Kou Shibasaki, who just released a new single last week, has announced yet another single to go on sale March 28. The song, titled "Hito Koi Meguri," will be the theme song for the upcoming TBS drama series "Sunadokei" (weekdays 1:00pm, starting on March 12). The coupling song is titled "Colorful Taxi."

30-year-old singer/actress Alisa Mizuki has been in show business since the age of 4, but has never done theater. This July, she will make her stage debut in the play "Uta no Tsubasa ni Kimi wo Nose."

The play is based on Edmond Rostand "Cyrano de Bergerac," but is instead set on the island of Tinian (of the Northern Mariana Islands) during the Pacific campaign of World War II. Mizuki plays the heroine Fumi (Roxane in the original), while Masahiko Nishimura plays a soldier (Cyrano) and Ken Yasuda plays her lover (Christian).

The play is written by Daisuke Habara ("Hula Girl") and directed by Shigemichi Sugita ("Kita no Kuni Kara"). It will run July 12-22 at the New National Theatre, Tokyo, then from July 26-28 at the Osaka Pension Hall.

Actress Tomoko Yamaguchi has planned and produced (and appears in) a documentary program about craftspeople. For about a year, she personally researched and collected data on the topic. The documentary, titled "Tomoko Yamaguchi: Tewaza no Hosomichi," will air on TV Tokyo on April 1 at 4:00pm.

Actress Maki Tamaru has been appointed as the Japanese "ambassador" for the Visit Malaysia Year 2007 campaign. With Malaysia celebrating 50 years of independence, the campaign was established with the goal of increasing tourism to the country from all other nations. In particular, 370,000 Japanese people traveled to Malaysia last year, and the target for this year is 500,000.

At the event, Tamaru was also asked about reports that she and recently-married Tomonori Jinnai were once dating, but she laughed it off, saying that they are very good friends.

This week's Oricon charts show some big accomplishments from several artists. Arashi's 18th single, "Love so sweet," took the top spot, becoming the group's 7th consecutive #1 single (and 14th overall). It was also the group's first single to sell more than 200,000 copies in a week since "A Day in Our Life" in 2002.

Meanwhile, Ringo Shiina captured #1 on the album charts with her collaboration Heisei Fuzoku, her first album in four years.

7-member Hello! Project unit °C-ute reached #5 with their first single, "Sakura Chirari." They are the first female idol group to enter in the top 5 with their debut single.

Other familiar faces showed up at the top of the charts, including Ai Otsuka, whose "CHU-LIP" is her 13th consecutive Top 10 single.

Actress Mao Miyaji is currently in a serious relationship, according to weekly tabloid FLASH. The magazine reports that Miyaji's partner is seven years older (Miyaji is 23), and the two are living together. Miyaji's agency said they are aware of the relationship and are leaving it to her.

Wonder Festival 2007 took place at Tokyo Big Sight this weekend. At the festival, it was announced that a new "Armored Trooper Votoms" anime is in the works. Votoms was a popular mecha series in the early '80s which spawned many games and several OVAs. The last OVA series was produced in 1994.

Ryosuke Takahashi will return as director of the new anime, which is tentatively titled "Armored Trooper Votoms: Pelzen Files." It will debut this summer, but it was not made clear whether it will be a television series or an OVA series.

Wrapping up a weekend of New York Comic Con licensing announcements, CMX and new imprint Yen Press revealed their own lists of new titles.

CMX has acquired Two Flowers for the Dragon, I Hate You More Than Anyone, Tears of a Lamb, Venus in Love, Palette of 12 Secret Colors, King of Cards, Presents, and Samurai Commando: Mission 1549.

Yen Press' launch list consists of Spiral, Black God, Zombie Loan, and Alice on Deadlines. The company also announced world rights to the OEL (Original English Language) title Nightschool, the latest work by Svetlana Chmakova.

Rock band Quruli announced on their website today that guitarist Tasshin Omura has left the band. Quruli will continue as just Shigeru Kishida and Masashi Sato, with drummer Yuya Kikuchi serving as the band's support member. Omura's future plans are currently unknown.

Actress Yuka Itaya and stylist Hirohiko Furuta are now married, after two years of dating. The ceremony was held on Saturday.

Broadcaster NTV has invested 160 million yen in Dejima, acquiring 16% of the company's stock. Dejima is the publishing company that produces Comic Gumbo, Japan's first free manga magazine. 100,000 copies have been distributed every week since the magazine launched last month.

Comic Gumbo's current business model revolves around revenue through ads in the magazine and through the sale of tankoubons. NTV, however, is looking to develop a new type of business by directly tying in the manga magazine with the network's anime series. Currently involved in the project is producer Toshio Nakatani, who has been in charge of the "NANA" and "Death Note" anime series.