Actress and pianist Nao Matsushita will become a regular radio personality for the first time. The program is a new show titled "Allegro Andante," sponsored by 1-Day Acuvue Moist. It will be broadcast on J-WAVE at 11:00pm on Saturdays, starting on the 7th.

Actor Hiroshi Tamaki and model Moe Oshikiri have been appointed as the image characters for esthetic salon Le Parler, for their second consecutive year.

The new commercial, which begins airing on the 5th, will feature the two in business suits. The theme for the advertisement is balancing love and work.

Also attending the commercial's press conference was free announcer Ako Kawada, who left TBS last month. She served as MC for the event. This was her first new work since her resignation.

Actress Erika Sawajiri has been chosen for the lead role of "Closed Note," a film adaptation of the story of the same name by Shusuke Shizukui.

"Closed Note" was originally serialized on a mobile phone site between October 2004 and August 2005. The story recorded over one million hits, and it was subsequently published as a book in January 2006. Director Isao Yukisada ("Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World") decided to make a movie after discovering the book in a store.

Sawajiri plays a college student studying education, who is in love with a painter (Yusuke Iseya). When she moves into a new apartment, she discovers a notebook left behind by the previous tenant, an elementary school teacher (Yuko Takeuchi). She opens it, finding that it contains the teacher's diary. As she becomes more engrossed in it, the lives of the two women begin to converge.

Filming began at the end of last month and will continue until late May. The movie is scheduled for release on September 29. Other cast members include Hiromi Nagasaku and Katsuo Nakamura.

Actor Akira Nakao (64) was hospitalized early Saturday morning due to acute pneumonia.

Nakao was in Osaka to appear on a TV program on Saturday, but he was found ill in his hotel room when his manager went to pick him up. Nakao insisted on working despite a fever, but his staff called an ambulance to take him to the hospital. He was diagnosed with acute pneumonia and was treated in the intensive care unit.

Nakao's agency said that the incident was nothing major. They expect him to be released from the hospital by next week.

Pop duo Tackey & Tsubasa have been chosen to sing the image song for NTV's "Pride & Spirit Nippon Professional Baseball 2007," which is the network's broadcast of the Yomiuri Giants baseball games. The two are said to have been big baseball fans ever since they were children.

Giants manager Tatsunori Hara requested a theme that would convey the image of a "mighty player." The resulting song has been titled "Samurai." The single's release date has not yet been decided.

A few days ago, Video Research Ltd. published its semi-annual TV Celebrity Image data, which evaluates celebrities by public awareness, popularity, and image. Surveys were taken between January 29 and Feburary 4. A total of 964 valid surveys were collected this time.

At the top of the male celebrity ratings is comedian/actor Sanma Akashiya. He was followed by baseball star Ichiro Suzuki and comedian Hidehiko Ishizuka.

Of female celebrities, music group Dreams Come True (because of Miwa Yoshida) had the highest rating. Actresses Yukie Nakama and Yuki Amami came in second and third, respectively.

The complete top 20 lists can be found in the forums.

Oricon released the results of its drama satisfaction survey for the winter season. At the top of the list was "Hana Yori Dango 2" with an 81.8% rating. "Karei Naru Ichizoku," which had the highest overall viewer ratings during the season, came in third in viewer satisfaction (79.5%), placing behind "Aibou 5" (80.2%).

The full top ten list is:

• Hana Yori Dango 2 (81.8%)
• Aibou 5 (80.2%)
• Karei Naru Ichizoku (79.5%)
• Haken no Hinkaku (77.5%)
• Haikei, Chichiue-sama (75.6%)
• Tokumei Kakarichou Tadano Hitoshi 3 (75.1%)
• Tokyo Tower (73.8%)
• Himitsu no Hanazono (73.4%)
• Konshuu, Tsuma ga Uwaki Shimasu (72.4%)
• Erai Tokoro ni Totsuide Shimatta! (70.7%)

Some details about this year's Animelo Summer Live have been released. The event is officially titled "Animelo Summer Live 2007 Generation-A" and will take place on July 7 at the Nippon Budokan. The current list of artists includes ALI PROJECT, JAM Project, Halko Momoi, Masami Okui, Naozumi Takahashi, Minami Kuribayashi, and Nana Mizuki.

The official website is now open.

It was revealed on Monday that Ryuichi Kosugi, one half of the comedy duo "Black Mayonnaise," dislocated his shoulder last month while taping for a show.

Kosugi was participating in TBS's "Shin Sasuke 2007," a physical competition show. During filming on March 3, Kosugi was crossing platforms floating on water while he was also attached to a rope. He made a poor landing and struck his shoulder. He was consequently taken to a nearby hospital, where a doctor diagnosed the injury as a dislocated shoulder.

NHK's Asadora series "Imotako Nankin" came to a close on Saturday. Video Research Ltd. announced on Monday that the show averaged a 16.8% rating in the Kanto region (15.7% in the Kansai region). This is the third lowest average ever for the Asadora time slot since 1964 (the company does not have statistics preceding that year).

The lowest rating ever was achieved by "Tenka" in 2004 with an average of 16.2%.

Popular model Ryoko Tanami and businessman Yoshitaka Nojiri registered their marriage on Sunday. Last month, they had announced that they were planning to get married this summer.

The couple has only been dating for four months. They met last December through a mutual friend, and they immediately hit it off.

Nojiri and Tanami are currently looking for a new house, and will begin living together once they find one. They plan to hold a wedding ceremony this summer produced by Nojiri himself, as he is the president of the wedding services company Take and Give Needs.

Nojiri is also well known for several highly publicized relationships in the past, including a brief one with Yumiko Shaku last year.

Talento Noriko Aota will appear in a commercial for a disco music compilation called "Disco R35."

As the title suggests, the CD is targeted at the 35 and older crowd, who grew up with the disco boom during the period of Japan's bubble economy. Artists on the compilation include Angie Gold, Bananarama, and Kylie Minogue.

Aota herself grew up during that time, and is currently active as a singer under the name Bubble Aota, in reference to the economic bubble.

The commercial, which was filmed at the King & Queen disco in Roppongi, begins airing on the 2nd. The CD goes on sale on the 4th.