Oricon asked 1,000 men and women to name which celebrity they feel fits the image of "natsu otoko" - the "summer man."

The #1 answer was Nobuteru Maeda of the music group TUBE, which is known for releasing many popular summertime songs. In second was actor Kenji Sakaguchi, who picked up surfing when he was attending school in Hawaii.

Keisuke Kuwata of Southern All Stars (another popular summertime band) ranked third, followed by Mocomichi Hayami and Shigeru Matsuzaki. Others on the list were Tsuyoshi Shinjo, Tatsuya Yamaguchi, Takuya Kimura, Masaharu Fukuyama, and former tennis pro Shuzo Matsuoka.

The winners of the 19th Japan Fantasy Novel Award were revealed on Friday. The Grand Prize winner is "Enkenden" by 24-year-old Hideaki Hiroya, while the Excellence Award is being given to "Black Jack Kid" by 38-year-old Takehiko Kubodera.

The presentation ceremony takes place on November 20. Hiroya and Kubodera will receive prizes of 5 million yen and 1 million yen, respectively.

Broadcaster NTV announced on Thursday that it is replacing its daytime program, "Omoikkiri TV." The show will discontinue after September, at the end of its 20th year on the air. However, the new show will have the same host, the popular Minomonta.

In May, it was announced that another long-running NTV program, "The Wide," will also end after September. The two shows together make up a 4-hour block in the network's weekday lineup.