Southern All Stars member Keisuke Kuwata will sing his first movie theme song as a solo artist. The movie is "Tengoku de Kimi ni Aetara," a biographical film about the late Natsuki Iijima, a professional wind-surfer who died of cancer in 2005. He won many prizes at international competitions, and was the only Japanese person to compete in the World Cup for eight consecutive years.

Iijima is played by Takao Osawa, and his wife Hiroko is played by Misaki Ito. The movie opens in theaters on August 25. The single, which Kuwata is currently writing, is expected to be released jointly with the film.

Talento Tomoe Amemiya (currently a regular on "Hanamaru Market") has gotten married. Her partner is a rap artist known as Nikka, who will be making his major label debut next month. The two first met in August 2005, and they began dating the following month. They registered their marriage on March 16 of this year.

Amemiya is currently three months pregnant, with her delivery expected in November. The couple will start living together next month. Amemiya said that they plan to hold a wedding ceremony around May of next year.

Hiroshi Nagano of V6 will appear in his first NHK drama series. The drama is called "Benkyou Shiteitai!" and will last for three episodes in NHK's Saturday drama time slot (9:00pm).

Nagano stars as a teacher who educates hospitalized children, some of whom are facing death. Appearing with him are Mahiru Konno, Masahiko Nishimura, Leo Morimoto, Kuniko Asagi, Kohei Otomo, and Akira Takarada.

The drama is currently scheduled to air from August 18 to September 1.

Singer-songwriter Ayaka's debut album "First Message," which was released last November, sold its millionth copy this past week.

The last Japanese female solo artist to sell a million copies of her debut album was more than four years ago, when Mika Nakashima's "TRUE" did it in late 2002.

Akio Chiba's acclaimed baseball manga "Captain" is being adapted into a live-action movie. The manga was originally serialized in Monthly Shonen Jump during the 1970s. It has sold more than 13 million tankoubons and has many fans, including pro baseball players. It became an animated series in the 1980s and has had one animated film.

The story follows a middle schooler named Takao Taniguchi who transfers from Aoba Gakuin, a school famous for their baseball team, to Sumiya Nichuu. The baseball club there appoints him as captain, expecting a great player, when in reality he was only a benchwarmer before. Determined not to let them down, he undergoes special training to improve his skills.

The young boys in the movie were chosen through an open audition. Because the production staff wanted to avoid using computer-generated effects, the candidates were also judged on their baseball abilities. From about 3,000 applicants, a 15-year-old named Toshiyuki Fuse was selected.

Filming began in March last year and lasted about a month. Toshio Kakei plays Taniguchi's father, and Mao Kobayashi plays an adviser. The movie opens in theaters this August.

Hideaki Takizawa (of Tackey & Tsubasa) will be the main personality for one night on Nippon Broadcasting System's late night radio show "All Night Nippon." The broadcast is between 1:00am and 3:00am on the night of the 20th. This is Takizawa's first time as a solo radio host.

The theme for the program will be "damedashi," which refers to pointing out someone's faults. Takizawa himself will be the topic of discussion, and he will personally handle calls from listeners during the session. He is also accepting e-mails on the subject.

Lotte has put together a special Mother's Day commercial for its Ghana Milk Chocolate products. The ad features Aya Ueto, Nana Eikura, Yuko Ogura, Kaho, Masami Nagasawa, Maki Horikita, and Ei Morisako, each expressing thanks to her mother. It begins broadcasting on the 23rd, and will air until Mother's Day on May 13.

Actress Masami Nagasawa is in another Calpis commercial. This time, she is seen playing with a baby, thinking about life as a mother. The commercial begins airing on the 20th, and can currently be seen on the Calpis website.

Yui Aragaki has finished recording another commercial for Glico's Pocky product. She is once again doing her "Pocky dance," but this time it's in Osaka. The commercial begins airing on the 24th.