Research firm Oricon conducted an online survey of 900 people to find out which celebrities they felt would be most effective as a salesperson.

As expected, the #1 salesman was Takuya Kimura of idol group SMAP, who was even ranked third by male respondents. Rather surprising was the appearance of Sanma Akashiya at #2. Yuji Oda and Shinsuke Shimada tied for third, followed by Masaharu Fukuyama and Kotaro Koizumi. Tomomitsu Yamaguchi and Masahiro Nakai tied for #7, with Satoshi Tsumabuki and Shosuke Tanihara rounding out the top ten.

Among female celebrities, actress Ryoko Shinohara stood out on top, getting the most votes from both men and women. The rest of the rankings were: Masami Hisamoto, Makiko Esumi, Yukie Nakama, Norika Fujiwara, Hitomi Kuroki, Yuki Amami, Misako Ito and Nanako Matsushima (tied for 9th), and Kaori Manabe.

Techno unit Denki Groove has signed on to provide the theme song for the movie "Gummi Chocolate Pine," directed by Keralino Sandorovich. The currently untitled song will go on sale on December 5. This is their first single in eight years (not counting their collaborations with Schadaraparr), as well as their first theme song for a movie.

"Gummi Chocolate Pine" is based on the autobiographical novel by Kenji Otsuki, vocalist of rock band Kinniku Shojotai. The film, which stars Takuya Ishida as Otsuki during his high school days, opens this December.

Manga authors Sensha Yoshida and Risa Ito have married. Yoshida is known for "Utsurun Desu" and "Young Bandit," while Ito has written "Hey Pitan!" and "Oruchuban Ebichu."

The two have known each since their debut, but they only started seeing each other after meeting again in 2004. Both have been married once before.