Kickboxer Kozo Takeda will take on his first acting role for the late-night TV Asahi drama series, "Shinjuku Swan." Adapted from a manga by Ken Wakui, the drama stars Yosuke Kawamura as a young man who becomes a scout for Shinjuku's red light district.

Takeda will play a member of a gangster organization affiliated with an AV company. His character will appear in the fourth episode of the six-part series. The episode is scheduled to air on September 8.

Talento Emi Kobayashi will make her singing debut next month with a cover of Fumie Hosokawa's "Suki Suki Suu." The new version, titled "Suki Suki Suu 2007," goes on sale September 21. Former Pizzicato Five member Yasuharu Konishi is the song's producer.

Following on the heels of Nikkan Sports' unconfirmed reports of a relationship between Kazunari Ninomiya and Masami Nagasawa, a different sports newspaper has reported another prominent celebrity couple.

According to Sports Nippon, SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai and pop star Kumi Koda have recently begun dating. Koda appeared on stage at a SMAP concert last September, and that led to the start of a relationship this spring. Since then, they have been spending time together at a Tokyo restaurant every weekend with friends. Once, they were spotted alone, and eyewitnesses said they were acting like a couple.

Nakai and Koda are said to have baseball in common, as Nakai is a loyal Giants fan and Koda was affiliated with her junior high school's baseball team.

Neither side has commented on the news yet.

Takaya Kamikawa will star in a Fuji TV drama series this fall, tentatively titled "Swan no Baka."

Kamikawa takes the lead as Daisuke Suwano, a 40-year-old salaryman married to former co-worker Masumi (Misako Tanaka). Because his daughter is taking entrance exams, Daisuke is forced to live on only 30,000 yen a month.

Hiroki Narimiya plays Kawase, an IT company manager who works in the same building as Suwano's office, while Hitori Gekidan plays a deputy manager of the building's cafe. Casting is still in progress for other characters.

The drama begins in October, airing on Tuesdays at 10:00pm.

The next drama series in TBS's "Ai no Gekijo" time slot (weekdays 1:00-1:30pm) is titled "Ie ni Gojo Ari." Gin Maeda stars as a man past retirement age who has to deal with his five daughters. The rest of the cast includes Tsugumi, Seiko Sakurada, Kana Harada, and Shizuka Miyazawa.

TBS begins airing the show on September 3.

Director Tetsuya Nakashima ("Memories of Matsuko," "Kamikaze Girls") has created a short movie for the Playstation 3 game, "Boku no Natsuyasumi 3."

The "Boku no Natsuyasumi" series revolves around a young boy spending his summer vacation in the countryside, allowing players to relive the simple pleasures of childhood.

Nakashima's movie, titled "Ano Natsu ni" and lasting less than two minutes, takes a rather dark approach to the concept. Hirofumi Arai plays a thuggish man who sends his woman (Tsugumi) into tears, and as he runs from the apartment, a gangster (Susumu Terajima) shows up to stab him with a knife. Meanwhile, voice-overs by the three of them think back upon their youthful summers, wishing to God that they could return to those days.

The clip (with some "making of" scenes) can be seen on a special website for the game (the second video on the right side).

Rock band LUNA SEA seems to have a surprise in store for fans. The group's official site has been updated with an image reading "God Blessed You." Clicking on the image leads to another site, which displays a moon and a number, which has been counting down daily. The countdown ends on August 28, the date of the upcoming lunar eclipse.

No one knows yet what the day will bring for LUNA SEA fans, though some are speculating about the possibility of the band reuniting.