Maki Horikita Fell Prey to "Stalking"

You never can tell stalking from courting, folks, A national heroine and blooming actress in Japan, Maki Horikita, has fallen into the arms of a  persistent "stalker".

Koji Yamamoto, 38, confided in a TV program August 24 how he had won the heart of Maki Horikita after what could have been acts of a formidable stalker.

Miss Horikita played in an NHK TV drama "Umechan Sensei" and won herself national repute for her performance of a heroine facing challenges to achieve her goals. 

Yamamoto recalls how instantly he was attracted to Miss Horikita. Both once costarred in 2009 in "Atashinchi no Danshi (Man in My Family)", when Yamamoto was instantly attracted to her and made up his solid mind to marry her, he says. 

The only point of contact he had with Miss Horikita was a phone number, not hers but that of her management office. The following year 2010 when they costarred on stage, Yamamoto invited her out for a drink but she wouldn't comply. Yamamoto kept on calling her backstage, handing over each time a slip of paper with  his phone number on.

In 2012, when Miss Horikita played in NHK's morning drama series "Umechan Sensei", Yamamoto was luckily roomed next to her for his own drama "Tairano Kiyomori", NHK's another star drama series. This he wouldn't miss for anything. He "dropped in" everyday as he was, that is in his drama costumes, to see her. Flabbergasted, Miss Horikita told him "not to come anymore".

Then in May, 2015, they had a stage together for the first time in five years,

costarring in "Wuthering Heights". Yamamoto's resumed his formidable attack, not with daily visits this time but with letters - 40 odd letters altogether. He kept on writing and handing them over in the last stage of rehearsals. Yet, Miss Horikita responded to none of them.

Then came the moment. The last day of performance Yamamoto begged her just to jot down his phone number. That night, he had a LINE message from her saying "Cheers for all your hard work". 

The rest of the story is self-told in their message of marriage that was received nationwide with a big surprise. So, stalking does pay off... Oops!