At the end of last month, rumors began circulating that actress Megumi Okina is romantically involved with Kenji Kasahara, president of the massive social networking site Mixi. On Wednesday, Okina officially denied the relationship, saying that she doesn't even know Kasahara personally. She also repeated her denial of earlier reports that she was retiring from showbiz.

Okina's former husband Susumu Fujita, who is the president of Cyber Agent and a friend of Kasahara, made a similar statement. He said that when he heard the news, he mailed Kasahara with his best wishes, but Kasahara replied that he had never even met Okina.