That one I had not heard! I did a little digging just to see what I could find, and yeah, I found some vague references to the two having tied the knot, but like you said, nothing conclusive. For what it’s worth, I don’t think it’s true. I believe nothing until there’s an official announcement after my Rika flub. ^^;
If nothing else, I sincerely doubt that either of their agencies would be cool with the two of them getting married. Osamu’s fangirl appeal is still pretty strong, and there’s always a fear that a confirmed relationship might seriously injure an actor’s fanbase.
Agencies basically prefer their stars to at least appear available… strongly prefer. Like they get seriously upset if stars get married/pregnant/cohabitate without their permission.
Keiko’s not really the type to rock the boat in terms of agency relations. I mean, she didn’t cut her hair for a good 8 years or so because the president of her agency told her not to. I don’t see her burning those bridges. They could have serious consequences like losing endorsement deals or getting dropped from projects. Possibly the agency.
For example, Erika Sawajiri used to be represented by Stardust and was dropped in 2009 for violating her contract… i.e. not saying “how high?” when the agency said “jump.” (It’s worth noting that her marriage was public and didn’t cause a stir, but it happened pretty quickly after the relationship was exposed in the first place. And since her husband was 20+ years older than her, there may have been a perception/hope that this would “tame” her.)
Anyway, I don’t know if Stardust is particularly controlling (Johnny’s and Amuse [Ayaka’s agency] both have some kind of scary reputations); they do apparently conduct regular drug tests on their stars, or at least the did in 2009.
Anyway, there are always (sometimes really gross and invasive) rumors about Keiko and her relationships. I think the tabloids like to publish scandalous rumors about her in particular because she has such a good girl/pure image.
The only reason it’s okay for Mew to openly admit to being in a relationship is because she’s not a big deal idol. It helps that she’s decided to go towards media personality/spokesperson as opposed to big huge star. I’m gonna go out on a limb and guess that she’s happy with that decision.