Shimada Shinsuke Becomes Too Much Trouble

When I scanned the front page of the morning, I very nearly choked on my food at the story of Shimada Shinsuke, one of the most ubiquitous of the no-talent talents infesting the Japan entertainment sphere, precipitously retiring last night because of yakuza ties. I thought, "Wow, a very big fish. I wonder what Jake Adelstein will have to say about this."

"'Will' have to say about this?" Jake Adelstein is already all over the story.

Sayonara Shinsuke-san, or should I say, "Hasegawa-san" now? You will not be missed. Perhaps in your next earthly iteration you will actually be funny, rather than being the beneficiary of contrived laughter.

Later - I would wager a pretty solid cohort of the entertainment industry was busy deleting photos, messages and numbers from their mobiles phones last night.