The fashion model and celebrity Marie has stirred up the perennial issue of the casting couch in the Japanese entertainment world.
The 33-year-old, who is half French Canadian and half Japanese, has claimed that she was propositioned when she was 18 by the now-retired comedian Shinsuke Shimada. The encounter is being described as "makura eigyo" (literally, pillow business), the Japanese word for the casting couch. Shimada was then at the height of his fame and the implication no doubt was that sleeping with him would further her own career.
Marie made the allegation on April 4 and then ...
