Singer YOSHIKA has announced on her offical site that she is resuming her solo career. The 24-year-old has been on hiatus since 2006, when she revealed that she was pregnant and getting married. Since then, she has collaborated with m-flo for recordings and live performances, but has not released any new music by herself.

According to her announcement, she is currently working on new material and hopes to put together an album by the end of the year. She also plans to do a digital release of a song that was supposed to go on sale before her hiatus.

Fujio Akatsuka, a pioneer of gag manga, died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital on Saturday afternoon. He was 72.

Akatsuka was born in Manchuria in 1935 but grew up in Nara after his family moved there following the end of World War II. Inspired by the work of Osamu Tezuka, he decided to pursue comics, and in 1953 he moved to Tokyo where he worked in factory while submitting his manga to magazines.

He made his debut in 1956 with "Arashi wo Koete." He found popularity with "Nama-chan" in 1959, and three years later he started two of his biggest hits, "Osomatsu-kun" and the magical girl series "Himitsu no Akko-chan." He later published dozens of comics, including the popular "Tensai Bakabon."

Akatsuka received the Bungeishunju Manga Award in 1972, and in 1998 he was given the Shiju Hosho.

29-year-old singer-songwriter Hitomi Toi is now married to 31-year-old painter/sculptor Takeru Amano. On Saturday, they held their wedding ceremony in Tokyo.

The couple has been dating for three years. Currently, Toi is 6 months pregnant and is expected to give birth by the end of the year.