercial that seemed so short. We think Keiko looks stunning in these commercials , and that the cosmetics have some cool innovations.

News From The Other Side Of the Pond #16 (Part 1)

PGSM Edition!

Keiko Kitagawa in New TV Drama

Keiko Kitagawa (Sailor Mars in PGSM) has been cast in the new Fuji TV drama, Homeroom on the Beachside (literal translation: Classroom of the Sun and Ocean). She is going to play a rookie teacher at a preppy high school as a fresh graduate of the University of Tokyo. The show begins July 21st at 9PM. Keiko has said on her blog that she is anxious to play this role, because she does not have much drama experience - she’s only 21! Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter in PGSM) is one of her closest friends, and they have known each other since before PGSM when they were modelling. Mew told her that although a lot is expected from her at that timeslot and for that role, that there are a lot of people who are supporting her and she should be confident and enjoy herself! Those words of wisdom from her fellow senshi have helped to clear her anxiety. On the official site of the show, if you click on Cast&Staff, you will see a blue box to the right of Keiko Kitagawa’s name. Click that to see an interview about the show with her!

In other Keiko news, there are rumors that she is in a relationship with one of her costars from the movie Heat Island. His name is Ryo Kimura and he is 19 years old. It is rumored they spent the night in a hotel together after karaoke in May. We find it humorous that one of our news links pointed us to this. Keiko is also featured on a new, glamorous Coffret D’Or commercial, which can be seen here (for the one with Keiko, pick the one on the right side under Jul '08). Keiko is also in the June commercials, she is wearing a blue dress that looks like it has a matching scarf. She spent two days working with Coffret D’Or on this campaign, one day just to shoot the 15 second and 30 second commercials, and the second day just to shoot the promotional stills. She was surprised at how long it took and how much effort was needed to do something so simple!

Miyuu Sawai Has New Photobook, DVD and Movie!

Miyuu Sawai (Sailor Moon in PGSM) released a new photobook at the end of May called Present and she has definitely taken a dip in the Gravure Idol pool. There are a lot of poses of her in bikinis. She made a few appearances at bookstores for signings at the end of May. On June 20th, she released an idol DVD called Riyuu Sawai and we assume the title is a pun on the word "Real Sawai". This one is supposed to show how she has grown up as a very charming woman, in traditional Japanese dress, to a swingy white skirt, and a blazing red dress. We probably won't get the chance to look at any of these, but any of her diehard fans who want to send us in a review of the photobook and/or the DVD, we'd be happy to feature you in an upcoming article! Miyuu also has a role in the Japanese spinoff of Shaolin Soccer, called Shaolin Girl. This one is about a Kung Fu coach who works to rebuild her grandfather's Dojo and joins her University Lacrosse Team. It looks really funny, and we managed to find a trailer subtitled in English for you all to watch!

Chisaki Hama/Rika Izumi Returns to the Modelling Industry!

Chisaki Hama (Sailor Mercury in PGSM) was really born Rika Izumi. However, her agency changed her name when she first started out because there was another idol by that name, and Chisaki Hama translates roughly to "Thousands of Flowers Blooming By The Shore". She had disappeared not too long after PGSM ended and no one knew where she went. Occasionally other PGSM stars would write about hanging out with her on their blog, but they would not post pictures of her. There were rumors going around that she didn't want to be in the entertainment industry anymore. Last week we learned that she has returned to modelling and is in the running for Pinky Princess (Princess of the Pinky magazine, we assume). She has definitely changed since the last time we saw her, and we are loving her new hair! We really hope to see her in more things soon! According to her entry, Rika is an avid Saxaphone and Euphonium player (there's an instrument you didn't expect to hear about!) and she has recently taken up aromatherapy and candle making as a hobby. She likes to watch movies, have homemade meals, and manicures. She is a big fan of Angelina Jolie and Audrey Hepburn, and loves to wear Jill Stuart. She is eager to learn anything she can to become a better model!

Mew Azama Endorses MSN QuestionBox!

Mew Azama (Sailor Jupiter in PGSM) was part of a trio endorsing MSN Japan's QuestionBox. QuestionBox is a lot like Yahoo Answers, where users post questions and other users answer with information or opinions. The other idols part of the consulting party to promote the site were Shizuka Kondo and Moe Oshikiri. Mew is on the left side in the pink top in the picture. Mew commented on her blog that they were given Honey Milk Latte at this event and that it was delicious. She looks forward to reading other people's opinions on QuestionBox.

Ayaka Komatsu Appeared in New Drama!

Ayaka Komatsu (Sailor Venus in PGSM) just finished playing a waitress on the NTV Drama Bambino. This show was about a college student who travels to Tokyo's upper class district of Roppongi from his home in Fukuoka to work in an Italian restaurant. He aspires to be the best Italian chef, and endures many hardships in this new place. Ayaka played Minakawa Kozue, a waitress whose smile could warm even the saddest of souls. The show just ended a few weeks ago, however it was very popular with viewers, scoring at least 2.5 million plays! The show has been renewed for a second season, and Ayaka will be returning in her role. We saw the show's first episode and really like it, so along with the Mop Girl recaps, we hope to bring you recaps of this show.

Aya Sugimoto Tries Her Hand At Flamenco!


Aya Sugimoto (Queen Beryl in PGSM) is best known for being a writer of novels for the older crowd. We just learned she has in fact, returned to the TV screen, as a Flamenco Dancer! She appears in the video Hoshi no Flamenco by the Japanese-Spanish Flamenco sensation Rayito. We found the video here, and we really liked it. The premise of the video was very simple but her dance added a nice touch to it. We especially liked the use of the kaleidoscope view of her dancing. The song is a sad one about a man who misses his girlfriend. It was a pleasant surprise to hear of this sighting and we think Rayito does a very good job of merging Spanish Flamenco with Japanese lyrics.

Masaya Kikawada in New Movie About Physics!

This made me squeal with academic delight when I read this. Masaya Kikawada (Motoki in PGSM) plays the genius Airi in Kamisama no Puzzle. This movie is about some students of physics who want to work out the mysteries of the "God Particle" (the particle that began our universe). Airi is a genius, but argues the other side saying that it cannot be found. The film was well written so anyone could watch it, even if they didn't understand physics (they would learn what they needed to know in this movie). Unfortunately, Kadokawa Pictures is not doing very much promotion for it, and we're a little dismayed. Masaya has had quite a few notable roles over the last few years (especially with his work in Kamen Rider) and there should have been a little more. Besides, we like it when Masaya plays someone smart!