In honor of the 10th anniversary of her debut, Ayumi Hamasaki will be selling merchandise in collaboration with Hello Kitty. The goods include two types of hand mirrors and a special ayupan (Ayumi Hamasaki figurine) holding a Hello Kitty. The merchandise goes on sale on avex's mu-mo shop at 4:00pm on Friday. They will also be available at Hamasaki's shows during her Asia Tour 2007, which begins on Saturday.

Avex says they received a collaboration offer from Sanrio at the end of last year. Hamasaki quickly agreed, as she has been a big Hello Kitty fan since she was a child.

On Thursday, actress Aya Hirayama attended a talk event for her upcoming movie "Kito Kito!," which will be released on March 17. During the event, reporters asked Hirayama about her rumored relationship with actor Kei Tanaka. She completely denied the claim, explaining that they are not dating and are just friends.

The relationship between talento Eriko Sato and kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa XI has come to an end.

On February 27 and 28, Sato wrote on her blog that she had been hurt for the first time, and the posts included pictures of her crying. The source of her sadness was not mentioned at the time, but later blog posts made it more evident.

The current issue of FRIDAY magazine includes a quote from Ichikawa confirming that the two have broken up, but goes on to say that the two are still good friends.

Reports of Sato and Ichikawa's relationship began circulating last October, when they were spotted together at a monjayaki store. They publicly announced their relationship on December 6.

Five members of popular idol group AKB48 have formed a temporary unit called "Crayon Friends from AKB48," which will appear in the upcoming film, "Crayon Shin-chan: Arashi wo Yobu Utau Ketsu dake Bakudan!" The movie hits theaters on April 21.

Yu Imai, Kazumi Urano, Mai Ohshima, Ayumi Orii, and Kayo Noro will provide voices and sing the movie's opening theme, "Yuru Yuru de DE-O!" They are also scheduled to appear in the TV series.

Singer-songwriter Angela Aki announced on her homepage on Friday that she has just gotten married. Her husband is a music director. The two registered their marriage early Friday morning.

The Hello! Project TV show "Hello! Morning" has been cut short by 25 minutes. Next month, the program will be moved from its 11:30am-12:24pm time slot to 12:19pm-12:49pm.

Takashi Tsukamoto and Mao Inoue will appear together in a new commercial for Kagome's vegetable drinks. The commercial begins airing on the 10th.

Details of Kanjani8's upcoming tour were announced on Thursday.

"Kanjani8 Eh! Honma!? Bikkuri!! Tour 2007" will begin on May 3 at the Yokohama Arena and will end on September 22 in Okinawa. The tour includes 111 performances throughout all 47 prefectures of Japan. The venues range in size from the 1,000-seat Tokyo Electron Nirasaki Arts Hall to the 55,000-seat Tokyo Dome. The total capacity for the entire tour exceeds 656,000.

This is the first time that a Johnny's artist will visit every prefecture in a single tour. Producer Johnny Kitagawa also hinted at the possibility of an overseas tour soon.

Fuji TV has announced the return of the 2005 drama series "1 Litre of Tears" in the form of a drama special, which will air on April 5 at 9:00pm.

The original series was based on the true story of Aya Kito, who was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration at the age of 15 and died at the age of 25. When the drama aired in 2005, the first episode received ratings of only 13.5%, but the ratings grew to 20.5% by the final episode.

The special will take place half a year after the death of Aya (played by Erika Sawajiri). The story will focus on Aya's sister Ako (Riko Narumi), who is aiming to become a nurse, and Aya's classmate Haruto (Ryo Nishikido), who has become a doctor. The special will include new scenes during Aya's lifetime, so Sawajiri will also appear in the drama.

Tokyo Shimbun's March 8 issue announced the end of Kimihiko Tsukuda's "Honobono-kun," the longest-running newspaper comic. The final strip was printed in that same issue.

"Honobono-kun" was first serialized in Tokyo Shimbun between 1956 and 1962. It was resumed in 1970 under a different title, but then returned to the original title in 1984.

Thursday's strip was the comic's 15,451st installment. The next longest-running newspaper comic is the late Yoshiro Kato's "Mappira-kun," which ended on its 13,615th strip in 2001.

Tsukuda, who is 77, developed symptoms of Parkinson's disease at the end of last year. Tsukuda continued the strip after taking a break for surgery, but his health forced him to stop again last month.

Takuya Kimura of idol group SMAP has been appointed as the new image character of satellite television network WOWOW. Plans include a new commercial. Details have not yet been revealed, but the campaign seems to be aiming to show both the "handsome" and "comical" sides of Kimura.

The 8-member Okinawan band All Japan Goith will release its first single on a major label on April 25. The song is titled "Warnival."

The group formed in 2001 under the name "Ska Shippe" when its members were classmates in high school. That same year, they were discovered by the band Orange Range, who helped sign them onto their label at the time, Spice Records. They have since become popular in their native Okinawa, and they have performed as the opening act for Orange Range.

All Japan Goith received several offers, but according to them, they signed with Imperial Records because of their respect for fellow Okinawan band BEGIN.

Aya Ueto will star in a TBS jidaigeki drama titled "Wachigaiya Itosato ~Onnatachi no Shinsengumi~." She will play the role of Itosato, the lover of Shinsengumi leader Hijikata Toshizo (played by Hideaki Ito).

This will be Ueto's first time to wear a hairpiece and full costume in a jidaigeki drama. According to her, the complete outfit weighs a total of 30 kilograms.

The broadcast date for the drama has not yet been decided.