Last spring, actress Ryoko Hirosue filed a lawsuit against publisher Shogakukan for alleged defamation. On Tuesday, a Tokyo court ruled in favor of Hirosue, awarding her 1.2 million yen in damages.

Shogakukan's weekly magazine Josei Seven had published an article in March 2007 claiming that Hirosue, still married at the time, was having an affair with an actor. Hirosue denied the rumors and subsequently took her complaint to court, demanding 23 million yen. The judge agreed that the article was very likely false and had negatively affected the actress' image. However, he also explained that the impact was not as significant as Hirosue claimed, given her prior reputation for being free-spirited.

33-year-old actress Maha Hamada recently got married to a 31-year-old office worker, her agency announced on Tuesday. Hamada is currently 6 months pregnant and is due to give birth in November.

The couple met in 2001 at a wedding for one of Hamada's friends, but they didn't start dating until 2005. They held their own wedding in Hawaii this past April.

Anime News Network reports that Imagi Studios has revealed more details about its planned CG-animated "Astro Boy" film. In addition to Freddie Highmore as Astro Boy, the voice cast now includes Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Bill Nighy, and Eugene Levy.

Imagi has also revealed that they will be handling distribution in Japan, Hong Kong, and China, while Summit Entertainment will distribute in other countries worldwide. The movie is scheduled for a 2009 release.

Who is the most intellectual woman in show business? Oricon polled 500 high school students to see what they thought, and the leading choice was announcer and talento Mona Yamamoto, largely due to her frequent appearances on quiz shows. Incidentally, it was announced last week that Fuji TV is giving Yamamoto another opportunity as a news reporter, which will be her first such role since 2006, when she left TBS's "News 23" after her affair with DPJ politician Goshi Hosono was discovered.

#2 in the rankings was actress and talento Kuniko Asagi, who has also gained a smart image through her quiz show appearances. Actress Rei Kikukawa was third, followed by Kaori Manabe and Ayako Hatta.

The others in the top 10 were young actress Mari Sekine, doctor Ayako Nishikawa, actress Miki Maya, talento Miho Takagi, and actress Yoshiko Miyazaki.

Yujin Kitagawa, one half of the folk duo Yuzu, has been in mourning since last week. It was learned that his father passed away due to illness last Tuesday. He was 76.

Yuzu has been on tour since April, and they happened to have a short break after a show in Shizuoka on the 7th. Kitagawa's father died three days later. A funeral service was held yesterday in Kanagawa.

X Japan formally announced on Tuesday that they are postponing the three international concerts that they have scheduled so far. With Yoshiki in Los Angeles recovering from a slipped disc and tendinitis, the other three members of the band held a press conference in Tokyo to discuss the postponement.

The band emphasized that they will continue with their concerts as soon as possible. They were originally scheduled to perform in Paris on July 5, in Taiwan on August 2, and in New York on September 13. No specific dates have been chosen yet for the rescheduled concerts.