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Actress Naomi Kawashima, 50, and her husband, patissier Toshihiko Yoroizuka, 46, are the recipients of this year's "Best Family Award," which is given to celebrities who project a warm family image.
The award is given by insurance company IRRC Corp as part of its "My family is the best! My family's photo contest" campaign.
Next week, Kawashima is going to host a Ginza charity event for the tsunami-hit Tohoku region.
Kawashima and her husband have already visited the area a number of times this year. In early summer, they went with eight patissier from Tokyo to bake cakes and other sweets for evacuees in several shelters in Iwate Prefecture.
Kawashima had not been to the area since 1987, when she visited to film a television series. “It was such a beautiful place. But now it’s like a completely different world,” she said.
© Japan Today
16 Comments
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miyazawa3
Not yet divorced...? Is that the reason ? . wonderful.
some14some
How big is this family? if only two of them why not name it best couple award?
realmind
I wish to see more families like them in Japan than the divorce fashion marriages. Congrats! Japan will have future. The govt too should help and support those families.
nath
Lets make some more BS awards up for the sake of making them. How about they nominate some of the families of the quake and Tsunami disaster for this who stuck together through way more adversity then these celebrities.
bookowls
I was going to say that there are countless other 'families' out there that deserve this award a trillion times more than these two!
But Matthew is right, why not nominate families from the disaster area instead of 'talento'? They are far more deserving, regardless of the fact that it's a useless award in the first place!
nath
There should be an award for who waits most patiently on a Disney Line.
paulinusa
She looks great for 50.
gogogo
What the hell? I think we should make a "best internet user", "best commendatory", "best nose picker", "best lover of coffee" awards and get national news headlines.
gogogo
hold the phone? They don't have any children? How can they win a family award? I thought we were promoting children in Japan due to the low birthrate, there is even a ministerial post in government for it. Family is defined as children in a married relationship, something is wrong here why would this couple win a "family" photo contest with no family?
gyouza
Oh wow - marketing gone mad? There is absolutely no sincerity in this, it really does look like an attempt to promote a fading star and get some free (kind of) advertising for an insurance firm. The timing of the award just in time to promote her charity event (which I wish to be succesful) - maybe the tickets weren't moving like the hotcakes she helped make in the Summer?
Darn, there must be better ways to help promote philanthropy than this?
Ivan Coughanoffalot
Let me get this right...the "Best Family" in Japan is one with no children? Can somebody please explain how this works?
This is not a family, it is a couple. What is this about?
Kevin Lee Brooke
Matthew SimonOct. 20, 2011 - 07:55AM JST
Lets make some more BS awards up for the sake of making them. How about they nominate some of the families of the quake and Tsunami disaster for this who stuck together through way more adversity then these celebrities.Because in Japan, "talent" and celebrities are all that matter.
Look at all the stupid game shows they have here - practically ALL of them have celebrities on as contestants; making money and winning prizes - as if they need more money. And they never donate it, they KEEP it.
I asked my wife (Japanese) why no "regular" people who actually may need money are not on game shows, and she said "most Japanese don't care about watching people they have never seen before - they want to see someone win who they are familiar with".
Greed and money rule here.
So, it's just par for the course that all the idiot, made up awards go to celebs.
Nessie
Best Familiest
ExportExpert
How about the "Dumbest Award" award, they surely should have one of those !
m6bob
@paulinusa: All Japanese women who are celebrities look great. In fact ALL Japanese women who are anybody looks great. Their skin are like baby skin and their hair too.
noirgaijin
Who were the other families these folks competed against? Good one Nessie, haven’t seen that one in a while!