Singer-songwriter Ayumi Tamura, better known by her solo project name tamurapan, will be making her major label debut next month.

At the end of last year, Tamura joined MySpace and began using the site to release her songs, all completely self-produced. She built a following of thousands of fans in a few months, catching the attention of more than ten record labels.

She finally signed a contract as the first artist on Robin Works, a new internet label being launched by Columbia Music Entertainment on the 12th of this month. On October 10, two of her songs are being officially released: "Semenai Day" (for free) and "Heiyo Meiyo." Tamura also has a performance lined up at Shibuya O-West on October 25 to commemorate her debut.

After October, the label will release a new single every month until next March, and her first album is expected to go on sale in April.

Tamura is the first Japanese artist to start on MySpace and get signed to a major label. Her MySpace page can be found here.

Yoshimoto Kogyo has announced that its seinen manga magazine, Comic Yoshimoto, is ending its run this month after its seventh issue.

The biweekly launched on June 19, but the first issue sold only a third of the 270,000 copies printed, and sales continued to drop with every subsequent issue.

Singer-songwriter Yumi Matsutoya is working on a new project to promote her upcoming best album, "Seasons Colours: Fall Winter Selection," in stores October 24. Three short movies based on her music will be released for free online. Referred to as "Yuming Films," the project has brought together some notable young directors and actors.

Matsutoya recruited about twenty young writers to create a total of around forty works, and she selected three of them in the end.

The first is "Refrain ga Sakenderu," directed by Takashi Kubota ("Humming Life") and starring Yuika Motokariya. The second one, titled "Bye Bye, Bear ~ Aoi Airmail," stars Mikako Tabe and is directed by Sayaka Kai, who worked on the short films "pellet" and "Out Sect." The third film is "A Happy New Year," is helmed by Kenichi Watanabe ("I My Me Mine") with Takashi Tsukamoto playing the lead.

The movies will be available on internet video sites starting in October.

It was announced in May that SMAP's Masahiro Nakai was given the lead role in a new feature-length version of "Watashi wa Kai ni Naritai" ("I Want to Be a Shellfish"), a 1958 drama special that was later adapted to film and remade for television.

Nakai plays a man sentenced to death as a war criminal. Actress Yukie Nakama has now officially signed on to co-star with Nakai, playing the part of his wife.

The film is directed by Katsuo Fukuzawa and written by Shinobu Hashimoto. It is scheduled for release at the end of next year.

The leads for the previously announced "ChocoMimi" drama series have been revealed: 13-year-old Kayano Masuyama of AKB48 and 14-year-old model Yukika Teramoto of fashion magazine nicola. This will be the acting debut for both girls.

The show is an adaptation of Konami Sonoda's manga of the same name about two fashionable friends named Choco (Teramoto) and Mimi (Masuyama).

TV Tokyo will broadcast the series at 5:30pm on Mondays, starting on October 1.

Idol Leah Dizon is set to take a major step forward as a pop star. Her debut album, "Destiny Line," will see a simultaneous release on the 12th in nine Asian countries. Aside from Japan, fans will be able to buy the album in Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Dizon has become popular throughout Asia mainly through the Internet. Even without much publicity effort, her single "Koi Shiyou" performed well on the radio and sales charts in Taiwan and Hong Kong.

Her schedule is currently too busy to accommodate an Asia tour, but it is reportedly likely to happen sometime next year.

Yoka Wao, a former top star of the Takarazuka, has signed on to star in a big-budget film titled "Chacha: Tengai no Onna," directed by Hajime Hashimoto.

The movie is a fictionalized version of the life of Chacha, a concubine of the famous daimyo Toyotomi Hideyoshi. The story is based on the novel "Yodo no Nikki" by Yasushi Inoue.

"Chacha" marks a big leap for Wao, as this is her first non-theater role, as well as her first time playing a female.

The film is scheduled for a December 22 opening. It is projected to cost over 1 billion yen, following in the footsteps of Toei's recent New Year releases, "YAMATO" in 2005 and "Ooku" in 2006.

Following up on their announcement of three shows in California, Polysics has finalized a fourth show, scheduled for October 14 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco.

Jrock Revolution has announced a new contest: a site-wide scavenger hunt. Participants will have to scour the site to find answers to a list of questions. The first person to compile a complete and correct list will receive a poster signed by his or her choice of one of the Festival One bands (alice nine., D'espairsRay, Duel Jewel, girugamesh, Kagrra, Merry, Miyavi, MUCC, Vidoll).

Other prizes are being given out, including a SKIN t-shirt, posters, and buttons.

The contest begins on Saturday, September 8, sometime between 6pm and 8pm (PST).

Popular duo Kobukuro has been chosen to handle the theme song for the NTV drama series, "Dream Again," starring Takashi Sorimachi. The song, titled "Aoku Yasashiku," is their fifth consecutive single to be used as a television drama theme. It goes on sale November 7.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Maguire Entertainment (Tobey Maguire's production company) have acquired film adaptation rights to the anime series "Robotech." Maguire is producing, and will possibly play the lead role.

Also producing are Drew Crevello and Jason Netter. Frank Agrama of the anime series rights-holder Harmony Gold will be executive producer. Warner's Matthew Reilly and Maguire's Daniel Shafer will oversee the project. Craig Zahler is in charge of the screenplay.

"Robotech" is not the only giant robot series picked up by Hollywood after the success of "Transformers." Last month, New Regency acquired rights to "Voltron," to be produced by Mark Gordon.