Mika Nakashima has been chosen to supply the theme song for Yoshimitsu Morita's film adaptation of Hideo Okuda's novel, "Southbound." The film, which opens in October, stars Etsushi Toyokawa and Yuki Amami.

The theme song is titled "Eien no Uta," and is described as a reggae number. It was written by musician Kazufumi Miyazawa.

The single goes on sale on October 3, coupled with "You'd Be So Nice To Come Home To," her collaboration with jazz band Katte ni Shiyagare.

On September 21, TV Asahi will broadcast a special episode of "Kuroi Taiyou," a drama series that aired last summer.

Originally based on a novel by Fuyuki Shindo, the series starred Masaru Nagai as a man who starts out as a waiter at a club in Kabukicho. The upcoming special is set one year after the series, when Nagai opens a new club.

Some of the supporting cast will return, such as Tsuyoshi Ihara and Toru Minegishi, accompanied by several new faces, including idols Yoko Mitsuya and Haruna Yabuki.

The show will air in the 11:15pm time slot, which is currently occupied by Koichi Domoto's drama, "Sushi Ouji!"

It has been discovered that actress Saeko and the Nippon Ham Fighters pitcher Yu Darvish are currently dating. It was reported last year that Saeko was in a relationship with actor Keisuke Koide, but it appears that they broke up at the start of this year.

The two 20-year-olds met in March at a party with their friends. They naturally hit it off, as Saeko is a baseball fan, and they began going out in May.

Darvish's father, who lives in Osaka, acknowledges that they are dating. He said that he has already met the actress, when she visited the Kansai area with Darvish in June for a baseball match. Saeko's agency has also confirmed the relationship.

Last year, Japan saw the rise of the terms "ero kakkoii" ("erotic-cool") and "ero kawaii" ("erotic-cute"), thanks to pop star Kumi Koda. This year, it seems the new buzzword is "hime sexy," referring to someone princess-like but sexy at the same time. And according to an Oricon survey, the leading celebrity to fit that description is Kyoko Fukada.

Fukada was ranked the most "hime sexy" celebrity by female respondents, but she was only ranked third by males. The men surveyed instead preferred model Yuri Ebihara, who made #2 on the overall list.

Ayumi Hamasaki was #3 overall, followed by Erika Sawajiri and Masami Nagasawa.

Tomoyasu Hotei is facing possible prosecution for an incident that happened in June between him and singer/author Ko Machida. Hotei is being accused of assault, causing injuries to Machida's face, chest, and other areas that took two weeks to heal. The case was referred to the prosecutor's office on Tuesday.

On September 5, Kome Kome Club will release its new album, titled "komedia.jp." It includes what is being billed as the world's first "download system" with a CD - while the album contains 16 regular tracks, buyers will gain access to 8 download-exclusive songs.

When listeners place the CD in their computers and access www.komedia.jp, they will be able to purchase the downloadable songs. The tracks will only be available between the CD's release date and the end of the year. Each of them will cost 210 yen to download.

The experiment is sure to be closely watched by the music industry, as CD sales continue to drop in favor of digital distribution.