Korean-born singer SunMin has been chosen to do the theme song for Fumihiko Sori's upcoming film "ICHI," a female-led take on the Zatoichi story. Two years ago, she did the theme song "Keep Holding U" with Toshinobu Kubota for "Japan Sinks," but this will be her first solo movie theme.

The song is a ballad titled "Will" and is being packaged with a cover of "Ichi no Komoriuta," originally sung by starring actress Haruka Ayase during the movie. The CD goes on sale October 15, ahead of the film's October 25 opening date.

TV Asahi is the latest network to announce the theme song for their Olympic Games coverage. Popular singer Masaharu Fukuyama is providing a tune called "HIGHER STAGE," which he says is inspired by athletes such as swimmer Kosuke Kitajima and weightlifter Hiromi Miyake.

In addition, Fukuyama will be serving as an official cameraman for TV Asahi's broadcasts of the Games, like he did in 2000 and 2004.

"HIGHER STAGE" is expected to go on sale this autumn.

Spitz is coming out with their first new single in over a year. Named "Wakaba," the song will be used as the theme for Shun Nakahara's film remake, "Sakura no Sono." The band's last movie tie-in was about two years ago, when "Mahou no Kotoba" was used in "Honey and Clover."

More details about the film were announced in May. Theatrical release has been dated for November 8, and "Wakaba" will go on sale the same month.

On Tuesday, TV Asahi held a PR event for the upcoming "Maison Ikkoku" drama special, which has now been officially scheduled for July 26. The drama is the conclusion to last year's one-shot, starring Misaki Ito and Taiki Nakabayashi. Both episodes are based on the classic Rumiko Takahashi manga of the same name.

The main cast is the same as the first drama, except for idol Akina Minami replacing Nana Eikura as the character Kozue Nanao.

Fuji TV has announced that Yuya Tegoshi will be returning for a follow-up to last year's "Shabake" drama special, which marked his first lead role on television. Like the previous episode, "Uso Uso" is based on part of Megumi Hatakenaka's supernatural jidaigeki novel series "Shabake."

The "Shabake" drama was fairly successful with 14.4% ratings when it aired last November. A sequel was soon decided, and filming for "Uso Uso" began at the start of this month. Shosuke Tanihara and Hiroyuki Miyasako have also been confirmed as returning cast members.

Fuji TV plans to broadcast the special this winter.

Former Musical Academy member Jun Akiyama is no longer with Johnny's Jimusho, it was revealed on Tuesday. Primarily active in stage musicals and plays, Akiyama was suspended since last summer after pictures of him and his girlfriend were posted online, violating the agency's strict no-girls policy. The actor finally decided to leave the company in March.

In April, Perfume became just the second technopop group, after Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1983, to top the albums chart. Now they have achieved what YMO could not - their newest single, "love the world," has taken #1 on the singles chart. Before this, the highest-ranked single by a technopop artist was YMO's "Kimi ni, Mune Kyun," which landed at 2nd place more than 25 years ago.

"love the world" sold close to 81,000 copies in its first week. The next closest was Maximum the Hormone's "Tsume Tsume Tsume / F" at 69,000, followed by Ikimono Gakari's "Bluebird" (32,000) and Berryz Koubou's "Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance" (30,000). Thelma Aoyama, Mai Kuraki, Korean group Super Junior, and BREAKERZ also had new releases in the top ten.

Meanwhile, ORANGE RANGE's "PANIC FANCY" sold 75,000 copies to become the group's third #1 album. Most of the previous week's top ten carried over, with the only other new entries being Def Tech's Micro (at #9) and American band Zebrahead (at #10).