Riyo Mori, a 20-year-old dancer from Shizuoka, was crowned Miss Universe 2007 on Monday night.

Natalia Guimaraes of Brazil was the first runner-up, followed by Ly Jonaitis of Venezuela and Honey Lee of Korea. Rachel Smith, the U.S. representative, was named fourth runner-up despite slipping and falling during the evening gown competition.

V6 achieved their fifth consecutive #1 single this past week with "Jasmine / Rainbow," selling about 68,000 copies. This is actually their second such streak - in 1996 and 1997, they had another five consecutive singles at the top of the charts, starting with "MADE IN JAPAN" and ending with "Honki ga Ippai." Overall, 19 of their 31 singles to date have reached #1.

Close behind V6's new song was the "Lucky Star" opening theme, "Motteke! Sailor Fuku," which sold 66,000 copies. The song and its accompanying dance have been wildly popular among anime fans, resulting in an internet video craze reminiscent of "Hare Hare Yukai" from "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya."

"Lucky Star" wasn't the only anime theme to break the top 10, as KOTOKO's "Hayate no Gotoku!" came in 7th with approximately 20,000 in sales. This is KOTOKO's third Top 10 single.

On the album charts, Mariya Takeuchi's latest effort, "Denim," was the top-selling album last week by a large margin, selling over 220,000 copies. Meanwhile, BENNIE K's "THE WORLD" appeared in third place with 46,000 copies, and GAM's first album only sold 17,000 to rank in at 12th.

ARASHI's new release, "ARASHI AROUND ASIA," was at the top of the DVD charts with 98,000 copies sold.

TBS revealed that announcer Ayano Toyoda got married on the 20th to a producer from the same network. They reportedly have been dating for four years.

Toyoda is currently three months pregnant, with her delivery expected in December. She plans to continue working after the child is born. Currently, she appears on several programs, including "Evening 5" and "Kuchikomi."

Musician Yohito Teraoka has teamed up with singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya and folk duo Yuzu to create a special unit called "Golden Circle feat." The group began to form in April when they appeared together at Teraoka's regular live event, "Golden Circle." To celebrate the event's 10th occurrence, Teraoka suggested that they work together on a new song.

The song, titled "Music," will be released on July 11. Matsutoya handled the composition, while lyrics were written by the group members and guest artist Kazutoshi Sakurai (of Mr.Children).

The group will be featured in a documentary on NHK on June 22.

Namie Amuro is collaborating with the computer-animated series "The World of GOLDEN EGGS," which has become increasingly popular among young people.

Amuro will appear as a new character called Amura in a special movie episode titled "Namie Amuro x The World of GOLDEN EGGS." This is her first work as a voice actress. The episode will be included as a bonus on the DVD that comes with Amuro's new album "PLAY," which hits stores on June 27.

A special site for the collaboration has been launched.

The live-action movie based on Naoki Urasawa's manga "20th Century Boys" has found a director: Yukihiko Tsutsumi. Tsutsumi has directed many popular works, including "Keizoku," "Trick," and "Memories of Tomorrow."

The film is scheduled for release in 2008, though the story and cast have not yet been decided.

Dynamite Tommy, the vocalist of early punk/visual kei band COLOR and former producer of Dir en grey, is writing and directing his first movie, titled "Attitude." The movie is about rock music from the '70s to the '90s, and it will feature several artists as themselves, including Anarchy vocalist Shigeru Nakano and members of X JAPAN, ARB, BY-SEXUAL, and ANGIE.

Principal photography begins in Saitama on the 28th, with a release scheduled for this fall.

Popular Korean group SS501 will make a guest appearance on the May 31 broadcast of TV Asahi's drama series "Hotelier," which stars Aya Ueto. They will play themselves as guests staying at the hotel managed by Ueto's character.

SS501 is scheduled to make their CD debut in Japan with a single on August 1, released under the Pony Canyon label.

TV Asahi's popular detective drama franchise "Aibou" is finally getting a movie, starring the same duo (Yutaka Mizutani and Yasufumi Terawaki) as the television series.

"Aibou" first began as a set of three two-hour specials in 2000 and 2001, broadcast during TV Asahi's "Doyo Wide Gekijo" time slot. It became a drama series in the fall of 2002, and has been renewed every year since then, with the fifth season running from last October to this past March.

The movie will be directed by Seiji Izumi, who has been in charge of most of the "Aibou" episodes so far. Filming begins in early June, with a target release date of spring 2008. Sawa Suzuki and Saya Takagi, who are both regulars in the television series, will also appear in the movie.

Singer Izumi Sakai died on Sunday after an accident the day before. She was 40.

Sakai was known as the lead vocalist of pop group ZARD, which became her solo project since around 1993 after the other original members left.

Last June, Sakai underwent an operation to remove a uterine tumor. It was later discovered that the cancer had spread to her lungs, and she was admitted into Keio University Hospital in April.

On Saturday morning, a passerby found Sakai lying on the ground outside the hospital. She had fallen approximately three meters from a nearby slope, which was slippery due to rain. She appeared to be taking a walk at the time. On Sunday she was pronounced dead, ultimately a result of the head injuries she suffered from the fall.

Sakai was scheduled to release a new album this autumn, followed by a concert tour.