Musician Masafumi Akikawa has become the first classical artist to top the Oricon weekly singles chart. His song, "Sen no Kaze ni Natte," was released in May last year, and at the time it failed to even break the top 200. It rose to 168th place the following week. More recently, it has seen a surge in popularity following Akikawa's appearance at the Kohaku Uta Gassen.

The single has also become the first in history to take the #1 spot after having been ranked outside of the Top 100. Of all the #1 singles, it is also the one with the lowest initial sales, selling only 513 copies during the week of its debut.

Actor Shosuke Tanihara will be marrying talento Emi Miyake, who is currently two months pregnant. The two first met when they both appeared in the 2001 drama "Kyumei Byoto 24 Ji." They began dating last year.

Miyake previously married actor Issei Ishida in 2003, but they divorced last January. Miyake's son from that marriage, now three years old, will be part of the new family.

Rock band UVERworld will resume activity in February. Last month, vocalist Takuya Shimizu (known as TAKUYA∞) was issued a traffic violation, and he responded by knocking the officer's hat off. As a result, Takuya was arrested for obstruction of a public servant.

Because of the incident, the band decided to postpone its schedule. Two performances on December 16-17 were cancelled, but they have been rescheduled for February 10-11. UVERworld's new album, "BUGRIGHT," was previously scheduled for release on January 17, but will instead be released on February 21.

The drama series "Karei Naru Ichizoku" started on Sunday night, and data from Video Research Ltd. shows that the episode reached a viewer rating of 27.7% in the Kanto region, while achieving 30.5% in the Kansai region.

"Karei Naru Ichizoku" is based on a novel by Toyoko Yamasaki about a prominent banking family in the Kansai region during the 1970's. The series features a high-profile cast, including Takuya Kimura as the lead character.