Kawaii Joyuu

On Saturday the Japanese insurance company "Sompo Japan" will start two new commercials called "Informing Insurance Teacher – Faint Love" and "Informing Insurance Teacher – Hot Proposal" starring their image character Ueto Aya (24) as the aforementioned teacher.

In the comical commercial Ueto will change into the role of Fun, an "insurance teacher" who gives advices about insurances to all the men that come to her so-called "insurance room". Fun has a very pure and clean image with her glasses, the light pink robe and wearing her hair half up. It seems to be exactly that beautiful and kind image of a woman teacher that every young male student is yearning for.

In " – Hot Proposal" it shows several men trying to embrace and propose to teacher Fun. Timing is the key to such comical commercials and they had to rehearse the scenes several times before they have finally been able to start the actual filming. Both editions turned out great and will also become available for streaming at Sompo's website along with a making of and other clips on Saturday.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: "web The Television" via MSN Japan
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You might have already noticed a few rankings here that were taken from NTT DoCoMo's mobile voting service "NTT DoCoMo Mina no Polling & Ranking". That service already started a long time ago, but I didn't become aware of it until recently. There are obviously several rankings that I've missed to post here, but that's what I'm going to change with this post. I digged up all the interesting rankings related to actresses or female celebrities in general since May and translated them to post them here. Of course I will continue to keep you up-to-date with the newest ranking results.

Those mobile rankings can be taken more seriously than the random web polls, because it's not that easy to spamvote for a certain person unless you have multiple mobile phones and there are way more casual people participating in those polls. People also can't just add any person they like to any running poll. I hope you find them just as or even more interesting and don't have to resort to facepalming as much as you had to while reading the other random web polls.

Note: Unlike the random web polls I haven't included any rankings related to male celebrities. I don't plan to post them here on kawaii-joyuu, but I could help if some other place wants to publish them instead. Send me an email or leave a comment if that's the case.

My favorite:

Japanese actresses that would look good as a Bond girl?
01 – Yonekura Ryoko
02 – Fujiwara Norika
03 – Kuriyama Chiaki
04 – Koyuki
05 – Chibana Kurara
06 – Sato Eriko
07 – Yamada Yuu
08 – Dan Rei
09 – Nakatani Miki
10 – Kano Kyoko

Some other rankings you can find after the cut:

- Which female celebrity looks good with short hair?
- Who is the best proportioned female celebrity?
- Who do you think is the greatest celebrity mama?
- Female celebrities that seem to be little devils?
- Of all the female detective roles, who has been the most impressive?
- Actresses that look good when disguised as a man?
- Which actress should star in a biopic about yourself?
- Which female celebrity would you like to have as your love instructor?
- Which actress would you like to have as your homeroom teacher?
- Who is THE Japanese songstress?

[Those and many more under the cut!]

It's Monday and another rumored fall drama has finally been confirmed, but they are still deciding on suitable a title.

Actor Takenouchi Yutaka (39) will return to Fuji TV's prestigious Monday 9pm timeslot after more than 9 years since "Dekichatta Kekkon" in 2001. He is going to play a desperate man who ends up in a contract marriage with a woman working in the sex industry who seems to be just as desperate as him played by Ueto Aya (24). What starts out as a mere contract marriage eventually turns into a true and pure love.

Takenouchi plays Kengo, a man who enjoys spending his time at the aquarium. He seems to be a pretty ordinary person, but he actually has a huge secret that he would protect even if it means to sacrifice everything else in his life. Out of interest he ends up in a contract marriage with a prostitute called Risa who tried to commit suicide. Soon they develop real feelings for each other, but harsh reality turns out to be a rather high obstacle for the couple.

The producers are confident that they've found the perfect actor for this difficult role. "We wanted to portray a story about deep and genuine love and Takenouchi was the best choice that came to mind for such a difficult role. He will be great playing that man troubled by false love that suddenly turns into true love," the producer said with high expectations.

Ueto is going to play the female lead and it will be her first time working together with Takenouchi. In the past she already played a woman who would act as the lover of man in return for money, but it's the first time she's actually portraying the role of a prostitute. Her role, Risa, ends up selling her body in order to repay a huge debt of her older brother. Her only way out seems to be death as displayed via various remarks such as, "I just want to dissolve like a jellyfish."

In September they will start the filming and Takenouchi can't wait to meet the team. "I'm looking forward to meet Ueto as well as the rest of the cast and the whole staff. I'd like to work hard with everyone in the team in order to create something that will stay in your memories forever," Takenouchi made clear that he is aiming for one of those masterpiece dramas that have become rare in Fuji TV's main drama slot.

Ueto promised to work hard as well, "Risa is a young woman hungry for love who ends up rediscovering the importance of being alive thanks to a relationship that started out as a mere contract marriage. I'd like to try my best conveying the development of that love."

Young actor Matsuda Shota (24) will also appear as a doctor while actress Kitano Kie (19) will play the protagonist's younger sister who is suffering from a serious disease.

An official title has yet to be announced. Filming will start in September while the first episode is planned to air in October.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Sanspo
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goo made a survey about actresses again, using NTT DoCoMo's voting and ranking feature and this time almost 40,000 people answered the question about "Which young actress would have no problems playing a wicked woman?".

The role of a wicked woman can always spice up the story of a movie or drama, but not every actress is able to look good in such a role. You either have to be a woman with a similar image or you have to be an actress that can easily overthrow that pure and innocent image that is haunting them in the Japanese entertainment world.

With more than twice the amount of votes than the 2nd place, actress Yoshitaka Yuriko (22) was able to monopolize the top position in this ranking. She can probably thank her previous not-so-innocent roles like in the drama "Taiyo to Umi no Kyoshitsu" and, of course, in the movie "Snakes and Earrings". However, with her most recent starring role as a girl with an incurable disease in the drama "Mioka" and other previous roles she also has shown that she can play more than just one type of role. Anyway, most people think that she would have no problems at all conveying the role of a wicked woman.

Here is the complete Top 9 of "Young actress would have no problems playing a wicked woman"

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: goo
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Here are some recent rankings from Internet portals like goo or research groups like "Video Research Ltd". Those rankings should not be confused with the random web polls from (mostly unmoderated) Japanese boards/communities I post here from time to time!

Who had the most exposure in commercials?

Who has the most beautiful legs?

Who would be the ideal new employee?

Who has the prettiest small face?

Who has the most beautiful white skin?

Who became even more beautiful after a diet?

What was Aragaki Yui's best role so far?

[Click here to find out the results to all of the questions above!]

There are two new rankings from goo. The first one asked their members about "who looks best in a yukata" while the second one is dedicate to Aragaki Yui and asked "Which commercials simply made you fall in love with Aragaki Yui". You can see the results below.

Which commercials simply made you fall in love with Aragaki Yui?

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: goo
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Oricon release the newest TV commercial popularity ranking and Softbank Mobile managed to secure the first place for the 8th consecutive time.

The survey started back in late December and reached until June. Every month they've asked a representative group of the average TV audience about their favorite commercial and and totaled up the results to make the ranking for the whole first half of 2010. Softbank's "White Family" starring Ueto Aya (24), a white dog as her father and several more people has always been one of the more popular commercials of Softbank and kept the viewers interested by incorporating current themes like the World Cup or the House of Councilors election. Another popular Softbank commercial features all members of SMAP. Overall the company has been occupying the first place in commercial rankings since the second half of 2006.

Here the complete Top 10:

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Oricon
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Actress Ueto Aya (24) is going to portray the life of the 28 year-old blind singer-songwriter Tatemichi Satoko in Fuji TV's upcoming drama special called "Ai wa Mieru".

Ueto spent one month practicing all the gestures of visually impaired people and will try her best to play the role modeled after Tatemichi, a devoted musician and mother. "Whenever she had to climb over another obstacle, her family was there to support her," she admired their family bond.

Tatemichi was a premature baby and only weighed 850g. Additionally she had retinopathy of prematurity, an eye disease that affects prematurely born babies and caused her to be blind right after she was born. However, at the same time she got blessed with a perfect pitch and eventually managed to make a major debut as a singer-songwriter. In 2004 she got married to man she met in a school for blind, a man suffering from total blindness just like her and in 2006 she even gave birth to a son despite all the criticism from the people around her. She did all that without letting go of her dream to be a musician. Ueto truly is going to play of an amazing and very strong woman.

The producer about their choice to cast Ueto for that role, "There was no better choice than Ueto for portraying the ever cheerful and strong Satoko who never stops being positive despite all the obstacles in her life." Koide Keisuke (26) is going to play her husband who eagerly tries to support his wife by working as a guitarist and masseur despite his own blindness.

Ueto and Koide both practiced together with the staff of an organization that helps blind people and learned how to use a blindman's stick and how to move like a blind person for a whole month. They also visited Tatemichi and her husband at their apartment in Tokyo and talked with them to find out more about living together as a blind couple, including the arrangement of the furniture and all kind of goods you need in your daily life. Both of them tried their best to portray their roles as realistically as possible and Ueto even had to act out the birth of their son.

The human drama "Ai wa Mieru" will air sometime this September on Fuji TV.

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Written by: KawaiiJoyuu
Sources: Sanspo
Please link back when posting those news anywhere else.
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