Search engine Yahoo!, which has an estimated market share of almost 90% in Japan, analyzed search data between January 1 and April 9 to see which celebrities' blogs are currently the most popular. The rankings were based on searches containing the word "blog" plus a person's name.

Not surprisingly, idol Shoko Nakagawa topped the list, again demonstrating why she has been labeled as the "blog queen." Model/talento Rinka came in second, followed by recently-retired Ai Iijima and popular talento Eriko Sato. Kaori Manabe, Chinatsu Wakatsuki, and Norika Fujiwara were next in the rankings. Three men rounded out the list: comedian Hiroshi Shinagawa, TV writer Katsura Kitamoto, and comedian Ken Shimura.

It was announced on Friday that English soprano Sarah Brightman will sing the theme for the tenth "Pokemon" movie, "Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai." The song is a track from her next album, and its Japanese title is "Be With You ~Itsumo Soba ni~." This is Brightman's first theme song for a Japanese film.

"Be With You" will be available on Chaku-Uta in June, then released as a single on July 11. The movie opens in theaters on July 14.

The first major league showdown between pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka (Boston Red Sox) and outfielder Ichiro Suzuki (Seattle Mariners) took place on Wednesday. The game was highly anticipated by fans in Japan, evidenced by the network ratings.

Video Research Ltd. announced that NHK's delayed broadcast of the game, which aired at 8:30 in the morning, achieved an average rating of 10.7% (8.9% in the Kansai region). The typical rating for that time slot is about 5.3%.

The ratings peaked at the start of the game, reaching 13.3% in the Kanto area. However, NHK's news program "Ohayo Nippon," which preceded the broadcast, achieved a higher peak of 15.4% when it aired a live clip of Ichiro's first at-bat against "Dice-K."

Anime Expo has announced that ORESKABAND will attend this year's convention as official Guests of Honor. They are scheduled to perform live at the event, and their song "Pinocchio" has been selected as the featured song for the official Anime Expo 2007 commercial.

Anime fans may recognize "Pinocchio" as one of the ending themes for the "Naruto" anime series. ORESKABAND also performs "Tsumasaki," the current ending theme for "Bleach."

TV Tokyo announcer Eri Mizuhara is getting married. Her partner is movie producer Kiichi Kumagai, who was part of the staff on last year's critically-acclaimed movie "Yureru."

The two will hold their wedding and reception in June. Mizuhara plans to continue working.

Comedians Taizo Harada (of Neptune) and Gori (of Garage Sale) are starring together in a Fuji TV drama series titled "Thrill na Yoru." Because of the increasing popularity of U.S. suspense dramas such as "24" and "Lost," Fuji TV has taken the concept and combined it with one of the network's own strong points, resulting in a series described as a "suspense comedy" about two fathers who face trouble in their neighborhood.

The series airs on Fridays at 11:00pm, starting on the 13th.