In the 15 July issue of FRIDAY which features a 7-hour interview with Nounen's recent photos, she revealed that she will resume her showbiz career with the new name "Non" which is written in Hiragana. As to why she is not using her real name Nounen Rena, she said that she came up with the idea by coming up with a few options such as using the name "rena" or changing her surname and ended up choosing "non" since it is simple, sounds good and looks good as a emoticon. In the end, during her mother and younger sister's trip to Tokyo to visit her, they discussed this and supported her choice. Her mother even brought along the signature yuzu juice from their hometown in Hyogo to give away to her neighbours which made them very happy.
Nounen commented that her mother has always been a very optimistic person even as rumours swirled around about her daughter's reported move to break free from her agency or quit showbiz. Nounen was concerned that her mother might be worried for her but to her surprise, the latter only talked about happy things and sent cute pictures of dogs to her.
In the article, Nounen also talked about things such as the present she received from Koizumi Kyoko who played her mother in "Ama-chan" and revealed that she had been taking ballet lessons during her break.
In a separate Asahi Shimbun article, the lawyer who represents Nounen, revealed the reason why she wanted to change her name. As she had signed the contract with her agency under her real name Nounen Rena, she was concerned about the implications of using the same name to continue her career and decided to change her name. On the other hand, Nounen's agency said that they are still in negotiations with Nounen about the fulfillment of her current contract and subsequent renewal but there is no resolution as yet.
Sources: FRIDAY / Asahi Shimbun
I'm glad she's not retiring from showbiz.
ReplyDeleteAlthough she has no intention of quitting, her problem with her agency may drag on thus preventing her from taking on new jobs in the meantime. Looks like they are still far from a mutually agreed resolution at the moment.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the coverage - belatedly. I looked her up and chanced upon your post.
ReplyDeleteThe topic of her name change came up several times on radio programs I listened to. Apparently comedians in Japan seem to get a kick out of how "silly" they think it sounds. Honestly, I'm just glad to have her back. She stopped blogging in May with such a cryptic blog post title.
I'm on the last few episodes of my Amachan blu ray collection, and she has made me laugh and cry and grin like a dork throughout. I have exhausted my blu ray player by going back to rewatching so many scenes. I know there are lots of more beautiful actresses, but just like it happened to the character Mizoguchi-San, so it did for me. Being exposed to her, it's like you finally see her close-up and she is just so adorkable... I can't explain it.
Saw her in Hot Road first, loved her. Now Amachan, totally girl crushing. I just wish this dreadful business never happened because people in the industry are predicting that her career is pretty much over. I hope she will prove them wrong.
First saw her in Kuragehime movie and totally love her in it. I'm sad to find out that her activities are currently as it is but am hoping that with her name change she'll comeback successfully in the limelight.
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