Case 1: Kabuki stars are different.

Last month, the 38-year-old kabuki actor Kataoka Ainosuke held a press conference and admitted that he is the father of a boy who is now a fifth-year elementary school student. Ainosuke is not married to the boy¡¯s 43-year-old mother, and has not formally ¡°acknowledged¡± (ninchi) the boy in his family register. Even if he did, the boy would still be indicated as ¡°illegitimate¡± (hichakushutsu) since the actor has never been married to the woman.

This ¡°hidden child¡± was revealed by the weekly women¡¯s magazine Josei Seven, though it¡¯s assumed that show biz reporters have known about him for years. The reason they decided to make the relationship public now is because Ainosuke is suddenly a star, owing to his high-profile stint as the replacement for Ichikawa Ebizo, who had to drop out of his New Year¡¯s performances in Kyoto after being injured in a bar brawl in November. Josei Seven says that Ainosuke kept his son a secret because when the boy was born, the actor, who is not from a traditional kabuki family, was still making his name and the notoriety might have ruined his career.