On Thursday, monthly magazine Nikkei Trendy announced its list of the top 30 hit products of the year. This year's #1 was the Wii, which has sold approximately 3.6 million units domestically and has helped propel Nintendo to become the second largest company in Japan.

The top ten included Billy's Bootcamp (#2), video sites such as YouTube and Niconico Douga (#3), Crocs (#5), Krispy Kreme (#9), and Masafumi Akikawa's "Sen no Kaze ni Natte" (#10).

The magazine also awarded the title of "face of the year" to Saki Fukuda, largely for her role in the drama series "LIFE."

One weekly magazine reported this week that Teppei Koike (WaT) was spotted on a date with actress Haruka Ayase. The date supposedly occurred in the Meguro ward of Tokyo in early October, and the two were said to have made no attempt to disguise themselves.

On Thursday, Koike posted on his blog that the rumor is entirely false. He explained that he is not even acquainted with Ayase, nor has ever worked with her.

Fall is a common season for school festivals (known as "gakuensai"). To see who's popular this year, Oricon surveyed a thousand people, asking them which celebrities seem like they would be the festival "king" and "queen."

The "kings" tend to fall along the lines of either popular comedians or good-looking actors. This year, comedy won out, with the silly Yoshio Kojima being an overwhelming favorite. "Hana Kimi" stars Shun Oguri and Toma Ikuta represented the ikemen at #2 and #3 (receiving votes mainly from women), but comedy acts Taka and Toshi, Tutorial, and Moody Katsuyama filled the next three slots. Another comedian, Yakkun Sakurazuka, was #8.

The outrageous DJ OZMA ranked 7th. Rounding out the list were hip-hop group FUNKY MONKEY BABYS and actor Yuta Hiraoka, tied for 9th.

Unlike the "kings," "queens" are chosen primarily for their looks, though comedy still plays a factor. At the top was this year's hot topic in gravure idols, Leah Dizon. The second-ranked Kanako Yanagihara was one of two comediennes to make the list, with the other being Sumiko Nishioka at #6.

Singer YUI was #3. Erika Sawajiri ranked 4th (though the survey was conducted partly before the "Closed Note" incident), followed by Maki Horikita in 5th.

The last four spots in the top ten were taken by Yui Aragaki, Shoko Nakagawa, Ayaka, and Ai Otsuka.

The latest issue of tabloid magazine Shukan Bunshun includes the results of the publication's annual rankings of female celebrities disliked by women across the nation. A thousand women participated in the survey, and 386 of them selected actress Erika Sawajiri, placing her at the top of the list. Unranked last year, Sawajiri has earned a lot of scorn within the last month due to her unprofessional behavior at the opening of the "Closed Note" film.

Sawajiri outranked last year's number one, fortune teller Kazuko Hosoki, by a margin of more than 150 votes.

Akiko Wada remained at #3, while Uno Kanda and talento Ayako Nishikawa (who tied for #8 last year) jumped up to #4 and #5, respectively. Masami Hisamoto also gained some haters, rising twelve places to #6.

Politician Makiko Tanaka joined the rankings at #7, followed by Shizuka Kudo (#20 last year) and actress Tamao Sato (#2 last year).

Popular actress Masami Nagasawa made a surprising appearance at #10. One respondent was quoted as saying that Nagasawa has an attitude of self-importance and seems to be two-faced. Writer Chiaki Aso added that the actress is also seen as acting out of her league - the actual phrase is "juunen hayai," which literally means "ten years too early" - based on things such as the bare-shouldered dress she wore while walking the red carpet at the Tokyo International Film Festival, and the rumors that she will be hosting the upcoming Kohaku Uta Gassen.

Variety reports that First Look Studios has obtained North American rights to Takashi Miike's "Sukiyaki Western Django." No release dates have been announced yet.

Meanwhile, Viz Pictures has picked up "Love Com," "Honey and Clover," "NANA," and "NANA 2."

"Love Com" is going straight to DVD in February, while the other three films will see limited theatrical release. "Honey and Clover" will start its run in December. "NANA" will screen in theaters in early 2008, followed by "NANA 2" in the spring.

Both "Love Com" and the first "NANA" movie will premiere at the New York Anime Festival in December.

Long-time couple Kaname Kawabata (of CHEMISTRY) and Hiroko Anzai have gone their separate ways, it was learned on Thursday. During their six-year relationship, many believed they were headed for marriage, but it appears that work may have come between them. The two seem to have broken up last month, and it was also discovered that Anzai left her management agency around the same time.

Their relationship was first reported in October 2001. Years later, Kawabata bought an apartment in Kanagawa near Anzai's parents' house, and the two began living together. Things appeared to be going well, leading the media to speculate about an eventual wedding.

Trouble apparently began around the start of this year, though details are still unclear. Anzai's management said they knew nothing in particular about the breakup, since she had already left the company. One source, who reportedly knows Kawabata well, explained that the split seems to have resulted from Kawabata's desire to devote himself more to his music.

According to Sports Hochi, singer hitomi will be getting divorced within the next few days. She has been married for almost exactly five years (her anniversary is November 3) to a former member of hip-hop group GAS BOYS. The cause for the split is said to be differences in their lifestyles.

The two had been friends before hitomi made her debut in 1994. They met again after a decade in 2002, and they married in November of that year. By that time, hitomi's husband was no longer in GAS BOYS and was working for a design company. He publicly stated that he felt their different career paths would not be a problem, but it appears to have been an obstacle after all.

In addition to singing, hitomi has recently started acting, making her big screen debut in Shinya Tsukamoto's "Nightmare Detective" in January and appearing in a play in August. Meanwhile, her music career is still going strong, and she is scheduled to release a best album on December 5.

The couple has not had any children.