--NAMIDA WO FUITE--
10/12/00
Rock singer, instant-ramen/mobile phone pitchman, and real-life Wolfwood model Tortoise Matsumoto has landed a regular role in the new weekly TV drama "Namida wo Fuite" (literally "wipe your tears away"), English title "As Tears Go By." The show, about an impetuous carpenter who adopts four almost-orphaned children, is a big slice of cheese, but Matsumoto, playing the hero's best buddy, has a smile that could power a dozen pachinko parlors for a week.
It's a Fuji TV show, so it may turn up on Japanese cable channels stateside as well.