Koyama Keiichiro to take over Takahata Yuta's role in "Moumoku no Yoshinori-sensei ~ Hikari wo ushinatte kokoro ga mieta"

In response to Takahata Yuta's arrest for alleged rape leading to assault, NTV announced on 24 August that they will be getting NEWS member Koyama Keiichiro to take over Takahata's role in the upcoming drama SP "Moumoku no Yoshinori-sensei ~ Hikari wo ushinatte kokoro ga miete" which is due to be shown this Saturday at 9pm during the "24 Jikan Terebi 39" charity event. Filming is expected to begin on 25 August. In this drama SP starring fellow NEWS member Kato Shigeaki who plays a blind teacher Arai Yoshinori, Takahata's role is a support staff member at the rehabilitation centre which Arai goes to.

While appearing "live" on the NTV information programme "PON!" in the morning of 24 August to promote the drama SP, Kato revealed that they don't have a lot of time on hand but will work hard together as a team to ensure that the drama SP can be shown as scheduled.

Sources: Oricon / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi 1 / Yomiuri Hochi 2

Takahata Atsuko's son Takahata Yuta arrested for rape and assault

Takahata Atsuko's son Takahata Yuta was arrested at 1.40pm on 23 August by Maebashi Police Station on suspicion of rape and assault. Takahata Yuta was staying at a business hotel in Maebashi City, Gunma Prefecture, in the early hours of 23 August when he called the hotel's staff to bring him amenities such as a toothbrush. When a female staff in her 40s brought the item to his room, Takahata allegedly grabbed her into his room and raped her. During the sexual assault, Takahata was said to have used force against the victim and caused her to sustain injuries such as bruises to her body and right thumb. According to Maebashi Police Station, Takahata was brought in for questioning on a voluntary basis and testified that he could not control his sexual urge upon seeing the female hotel staff but stressed that it was not a premeditated attack. Takahata was in Maebashi for the filming of a movie and said to have been drinking with the staff on the night before the incident.

Takahata Yuta began to enjoy attention as an actor when he appeared in last year's NHK morning drama "Mare" and is due to appear in NTV's 24 Jikan Terebi 39 this weekend as the programme's personalities along with comedy duo Oriental Radio. He also has a role in the drama SP "Moumoku no Yoshinori-sensei ~ Hikari wo ushinatte kokoro ga miete" where he plays a support at the rehabilitation centre which Yoshinori-sensei (Kato Shigeaki) goes to after losing his sight but his name and photo have been removed from the cast chart on the drama SP's official website. In response to news about Takahata's arrest, NTV announced that they will be looking into the possibility of getting another actor to re-film Takahata's part in the drama SP. Takahata was also scheduled to appear in the late night programme "Konya kurabete mimashita" on 23 August but the content of the show will be changed. In addition, Takahata who is supposed to appear in NHK's ongoing Taiga "Sanadamaru" from October onwards, will be replaced. FujiTV's mini drama "Tonari no Shinsengumi" will make adjustments to its next episode to be shown on 25 August. TV Tokyo is currently in discussions on how to handle Takahata's parts in their Summer 2016 drama "Otokomeshi". TBS has removed Takahata's name from the official website of their Summer 2016 drama "Aogeba Totoshi" but won't need to make adjustments to the drama since his appearance was limited to the first three episodes only.

Following news of Takahata's arrest, his Twitter has been switched to private mode and his blog has been deleted. At present, only his Instagram account (up to 4.23pm Japan time) can still be accessed. In the comments section of his Instagram account, many users left comments criticising his actions and scolded him for causing grief and a great inconvenience to his mother.

Takahata's agency released a statement in the same evening about his arrest and acknowledged that they were informed about what happened. The agency expressed deep regret and apologised to the victim and everyone who was inconvenienced and worried by what happened. At the moment, as he is still in police custody, the agency has been unable to contact him so they will try to find out more about the situation and will deal with this issue with utmost sincerity.

In Japan, rape is punishable with a prison sentence of between three years and below 20 years. If the charge is rape leading to assault or death, the prison sentence can range from more than 5 years to life imprisonment. When a prison sentence is longer than 3 years, there will be no suspended sentence. Assuming that the case goes to court, it will be decided by a jury. For a rape case, the indictment is dependent on the victim filing a complaint but for a rape leading to assault or death case, the investigation and trial continues even if the victim decides to drop the case.

Due to intense media attention and public concern over Takahata's case, his name was the No.1 trend topic on Twitter and keywords related to his case hogged the real-time search ranking on Yahoo! JAPAN.

As a result of her son's arrest, Takahata Atsuko has resigned from her hosting job for NHK's afternoon programme "Studio Park kara Konnichiwa" on 23 August where Sakakibara Ikue will take over the position. NHK accepted her resignation but did not go into details on what reason Takahata Atsuko had given. There is also concern over whether her career will be affected as she is seen in many dramas such as "Sanadamaru", variety shows, CMs and will take on a leading role in the stage play "Yukimaroge" to be performed between September and October

Sources: Nikkansports 1 / Nikkansports  2 / Sanspo 1 / Sanspo 2 / Yomiuri Hochi 1 / Yomiuri Hochi 2 / Sponichi 1 / Sponichi 2 / Sponichi 3

Completion screening event of 24 Jikan Terebi drama SP "Moumoku no Yoshinori-sensei ~ Hikari wo ushinatte kokoro ga mieta ~"

The completion screening event of NTV's 24 Jikan Terebi drama SP "Moumoku no Yoshinori-sensei ~ Hikari wo ushinatte kokoro ga mieta ~" (The blind teacher Yoshinori ~ Losing light but being able to see with the heart) was held on 21 August which was attended by the leads NEWS member Kato Shigeaki and Sawajiri Erika. The drama SP which will be shown at 9pm on 27 August, features Kato in the role of Arai Yoshinori, a blind teacher who works at Minano Junior High School in Saitama Prefecture and Sawajiri as his wife Mayumi who overcome the difficulties after he lost his sight at the age of 34. At the end of the screening, the Arais made an appearance and presented flowers to the actors. In order to prepare for this role, Kato had gone to a rehabilitation centre and tried to walk with a eye-mask and with a guide dog.

Although this is the first time that Kato and Sawajiri are playing a married couple, he praised her for being able to convey the strength in her character while she commented that they had good chemistry during the filming as Kato was very passionate and hardworking about acting. As for having to work with child actors for the first time, Sawajiri recounted that it was a tough but enjoyable experience even though it was difficult to predict how the children would react. Kato also revealed that they had NG scenes because the children were doing things such as picking their noses but he still found them adorable.

When asked about the difficulties he had faced so far in his life, Kato recounted that his group NEWS was on the brink of disbandment and had many problems to date until they were so unsure of their future. However, when compared to what Arai went through in his life, he realised that those challenges were really nothing at all and can hardly be considered as despondent situations. As for Sawajiri, she commented that there had been painful incidents in the past but they were too insignificant when compared to other people. However, she did not go into details on which incidents she was referring to.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo