Kenji Haga is now officially married. On Tuesday, his fiance Mayu Yamada filed the marriage registration, making the union legally recognized. Their wedding ceremony is scheduled for December 29 at the Central Union Church in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Kazunari Ninomiya (of popular group Arashi) made his debut as a voice actor today. The animated film "Tekkon Kinkreet" (directed by Michael Arias) was shown at a special screening at the currently running Tokyo International Film Festival. The film itself is an adaptation of the manga "Black & White" by Taiyo Matsumoto. Ninomiya plays the voice of the character Kuro.

Pianist and actress Nao Matsushita released her first album, "dolce," last week. It was announced today that the album will be released in five more countries: Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. It was also announced that she will give her first live performance on December 6 at the Tokyo International Forum in Chiyoda, Tokyo.

On Tuesday, singer Rimi Natsukawa performed her first mainland Asia concert in Taipei, Taiwan, to a full house of 3,000 fans. Her compilation album that was recently released in Taiwan has been doing well on the charts.

Idol/tarento Eriko Sato was awarded the 2006 award for "Best Leathernist." Like the Best Jeanist title, the Best Leathernist is an annual award to a celebrity who looks good in leather. Sato attended the ceremony in a black leather outfit, saying, "I love leather, so this is an honor. If it were half a year ago, Razor Ramon HG would probably have won."

Sato had no comment about the recent reports that she went on a date with kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa XI.

TBS announcer Yuko Aoki will make her first drama appearance in the special drama "Happy! 2," the sequel to the "Happy!" drama that aired earlier this year. Aoki will play the role of a young lady who belongs to a famous tennis club, and who participates in an omiai with Keiichiro (played by Junnosuke Taguchi).

The drama is based on the manga by Naoki Urasawa. The new special is scheduled to broadcast in the winter.