The New Year period in Japan is traditionally a time when celebrities announce marriages. Despite being overshadowed by tragic events in Noto and Haneda, this year proved to be business as usual in that respect: the actress Aya Hirano announced her marriage, and gravure idol Tomomi Morisaki confirmed her long-rumored coupling with baseball player Shota Hiranuma (and the fact that she was pregnant to boot).
And another celebrity story emerged: that the former TV announcer Minami Tanaka, who has made a wildly successful transition into modeling and acting, is dating the KAT-TUN singer Kazuya Kamenashi.
Minami Tanaka, who is as popular with women as she is with men, is now 37 years old and we expect keen to get married ASAP and start a family. Kamenashi is also 37 years old.
Their relationship, which apparently began after the pair worked together in the autumn, is being reported as “serious,” so perhaps wedding bells will be ringing before not too long.
It will, though, surely bring Minami’s recent habit for doing (non-nude) sex scenes, lingerie modeling, and erotic photo books to an end, which will be a shame for people like us.
Kamenashi has waited a long time to settle down. His former band member Jin Akanishi, on the other hand, got married relatively young — and to none other than the gorgeous Meisa Kuroki. The couple have two children but announced their divorce at the end of 2023.
The year-end period really is the season for celebrity romances, both beginnings and endings.
At least Akanishi didn’t turn out like another former KAT-TUN member, Koki Tanaka, who has faced legal troubles for possession of drugs and sending sexually explicit videos.
