Hikaru Divorce

In early March, U.S.-born pop star Hikaru Utaka announced that she was divorcing after four-and-a-half years of marriage.

The 24-year-old singer and 34 year-old music video director Kazuaki Kiriya filed for divorce on March 3 and then posted a joint statement on Utada’s Web site. In the message, Utada, whose 1999 debut First Love is still the biggest-selling album in Japanese music history, said that she and her husband’s "ideals of marriage diverged" as time went on.

On a happier note, Angela Aki, a singer/songwriter born in Japan but mostly educated in America, announced on March 10 she had married a 41-year-old music producer but did not disclose his name.

The 29-year-old Aki has become one of the biggest pop stars in Japan in the past year, playing both Budokan and the prestigious New Year’s Eve Song Contest on NHK, Japan’s public broadcaster.