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.
Sept.16 to Sept. 22 The “anti-communist train” with then-president Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) face plastered on the engine puffed along the “sugar railway” (糖業鐵路) in May 1955, drawing enthusiastic crowds at 103 stops covering nearly 1,200km. An estimated 1.58 million spectators were treated to propaganda films, plays and received free sugar products. By this time, the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corporation (台糖, Taisugar) had managed to connect the previously separate east-west lines established by Japanese-era sugar factories, allowing the anti-communist train to travel easily from Taichung to Pingtung’s Donggang Township (東港). Last Sunday’s feature (Taiwan in Time: The sugar express) covered the inauguration of the
The corruption cases surrounding former Taipei Mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) head Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) are just one item in the endless cycle of noise and fuss obscuring Taiwan’s deep and urgent structural and social problems. Even the case itself, as James Baron observed in an excellent piece at the Diplomat last week, is only one manifestation of the greater problem of deep-rooted corruption in land development. Last week the government announced a program to permit 25,000 foreign university students, primarily from the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, to work in Taiwan after graduation for 2-4 years. That number is a
In a stark demonstration of how award-winning breakthroughs can come from the most unlikely directions, researchers have won an Ig Nobel prize for discovering that mammals can breathe through their anuses. After a series of tests on mice, rats and pigs, Japanese scientists found the animals absorb oxygen delivered through the rectum, work that underpins a clinical trial to see whether the procedure can treat respiratory failure. The team is among 10 recognized in this year’s Ig Nobel awards (see below for more), the irreverent accolades given for achievements that “first make people laugh, and then make them think.” They are not
This Qing Dynasty trail takes hikers from renowned hot springs in the East Rift Valley, up to the top of the Coastal Mountain Range, and down to the Pacific Short vacations to eastern Taiwan often require choosing between the Rift Valley with its pineapple fields, rice paddies and broader range of amenities, or the less populated coastal route for its ocean scenery. For those who can’t decide, why not try both? The Antong Traversing Trail (安通越嶺道) provides just such an opportunity. Built 149 years ago, the trail linked up these two formerly isolated parts of the island by crossing over the Coastal Mountain Range. After decades of serving as a convenient path for local Amis, Han settlers, missionaries and smugglers, the trail fell into disuse once modern roadways were built