On Tuesday, director Takeshi Kitano (63) was in Paris to receive the Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters, France’s highest honor for arts and culture. The award was presented to him by Frédéric Mitterrand, the country’s Minister of Culture and Communication, at the Fondation Cartier art museum.
Kitano is active as an actor, comedian, television personality, and many other things, but he is perhaps best known internationally as a filmmaker. He debuted in 1989 with “Violent Cop” (”Sono Otoko, Kyobo ni Tsuki”) and went on to direct other critically …

Crown Prince Naruhito of Japan on Sunday began a three-day official visit to Ghana at the head of a 30-strong delegation. He was welcomed at Kotoka international airport by Vice President John Dramani Mahama to traditional Ashanti drumming and dance, an AFP reporter saw. The visit is at the invitation of Ghana and is aimed at boosting ties between the two countries, officials said.
The prince is expected to hold talks with President John Atta-Mills on Monday at the presidential palace, known as the Castle.
Read the rest of the story: Crown …

Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo legend and creative force behind the Mario and Zelda games, is set to receive a fellowship at the GAME British Academy Video Games Awards, it was announced today.

Speaking on the award, Miyamoto said he’s grateful to be able to receive “such an honourable award” from the British Academy. “Our video games cannot be created by one person; since Donkey Kong until the most recent New Super Mario Bros, I have been working closely with a number of friends for three decades. I would like to receive this honourable award on behalf of all of these dependable colleagues,” he said in a typically charming Japanese fashion.

Last week the finals of the solo comedian competition R-1 Grand Prix were held in Tokyo on Tuesday. A record 3,539 comedians originally entered the contest, but the winner in the final round of nine contestants was Koji Abe (35), who was vying for the title for the seventh time.
Abe has been in the final round six times. In this year’s contest, he made the top three along with Masahiro Ehara (27) and two-time winner Takeshi Nadagi (39). In the face-off among the three, Abe picked up six of the …

Singer and former idol Sakiko Ito (51) has married again, it was learned on Monday. Her agency confirmed that at the end of January, she tied the knot with a salaryman said to be in his 40s.
Ito and the man met through a friend, though little else is known about their relationship. They are currently no plans for a wedding ceremony or a press conference.
Ito, who released several hits during the ’70s, was married once before to a businessman between 1989 and 2007. She had retired from show business at …

Veteran actor Makoto Fujita has passed away at the age of 76. Fujita, whose real name was Makoto Harada, died at a hospital in Suita, Osaka, on February 17. The cause of death was reportedly a ruptured aortic aneurysm.
Born in Tokyo in 1933 but raised mainly in Kyoto, Fujita was the son of silent-film star Rintaro Fujima. With his roots as a comedian, Fujita hit a turning point in his career when he starred in the comedy show “Tenamonya Sandogasa” (1962-1968), which achieved ratings as high as 60% in the …

The New York Mets today announced that they signed left-handed pitcher Hisanori Takahashi, first baseman Mike Jacobs and catcher Shawn Riggans to Minor League contracts and invited all three to Major League Spring Training camp.
Takahashi, who will turn 35 in April, was 10-6 with a 2.96 ERA in 25 games for the Yomiuri Giants last year in the Japanese Central League. The 5-10, 172-pounder helped Yomiuri capture its 21st Japan Series title in 2009. He was also part of the ‘00 and ‘02 Yomiuri championship teams.
He was 79-66 with 21 …

At 14-years old Beckii’s popularity in Japan rocketed after her YouTube videos were picked up by the popular Japanese website Niko Niko Douga. Her Japanese DVD debut, This is Beckii Cruel: Too Cute to be Real, was released last November and debuted at number eight on Japan’s DVD charts.

“I deeply regret that I caused concern among so many people,” Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, said at a news conference on Friday. “We will do our utmost to regain the trust of our customers.”

He also pledged that the Japanese automaker would soon announce steps to address brake problems on the 2010 Prius.

On Thursday, NHK announced that V6’s Yoshihiko Inohara (33) will serve as a regular newscaster on the network’s new morning show, “Asaichi.” The show will air weekdays at 8:15am, starting on March 29.

NHK revealed its plans for a large-scale morning program a couple months ago. The show “Seikatsu Hot Morning” (8:35-9:25am) is ending, and “Asaichi” will take its place. The time slot is being expanded to 8:15-9:55am, which pushes the network’s Asadora slot to an earlier 8:00-8:15am time.