Playback ’94: Holding Hands. The Backstage Story of the Legendary Shot of Honami Suzuki & Yosuke Eguchi

What did “FRIDAY” report 10, 20, or 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 a report from the May 6, 1994 issue, 30 years ago, entitled “Exclusive Report on ‘Rumored Two,’ Honami and Eguchi’s ‘Return to Tahiti! The following is a report on the two actresses who appeared together in “Tokyo Love Story” (Tokyo Love Story).

Honami Suzuki (27 at the time) and Yosuke Eguchi (26 at the time) appeared in a number of hit dramas at the time, including “Tokyo Love Story” (Fuji Television), in which they co-starred. Even after their relationship was reported, many people in the know had doubts about their relationship due to certain reasons, but this is the first time that a two-shot of the pair was scooped. (Descriptions in parentheses below are taken from past articles.)

She looked completely at ease with him…

Early in the morning of April 15, a drizzly day, we spotted an eye-catching couple at the New Tokyo International Airport. A beautiful woman with a short cut and lovely eyes and a tall young man with long, distinctive hair. It was obvious at first glance that these two were the rumored couple, Honami Suzuki (27) and Yosuke Eguchi (25).

On this day, Honami and Eguchi had just returned from a 10-hour flight from the South Pacific paradise of Tahiti. They enjoyed a week of hot and sweet “prenuptial travel” just the two of them. Perhaps it was the afterglow of the trip, or perhaps they were just tired from the long trip, but their faces were tanned and smiling. This magazine directly interviewed them.

They must have been on a secret private vacation. When the camera unexpectedly flashed on her, Honami looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face. Eguchi squeezed her hand tightly, as if to say, “Don’t worry, I’m here. Then she smiled at him, looking completely at ease. He continued to walk away, pulling her close to him. Her eyes behind her sunglasses stared straight ahead without blinking.

At this point, when the two of them noticed this magazine’s interview on the moving sidewalk in the airport, their faces scrunched up for a moment. Then a puzzled-looking Honami hid behind Eguchi with an embarrassed smile on her face. But when they emerged from the airport, they had calmed down a bit and were walking with aplomb, holding each other’s hands tightly. Neither of them spoke a word, but both kept smiling the whole time.

Honami got her big break in 1991 when she played the heroine Rika Akana in the hit drama “Tokyo Love Story,” and later became a popular actress with her hit roles in “In the Name of Love” and “The End of the World” (both Fuji TV series). On the other hand, Eguchi also got her breakthrough role in “Tokyo Love Story,” even though it was only a semi-leading role, and her first leading role in “Under One Roof” (Fuji TV) is still the highest-rated Fuji TV drama of all time at 37.8%. They were truly a big couple of popular actors.

Their relationship was “questioned” by some because rumors of an affair between Honami and a drama producer had been reported for some time, and that was considered the real deal. However, on April 24, immediately after the issue of this magazine went to press, the two were directly interviewed by a wide TV show while on a “movie theater date,” and their conversation with an entertainment reporter was broadcast on TV.

The fact that they were dating became widely known, and it was reported many times that they were “close to getting married,” but the couple broke up a few months later. In January 1995, Honami married a motorsports journalist and divorced, and in November 1998, she married Takaaki Ishibashi of Tunnels fame. Eguchi, on the other hand, married singer Chisato Moritaka in June 1999.

After her marriage, Honami retired from show business, but gradually resumed her activities from 2008, and returned to acting in earnest in 2008 with the historical drama “E: Princesses of the Warring States. She announced her divorce from Ishibashi in July 2009, but her acting career is going well. And Eguchi, too, has been as active as ever in dramas that aired this year alone, including “Mars – Zero no Kakumei -” (TV Asahi) and “Karakajite no Takagi-san” (TBS).

Looking back on their relationship, it is almost as if we were watching a drama.