Idol and former Pirates member Yoshimi Asada announced on her blog on Monday that she gave birth to a baby boy that afternoon. The child weighed in at 3,180 grams.

Asada was six months pregnant when she got married this past summer.

Actress and singer Erika Sawajiri has received a special invitation to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in London, which was originally scheduled for the 26th of this month but has been postponed until December 10.

Sawajiri is a huge fan of the legendary band. In her profile on her official artist website, Led Zeppelin is the only artist listed as her musical influence. But with tens of millions of fans around the world entering the lottery for the concert's 20,000 tickets, her chances of seeing them in concert looked slim.

However, Led Zeppelin's record company in Japan was looking to promote the band among the younger generations, so they decided to invite a celebrity with a lot of influence among young people. Based on her popularity and her love of the band, Sawajiri was selected. She instantly accepted the offer, saying it was a "dream come true."

Last week, pop group NEWS simultaneously released their 7th single and 2nd album. Both releases made it to the top of the charts, with their single "weeeek" selling 263,000 copies and their album "pacific" selling 196,000 copies.

This is the 10th time in Oricon history that an artist has been #1 on both charts, with the last occurrence achieved by KAT-TUN in April 2006. The only other artists to accomplish the feat are SMAP, KinKi Kids, Masaharu Fukuyama, Ayumi Hamasaki, WANDS, and Seiko Matsuda.

These two releases also extend NEWS' current streaks of chart-toppers - so far, all seven of their singles and both of their albums have entered the rankings at #1.

According to Sports Hochi, Shonentai member Noriyuki Higashiyama and actress Rina Uchiyama have broken up.

News of their relationship first surfaced this past January, though they had already been dating for almost two years at the time. Their busy schedules seem to have finally taken their toll, leading the pair to split up around the start of October.

36-year-old comedian Hosshan got married on Sunday. He and his wife, who is five years younger, had been dating for 13 years. They are already living together in Tokyo.

According to the latest issue of FLASH, 24-year-old actor Ryuhei Matsuda is currently dating 19-year-old model Lina Ohta. Late last month, the pair was seen on a date at night, walking down Omotesando hand in hand before taking a taxi to Matsuda's apartment. Ohta has also been spotted visiting the apartment frequently.

The half-Japanese, half-Russian Ohta debuted as a model in 2001. She starred in the movie "Humoresque" last year.

Matsuda reportedly confirmed the relationship. He said they started dating a few weeks ago and were introduced to each other through a friend.

NHK has revealed its hosts for the annual Kohaku Uta Gassen. SMAP leader Masahiro Nakai is returning, but he will be the host of the Red Team instead of the White, which will be led by rakugo artist Tsurube Shofukutei. This is only the third time in history that both teams are led by men - it happened in 1955 and 1956 when Teru Miyata and Keizo Takahashi performed the hosting duties.

It was widely rumored that the teams would be hosted by Masami Nagasawa and SMAP, leading to much surprise when the announcement was made.

The show's overall hosts will be announcers Miki Sumiyoshi and Kazuya Matsumoto. The official website has also been updated.

Pitcher Yu Darvish and actress Saeko officially registered their marriage on November 11, it was learned on Sunday. The news was announced on both of their official websites and blogs.

The date appears to have been chosen partly because Darvish wears the number 11.

Actor Kojiro Kusanagi died of interstitial pneumonia in a Tokyo hospital on Sunday afternoon. He was 78.

Kusanagi made his debut in the early '50s and first gained recognition for his lead role in the 1956 movie "Mahiru no Ankoku" (directed by Tadashi Imai). He appeared in many more films and television dramas, mostly in minor roles.