Playback ‘04: Danjuro Ichikawa who was Still Shinnosuke, Makes Headline with Bold Street KIss Alongside Blonde Model

What did FRIDAY report 10, 20, and 30 years ago? In Playback Friday, we take a look back at the topics that were hot at the time. This time, we bring you Shinnosuke Ichikawa’s Deep Kiss with a Blonde Model on a Street in Nishiazabu from the March 19, 2004 issue, 20 years ago.

In 2004, Danjuro Ichikawa XIII (then 26) was still known as Shinnosuke Ichikawa. The previous year, this magazine had reported his love affair with Ryoko Yonekura (then 28), and they were believed to be in a relationship at the time.

 

They kissed like sucking each other twice for a long time.

Ah, Yonekura will get mad at me. Shinnosuke Ichikawa is boldly sharing a passionate kiss with a beautiful woman on the street late at night. As expected of a Kabuki actor, he is dynamic in what he does. He doesn’t care what people think. Yo, Naritaya!

But isn’t this a bit dangerous? The woman with whom he is dating is beautiful, with chiseled eyes and nose, and a good style, but she is clearly a different person from the actress Yonekura Ryoko, who is said to be his girlfriend. If you look closely, her hair is blonde, her eyes are green and she is a foreigner.

It was Valentine’s Day on February 14. The foreign woman at the beginning of the story got out of a taxi parked in front of a dining bar in an unusually lively corner of Nishiazabu. Shinnosuke, who had come to the bar earlier, appeared to pick her up, and the two went inside.

The foreign woman was a 24-year-old model from Romania. The article introduces the following comment about her from an acquaintance.

She has been in Japan for four years and speaks fluent Japanese. She is registered with several talent and model agencies that specialize in foreigners and has appeared in TV commercials. She is 170 cm tall, has a large bust, and is well proportioned.

After enjoying the meal with his friends for about two hours, Shinnosuke was already in a good mood when he left the bar. He was bold enough to hold her hand or put her arm around him in a crowd. As he moves on to two or three clubs, Shinnosuke’s behavior further escalates. At the entrance of the third club, he hugs her and starts doing a mysterious dance where he rotates his hips around her.

The kiss scene was witnessed when the two came out of the third store just after midnight.

 

Shinnosuke’s eyes do not have the sharp look in them that they usually have. He seems to be very drunk, She puts her arms around Shinnosuke and kisses him lightly. Then she kissed him on the cheek. Shinnosuke responds with his signature passionate embrace. They finished with a prolonged kiss, as if sucking each other twice, before waving to each other and parting.

 

Regarding their relationship, the aforementioned acquaintance testified as follows:

She works at a high-end club in Ginza at night, and apparently met Shinnosuke, a regular customer of the club, about two months ago. Shinnosuke was more in love with her, and they went to the store every week and went home together, and on the weekends, she went to his apartment to visit him, and there were times when the two of them enjoyed driving together.

It seems that he sometimes consults his girlfriend, who is a good listener, about Yonekura, and was worried, saying, “She (Yonekura) has a better job and income.” She was also invited to see his performance on February 28th.

Shinnosuke has always said, After practicing, I want to have fun and become even more popular, so perhaps this deep kiss on the street is also fermenting his talent. However, I am concerned about his relationship with Yonekura.

However, this incident seems to have been a feed for the arts after all. Shinnosuke and Yonekura did not break up in this magazine’s article, and six months later, in August, the two were reported to be on a secret overseas trip to New Caledonia. After that, it is said that they broke up around 2005.

Shinnosuke married freelance anchor Mao Kobayashi in March 2010 after assuming the name Ebizo. After the birth of their first daughter, Reicho, in July 2011 and their first son, Kangen, in March 2013, Shinnosuke began to blog about his family and his image as a good father became firmly established. Mao passed away in June 2017, but after assuming the name of Danjuro Ichikawa Shirasaru XIII in October 2022, he has continued to watch over his children’s growth.

This article is one of his brave stories from when he was still Shinnosuke.