FRIDAY recently published photos of Taka (of comedy duo Taka and Toshi) in a hotel lounge with NTV reporter Natsuko Suzuki. The article claimed that Taka is two-timing on his girlfriend of eight years, whom he is currently living with.

Both sides have denied the rumor, saying that they are only friends. Meanwhile, the former Miss Kamakura winner Suzuki has been suspended indefinitely from her position on NTV's "The Wide," which Taka has been appearing on every other week.

Yoshino Kimura and Yusuke Iseya, who reportedly began dating after working together on "Sukiyaki Western Django," have been cast as a couple in an English-language film.

The two will appear in "Blindness," based on the 1995 novel of the same name by Nobel laureate Jose Saramago. The movie, which is slated for 2009, is directed by Fernando Meirelles and stars Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore.

In mid-July, Kimura and Iseya flew to Canada for filming, and they are scheduled to return to Japan in October.

Many see the casting as a foreshadow of marriage for the couple. Some tabloids have even printed rumors of a shotgun wedding, but Kimura's agency has denied it.

Koyuki, who is currently the image character for Panasonic's plasma TV line Viera, will be joined by Haruka Ayase to promote the line's newest model.

Ayase will play the part of Koyuki's younger sister. Their commercial begins airing in mid-September, but before that, a different version featuring only Koyuki will start on the 31st.

13-year-old actress Mayuko Fukuda has been cast as the heroine in Hideo Nakata's "L," the upcoming spinoff of the "Death Note" movies. She was chosen from more than 300 candidates.

Fukuda will play a young girl named Maki, whose only family is a father and a stuffed animal left by her mother. The girl happens to be the key to solving a mystery, so L (Kenichi Matsuyama) is forced to protect her.

Filming for the movie began at the start of this month in Saitama, and is expected to last about two months. On February 9, "L" will open simultaneously in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, which is a first for a Japanese film. Distribution offers from other countries have been coming in, raising the possibility of same-day releases in other countries.

Kazuaki Kiriya, the photographer and music video director who was married to Hikaru Utada until this past March, is once again helming a feature film. In 2004, he directed the sci-fi picture "Casshern." His new project is titled "Goemon," which presumably refers to the legendary warrior Ishikawa Goemon.

In addition to directing, Kiriya will be writing, filming, and producing the movie. His co-producer is Taka Ichise, known for his work on many of Japan's hit horror films in recent years.

Filming is scheduled to take place between this month and November, though the movie's release is slated for March 2009.

On Thursday, fashion magazine POPTEEN held the finals of its readers' model audition. 11 candidates were chosen from approximately 7,000 applicants. In the end, the winner was 16-year-old Misaki Izuoka, a high school junior from Suzuka, Mie.

The contest was jointly sponsored by Avex's talent management branch and the magazine's publisher, the Kadokawa Haruki Corporation.