Livedoor has a two-part interview with singer Yurika Ohyama and actress Erika Toda. Part 1 of the interview can be read here, translated by migimaru.

gloomybear has profiles of two more new artists participating in the upcoming Oricon Sound Blowin' event next month. Read about TSUYOSHI here, or Kana Nishino here.

Next week is Golden Week in Japan. With that in mind, Oricon conducted a survey of a thousand people, asking them a series of leisure-related questions.

When asked which actress they would want to go to an amusement park with, the respondents chose Aya Ueto as the #1 answer. Yui Aragaki, Masami Nagasawa, Maki Horikita, and Aoi Miyazaki were the next most popular choices.

Given the same question but with actors instead, the survey takers favored Yusuke Kamiji, who is currently popular for his character on "Quiz! Hexagon II" and as part of that show's male trio Shuchishin. Hiroshi Tamaki ranked 2nd, followed by Ryuta Sato, Shun Oguri, and Yusuke Yamamoto.

Not surprisingly, the answers were similar for the next pair of questions, which asked "who would you want to go on a drive with?" For actresses, Yui Aragaki came out on top this time, putting Aya Ueto at #2. Haruka Ayase made the list at #3, ahead of Maki Horikita and Masami Nagasawa. Meanwhile, Hiroshi Tamaki was at the top of the actors' list, again followed by Ryuta Sato and Shun Oguri. Yuta Hiraoka and Kenichi Matsuyama also made the cut.

The last question on the survey asked which song they would want to listen to during a drive. The top five were L'Arc~en~Ciel's "Driver's High," Ketsumeishi's "Drive," Porno Graffiti's "Haneuma Rider," Judy and Mary's "Over Drive," and Yuzu's "Story."

Singer Yuu of rock band GO!GO!7188 has a guest role as a voice actress for the anime series "Itazura na Kiss." She has already recorded her part for the show's 8th episode, which will air on TBS on May 23 (and other dates on CBC and SUN-TV).

GO!GO!7188 currently performs the anime's ending theme song, "Kataomoi Fighter."

Last year, renowned lyricist Yu Aku died of cancer, and the music industry has been mourning his loss ever since. It has now been announced that he will get his first tribute album this July, titled "GA-KI ~Aku Yu Tribute~."

At least 10 artists are participating on the album: Masayuki Suzuki, Shizuka Kudo, Chitose Hajime, Yoshihiro Kai, Hako Yamasaki, Anri, Keizo Nakanishi, Naotaro Moriyama, Mizrock (formerly known as Miz), and onso9line.

Two more tribute albums are being planned, with the next one scheduled for release by the end of this year. A memorial concert with the participating artists is also tentatively scheduled for August 2009 to coincide with Aku's death anniversary.

Fuji TV has announced a collection of 7 short dramas called "The Prologue: Nukumi~zu," all of which feature actor Yoichi Nukumizu as a key character. They will be distributed on DVD and on the internet, and one of them will be redone as a longer television drama.

The project is a collaboration between Fuji TV and Kyodo TV. Seven different directors have each written their own stories for the dramas, with Nukumizu himself participating in the process. The stories are all created as incomplete plots, and viewers will elect one to be fleshed out as a full-length drama to be aired on Fuji TV.

Cast members for the individual dramas include Mami Yamasaki, Yukie Kawamura, Yuri Morishita, Koichiro Nishi, and comedy duo Unjash.

The dramas will be made available on the Fuji TV On Demand website (Japan-accessible only) on May 16. Each will get a four-and-a-half minute episode. Then on July 25, a DVD will be released containing a longer 8-minute episode for each story. Voting will close at the end of September, and the result will be announced in mid-October.