Japanese pop princess Noriko Sakai’s ongoing drug scandal took a turn for the worse when the disgraced actress’ vacation home in Katsuura, Chiba Prefecture, was gutted by a fire early on Sunday. According to the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) the police suspect arson, and speculation immediately arose that the fire was set to destroy evidence because the house was reportedly one of the spots where Sakai and her husband Yuichi Takaso kept their stash.
Sakai made a tearful apology for using drugs at a press conference that lasted 10 minutes but drew massive media interest after she was released on bail on Thursday of last week. The 38-year-old actress was admitted to a Tokyo hospital shortly afterwards. A troupe of black-clad bodyguards is said to be keeping Sakai safe after threatening messages circulated on the Internet.
Meanwhile, a Taiwanese entertainment company has reportedly invited Sakai to revive her career in Taiwan. The news prompted sarcastic reports in the Japanese media, which commented that Taiwan’s entertainment industry has seen so many scandals that it has been inured to them.
Unless, of course, there’s an “ABC” involved. Former Channel V presenter Henry Lu (呂良基) was arrested this week for marijuana possession along with six other suspects, most of whom grew up in either Canada, Australia or the US.
Given the way it has been used in coverage of the arrests, ABC, which means American-born Chinese in English, has a different meaning in Chinese, as in the TTV headline Police Close in From Three Directions, Tianmu, Neihu and Taichung, Arrested Six People, All ABCs From Foreign Countries (警方兵分三路，從天母、內湖以及台中，逮捕六人，他們清一色都是從國外回來的ABC).
Intrepid journalists have been quick to point out the correlation between drug use and having been born or studied abroad.
Elva Hsiao (蕭亞軒) and Fan Fan (范瑋琪) were both interviewed for what ended up being a front-page anti-drug report in the Liberty Times.
And going one better than former US president Bill Clinton (who claims he pretended to smoke a joint but “didn’t inhale”), perhaps in an effort to protect themselves in the event that the fuzz decides to play another round of Celebrity Drug Bust, singer and wannabee director David Tao (陶吉吉) and pop idol Mark Chao (趙又廷) both volunteered information that they had involuntarily inhaled “secondhand marijuana” smoke (二手麻).
In other news, variety show host Chang Fei (張菲), who as far as Pop Stop knows isn’t a stoner but certainly looks like one, has wasted no time in putting the moves on Monique Lin (林慧萍), a popular singer in the 1980s who was divorced a couple of weeks ago.
The sunglasses-wearing, Bee Gees-bouffanted Chang, who dated Lin for five years, threw his hat into the ring by telling gossip journos he was happy to hear the news.
“I am ready. Now it is up to her to make the decision,” Chang said when asked on Tuesday if he wanted to have another go at Lin.
Another entertainer with a unique appearance, veteran show hostess Chen Chin-pei (陳今佩) better known as the Great White Shark (大白鯊) for her formerly generous physique, has returned to showbiz after slimming down from 120kg to 69kg in 11 months.
The 57-year-old was spotted by local paparazzi chatting with friends and her boyfriend at a coffee shop in Taipei’s East District (東區) last week.
Always vigilant when it comes to older women dating younger men, Apple Daily reports that Chen’s boyfriend, known as “Alex” to the media, is 29 years her junior, and is one of the reasons why the entertainer lost so much weight. Apparently there are two other reasons: a pair of younger paramours in China.
The press has even given Chen a new nickname, “shar-pei,” or dog face (沙皮臉). This is because one of the side effects of losing so much weight so quickly is saggy skin. The Not-So-Big Shark said she would get that problem sorted out before making a comeback.
As mega K-pop group BTS returns to the stage after a hiatus of more than three years, one major market is conspicuously missing from its 12-month world tour: China. The omission of one of the group’s biggest fan bases comes as no surprise. In fact, just the opposite would have been huge news. China has blocked most South Korean entertainment since 2016 under an unofficial ban that also restricts movies and the country’s popular TV dramas. For some Chinese, that means flying to Seoul to see their favorite groups perform — as many were expected to do for three shows opening
A recent report from the Environmental Management Administration of the Ministry of Environment highlights a perennial problem: illegal dumping of construction waste. In Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅) and Hsinchu’s Longtan District (龍潭) criminals leased 10,000 square meters of farmland, saying they were going to engage in horticulture. They then accepted between 40,000 and 50,000 cubic meters of construction waste from sites in northern Taiwan, charging less than the going rate for disposal, and dumped the waste concrete, tile, metal and glass onto the leased land. Taoyuan District prosecutors charged 33 individuals from seven companies with numerous violations of the law. This
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry consumes electricity at rates that would strain most national grids. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) alone accounted for more than 9 percent, or 2,590 megawatts (MW), of the nation’s power demand last year. The factories that produce chips for the world’s phones and servers run around the clock. They cannot tolerate blackouts. Yet Taiwan imports 97 percent of its energy, with liquefied natural gas reserves measured in days. Underground, Taiwan has options. Studies from National Taiwan University estimate recoverable geothermal resources at more than 33,000 MW. Current installed capacity stands below 10 MW. OBSTACLES Despite Taiwan’s significant geothermal potential, the
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chair Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) returned from her trip to meet People’s Republic of China (PRC) dictator Xi Jinping (習近平) bearing “a gift” for the people of Taiwan: 10 measures the PRC proposed to “facilitate the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.” “China on Sunday unveiled 10 new incentive measures for Taiwan,” wrote Reuters, wrongly. The PRC’s longstanding habit with Taiwan relations is to repackage already extant or once-existing policies and declare that they are “new.” The list forwarded by Cheng reflects that practice. NEW MEASURES? Note the first item: establishing regular communication mechanisms between the Chinese Communist Party
RSS