THOUSANDS of hearts have been broken with the news of the impending marriage between Japanese heart-throb Takuya Kimura (Long Vacation) and singer Shizuka Kudo. The 28-year-old Kimura, lead singer of the Japanese pop band SMAP, and 30-year-old Kudo are reportedly expecting a baby in about five months. Japanese magazines - and not a few Hong Kong ones - have gone to town with the news, saying the couple plan to have a quiet wedding in Hawaii in January after SMAP end their current concert tour. Although many fans (among them are local celebrities such as Do Do Cheng Yu-ling and Maggie Siu Mei-kei) are praising Kimura - who will be seen in Wong Kar-wai's coming 2049 - for being responsible, polls taken by a Japanese magazine found 70 per cent of women readers now loathed Kudo.
Rumours and romantic drives
ON the mention of Do Do Cheng, rumours about her having a fling with War Of The Genders co-star Dayo Wong Chi-wah don't seem to be going away. No doubt, this has been fuelled by the fact that they share an intimate kiss on stage for the currently running stage version of the popular TVB series of the same name. Maybe it is a little gimmick to publicise the production since Cheng's long-time partner, singer Lui Fong, and Wong's girlfriend still seem very much in the picture. In fact, Wong seems to have taken the trouble to diffuse the rumours a little by taking her out on a long, romantic drive last week - trailed by the paparazzi, of course.
Sniffing out cinemas
HONG KONG film-goers will get a whiff of what movies can smell like when Golden Harvest's Lavender opens on December 22. The film, which stars Takeshi Kaneshiro and Kelly Chan Wai-lam, has the distinction of being the first smell-o-rama movie to be made here. Producers have planned for the emission of - what else? - lavender aromatherapy oils to synchronise with some of the scenes. Those who want to 'sniff' at the movie can choose to do so at GV (Mongkok, Diamond Hill, Tsing Yi), Ocean Theatre, and the Paris, London, and New York cinemas.
Second-time lucky in love