Actress Horikita Maki(26)’s lightning marriage to Yamamoto Koji(38) is still receiving much attention in the media. A couple days back, Yamamoto appeared on TV and revealed details of his courtship. He confesses that they practically didn’t date and just went straight into marriage.
The 2 met in 2009 drama “Atashinchi no Danshi”. He had feelings for her and asked for her number, but got her agency’s number instead. In 2010, they paired up again as husband and wife for “Wagaya no Rekishi”. This time he invited her out for drinks but got rejected.After that, he’d show up at Horikita Maki’s stage plays to hand her a letter with the words “It’s time for you to tell me your cellphone number?” Horikita continued with her silent treatment.
In 2012, Horikita Maki was filming for NHK drama “Umechan Sensei”. Yamamoto was filming NHK Taiga “Kiyomori” in the studio next to her. He’d pop in to Horikita’s studio every day, only to hear her say “Can you please stop coming?”
This year, the 2 were confirmed to star alongside each other as lovers in stage play “Wuthering Heights”. Having been rejected for 6 years straight, Yamamoto had considered whether he was good enough for Horikita but was never discouraged. He continued to send her letters everyday, with the number amounting to about 40. As usual, Horikita did not reply.
The stage play was ending. “At least let me give you my number” he thought and passed her his contacts. That night, a message came through via LINE.
Horikita: You’ve worked hard.
Yamamoto: Who is this?
Horikita: Maki dayo.
After that, Yamomoto heard about Horikita going to Kyoto via bullet train. “By intuition i took the bullet train as well. If she’s riding it too then it’d be a miracle or fate,”he said. Boarding the train from Tokyo Station, he ‘miraculously’ met Horikita who was boarding from Shinagawa Station. Yamamoto then handed a ring packed with his feelings to Horikita, and proposed. “Instead of dating, lets get married.”
In another article today, it is said that Horikita has always wanted to get married and have her own kids. She had been in a relationship with another guy up till Spring this year, but they did not reach a consensus to get married so they broke up.
Her shocking announcement this time seems to have stemmed from her hopes for a family.
Many people are calling Yamamoto a stalker but i find his obsession with Horikita Maki quite romantic, like a shoujo manga actually.
AllThingsJpop 
I agree, I don’t know why but I can’t find it creepy… I think it’s quite romantic. Wishing only great things for this couple ❤
Yeah and i think in the video he said wanted to protect her “no scandals” image so he decided to get married(as opposed to getting papp-ed while dating).
I know, he’s really sweet… Maki doesn’t look like the type of person that would take this lightly, there’s things that people can’t understand that only those 2 can 🙂
Romantic perhaps but certainly not a very sensible decision to jump straight into marriage. Not my business but kind of curious to know if this is going to last