Singer Kurumi Enomoto has been appointed to do the theme song of Takashi Kubota's movie "Yesterdays," which stars Takashi Tsukamoto. The tune, titled "Yesterdays ~Taisetsu na Okurimono~," is Enomoto's first movie tie-in. The song's music video will also feature scenes from the film.

Enomoto has announced that she will do her first solo show at the Ebisu Liquid Room on July 14. The music video for "Yesterdays" will get its first public presentation there, while the single is scheduled for release in October. The film is expected to open in theaters in November.

Popular rock band MONGOL800 (also known as "Monpachi") is celebrating its 10th anniversary with a best hits album, titled "etc works." The collection features not only their own songs, but also collaborations with other artists (such as RYUKYUDISKO and RIP SLYME) and covers they performed for the tribute albums of Unicorn and Husking Bee.

"etc works" hits stores on July 8.

The "Furuhata Chugakusei" drama special announced last month has been given a broadcast date by Fuji TV. It will air at 7:00pm on June 14.

Based on the popular detective drama "Furuhata Ninzaburo," this special depicts the life of Furuhata (originally played by Masakazu Tamura) as a junior high schooler. The episode stars Ryosuke Yamada as the young sleuth, joined by a supporting cast of Yuriko Ishida (as his mother), Taizo Harada (as a teacher), and Kazuyuki Asano. The female lead will be played by Mayuko Fukuda.

Enka newcomer Jero has been given his first TV commercial appearance. He is now the face of Kirin Beverage's canned coffee product Kirin Fire Cafe Zero. The ad will begin rotation on May 21.

It was announced last month that the singer will release an enka cover album on June 25.

TOKIO bassist Tatsuya Yamaguchi has entered parenthood. It was revealed that his wife gave birth to a son on Tuesday evening, a couple weeks earlier than her expected delivery date. Yamaguchi said that they have not yet chosen a name for the child.

Yamaguchi got married to a former model in March after an 8-year relationship.

On Wednesday night, Shun Oguri openly admitted during his live radio show on "All Night Nippon" that he is currently dating Yu Yamada. News of their relationship had surfaced just one day earlier.

While most popular young celebrities generally refrain from acknowledging their romances, Oguri proudly declared Yamada to be his "very precious girlfriend." He even mentioned that he was so excited to appear on the front page of a newspaper that he picked up ten copies.

Yamada's agency has also acknowledged that the two are seeing each other, and Yamada herself reportedly confirmed it as well. Oguri's management, on the other hand, opted not to comment.

Yoshihiko Inohara (of V6) is teaming up with young acting troupe Europe Kikaku as he stars in a play titled "Showajima Walker." As a fan of the troupe, Inohara has been visiting some of the Kyoto-based group's practices and performances since a year ago. As a result, he was invited by the troupe's chairman, Makoto Ueda, to star in one of their productions.

Ueda is hailed by some as "the next Kankuro Kudo." One of his better known works is "Summer Time Machine Blues," which was turned into a movie in 2005.

"Showajima Walker" is a comedy set in the near future. Inohara plays the president of a struggling robot factory, who inherited the company after his father mysteriously committed suicide. Unlike his father, his efforts always end in failure, but he aims to revive the company with a newly designed robot.

The play also features Kotomi Kyono and Marika Matsumoto. It will run at The Globe Tokyo between November 2 and 23, and at the Theater Drama City in Osaka from November 27 to 30.

Actress Hiromi Nagasaku will star in a new play by the young dramatist Yukiko Motoya. Motoya is perhaps best known for writing the original work behind last year's award-winning movie "Funuke Domo, Kanashimi no Ai wo Misero," which also earned Nagasaku multiple prizes for Best Supporting Actress.

In Motoya's currently untitled opus, Nagasaku portrays a woman teaching piano lessons on the second floor of a newspaper distribution office. No concrete plot details are known yet, but like Motoya's previous works, it promises a cast of unusual characters. Participating in it are Koen Kondo, Aki Maeda, Nahoko Yoshimoto, Yuriko Hirooka, and Zen Kajihara.

Performances will be held at Shibuya's PARCO Theater from October 21 to November 9, followed by shows in Osaka on November 21-22.