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.
This is the year that the demographic crisis will begin to impact people’s lives. This will create pressures on treatment and hiring of foreigners. Regardless of whatever technological breakthroughs happen, the real value will come from digesting and productively applying existing technologies in new and creative ways. INTRODUCING BASIC SERVICES BREAKDOWNS At some point soon, we will begin to witness a breakdown in basic services. Initially, it will be limited and sporadic, but the frequency and newsworthiness of the incidents will only continue to accelerate dramatically in the coming years. Here in central Taiwan, many basic services are severely understaffed, and
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It’s a good thing that 2025 is over. Yes, I fully expect we will look back on the year with nostalgia, once we have experienced this year and 2027. Traditionally at New Years much discourse is devoted to discussing what happened the previous year. Let’s have a look at what didn’t happen. Many bad things did not happen. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) did not attack Taiwan. We didn’t have a massive, destructive earthquake or drought. We didn’t have a major human pandemic. No widespread unemployment or other destructive social events. Nothing serious was done about Taiwan’s swelling birth rate catastrophe.
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