Entertainment Feb. 02, 2010 - 07:25AM JST ( 16 )

TOKYO —

Actress and singer Ko Shibasaki, 28, flexed her muscles in the kitchen over the weekend as part of a promotion for “Shokudo Katatsumuri,” a movie in which she stars in as a woman who returns to her hometown after an incident with her Indian boyfriend.

Shibasaki plays Rinko, a 25-year-old woman who left home at 15 after repeated arguments with her mother. She falls in love with an Indian man and lives with him, but comes home one day after work and finds him gone along with all the furniture. Rinko is shocked so much that she loses the ability to speak, and decides to return to her hometown, where she opens a small restaurant.

Shibasaki made “ehomaki” - a type of sushi eaten on Setsubun said to bring good fortune - in front of 60 cooking students on the weekend, and said that while she cooks at home when she doesn’t finish work late, she was a bit nervous doing it in front of the cameras.

She didn’t touch upon reports though that she and rock group UVERworld vocalist TAKUYA∞, 30, had split up. She said that she would be performing in live concerts from March and was looking forward to it, while showing no signs of looking back at the failed relationship.

“Shokudo Katatsumuri” opens in cinemas on Saturday.