Actress Erika Sawajiri, 22, to get married

TOKYO — Actress Erika Sawajiri, 22, told reporters outside her Setagaya home on Wednesday that she and hypermedia creator Tsuyoshi Takashiro, 44, will get married at Meiji Shrine on Jan 19. Sawajiri came out to the front of her house around noon wearing sunglasses, oozing the “Erika-sama” image she has become famous for, but was sincere and fielded questions for 15 minutes, and showed off the ring Takashiro designed for her.

She elaborated on how Takashiro proposed to her, saying it was in August last year when they were viewing a total solar eclipse in the mountains of the Altai Republic in Russia. She said: “I went to Turkey to see the solar eclipse with him and a couple of other friends, when I was 19 and we weren’t a couple yet. That was our first vacation together, so being proposed to under an eclipse was very special for me. We’re going to see another one in July from Amami Island in Kagoshima.”

When asked why they decided on a Japanese-style ceremony for the wedding, Sawajiri said: “Well, we are Japanese. And I want to wear a kimono. It won’t be pure white though.” On the reception which will be held in Hawaii, she said: “A stylist friend of mine is designing the dress for me. It won’t be all white; it will have roses on it as well.”

Asked about her attraction to Takashiro, she said: “He’s very much an adult and I’m a bit of a brat, but I don’t feel the age difference. He’s very open-minded and I feel comfortable when I’m with him.”

Sawajiri returned from London on Dec 29 and said she went to the graves of her father who passed away when she was in junior high school and her brother who died in a car accident when she was in high school, and informed them of her upcoming marriage.

She also said she will travel to Barcelona in late January to study graphic design for six months, and will resume acting work after summer.