Kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa (31) and free announcer Mao Kobayashi (27) are in a serious relationship, it was learned on Thursday. In a fax sent to the media, they revealed that they plan to get formally engaged in the near future.

Speaking to reporters in front of his home, Ichikawa said he proposed at the end of June, and that they first met last December. They met when Ichikawa appeared as a guest on NTV's "NEWS ZERO," on which Kobayashi is a newscaster.

The dates for their engagement and wedding ceremonies have not yet been decided, but based on the schedules of Ichikawa and his father, actor Danjuro Ichikawa (63), it seems likely that the engagement will take place during December.

Rumors of the band GReeeeN breaking up were laid to rest on Thursday. One member, HIDE (29), wrote an angry post on his blog in response to false newspaper reports that the group was disbanding after the release of their best album later this month.

The four members of GReeeeN made their major label debut in 2007 while they were dentistry students, and since then three of them have passed the national dentistry exam. According to the false news reports, the group was breaking up so that the members could focus on their careers as dentists.

On his blog, HIDE angrily denounced the media, while reassuring fans that the group is not breaking up. The post was later replaced by an official statement from the group's record label.

HIDE's post also seemed to indicate that the members' faces may remain unseen by the public forever. The mysterious group originally planned to reveal their faces after all four members passed the national exam, but now that some of them are actual dentists, they don't want their success as musicians to interfere with their work.

Satoshi Tsumabuki (28) has landed the starring role in "Akunin," a new film by director Sang-il Lee ("Hula Girls"). The movie is based on a novel by prize-winning author Shuichi Yoshida.

Although Tsumabuki has generally played likable characters in the past, here he has been cast as an antihero. Tsumabuki plays a man named Yuichi, whose dark deeds include killing a woman he meets through a dating website and forcibly taking a woman to a love hotel. However, the story examines the causes behind his character's actions, as well as the painful romance that develops between him and a woman he encounters.

The female lead will be played by Eri Fukatsu (36). She and Tsumabuki previously co-starred in the drama series "Slow Dance."

"Akunin" is scheduled for a fall 2010 release.

Acid Black Cherry, the solo project of Janne Da Arc vocalist yasu, has announced a temporary hiatus for medical treatment. He will be undergoing surgery to remove a vocal cord cyst.

The cyst was discovered during preparations for his recent tour, which ended on November 2 at the Nippon Budokan. He managed to complete the tour despite the cyst, but he has finally decided to have it removed.

Because of the necessary recovery period, yasu has canceled a concert at the Osaka-jo Hall on December 24. He is also postponing a special event organized for the fans who purchased his new album, "Q.E.D."

Actor Baijaku Nakamura (53) has his first starring role in a drama series next season. He will play the lead in "Akakabu Kenji Kyoto-hen," scheduled to air on TBS starting in January.

The drama is based on Shunzo Waku's "Akakabu Kenji" novel series about a kind public prosecutor named Shigeru Hiiragi, known for his Nagoya dialect and his love of red turnips. The novels have previously been adapted multiple times on television since 1980, with Frankie Sakai as the original star. Later adaptations had Isao Hashizume (68) playing the role of Hiiragi. Nakamura became the third actor to play the part in a two-hour drama special this past May.