TOKYO – The Japanese entertainment industry kicked off 2023 with wedding news of two celebrity couples.
Japanese actress Tao Tsuchiya, 27, and singer Ryota Katayose, 28, announced their marriage on their respective social media accounts on Sunday, jointly posting a sunrise photo.
“Today, we are blessed with the first sunrise of 2023, which brings much happiness and joy to all of us,” the couple wrote in both Japanese and English. “To all of you who have been supporting us, watching over us, and giving us valuable guidance with much love, I have a very special announcement.”
Disclosing that they are getting married, they wrote: “Since we first met, during all these years, we have continued to help and support each other with much respect, stimulating each other throughout various milestones as individual artistes.”
They said they were making preparations for their marriage when they discovered in late 2022 that they are expecting a baby too.
“We will continue to strive and work together with much love and devotion to nurture this miracle that has been brought (to) us, wishing for the dawn of a new era,” they wrote.
Tsuchiya, who rose to prominence in the hit Netflix series Alice In Borderland (2020 to present), reprised her lead role in the second season of the sci-fi thriller, which is currently streaming.
She first met Katayose, a vocalist of Japanese dance and vocal group Generations From Exile Tribe, while they were filming the romcom My Brother Loves Me Too Much (2017).
The Japanese media reported they took their relationship to another level in 2019, dating in a low-key manner for three years and using their friends as “shields” if they were spotted together in public.
The couple’s wedding announcement came after Japanese actor Go Ayano, 40, and actress Yui Sakuma, 27, announced they have registered their marriage last Saturday. They have not lived together and Sakuma is not pregnant.
The couple were good friends for several years even though they have not acted together. Sources said Ayano proposed to Sakuma earlier in 2022.
