The 39th Miss Nippon Contest was held on Monday at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku, Tokyo. From an initial field of 2,432 contestants, the Grand Prix was awarded to 23-year-old Mika Hagi, a graduate student in law at Rikkyo University. This was Hagi's third time to enter the contest, but this time she walked away with two crowns.

On Sunday, Hagi had been awarded the Sponichi Special Prize, which is determined by popular vote online. Out of 92,910 votes, Hagi received more than 18,000, while the next closest contestant received only 8,000.

The title of Miss Kimono went to 20-year-old Mari Ohneta, a politics and economics student at Waseda University, while Miss Marine Day was awarded to 21-year-old Sayaka Kawamura, who studies international relations at Sugiyama Jogakuen University.

The remaining two awards both went to medical students. 25-year-old Kana Maruta of Nihon University was crowned Miss Nature, and 20-year-old Miki Shimamura of Kyoto University was named Miss Sky Day.

On Monday, Fuji TV announced that the Japanese version of "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" (hosted by Minomonta) will be ending its run this spring. The show has been running since April 2000, but ratings have recently dropped. The show is still somewhat popular, though, so Fuji TV plans to run it as an occasional special program rather than as a regular part of its programming lineup.

Korean director Kwak Jae-Yong ("My Sassy Girl," "Windstruck") will be directing a new film titled "Cyborg Girl," which will be set in Japan and have a Japanese cast. Actress/idol Haruka Ayase will play the lead role as the female cyborg, while Keisuke Koide will play the lead male. The film is scheduled to open in spring 2008.

BoA's latest album, "Made in Twenty," has sold 182,000 copies since its release last Wednesday, taking the #1 spot on the weekly Oricon charts.

This is BoA's fifth original album, and all of them so far have taken the #1 spot. Of all female artists, she is now only second to Ayumi Hamasaki, who has released eight consecutive #1 original albums. BoA was previously tied with Namie Amuro, Mai Kuraki, MISIA, and Hikaru Utada, who have each had four consecutive #1 albums.

FUNimation has begun its 2007 Kickoff. It opened with an announcement of FUNimation's acquisition of the 26-episode Ragnarok anime series. It is scheduled for release starting in Fall 2007.

Actress/talento Miho Shiraishi has been appointed as the public relations ambassador for the Information Security Committee of METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry). The Committee is running a campaign to increase public awareness of the importance of data security and protection against computer viruses. TV commercials for the campaign will begin airing on January 23.