the brilliant green's Tomoko Kawase is back in action as her solo project Tommy heavenly6. The project has been inactive since her second album, "Heavy Starry Heavenly," was released in March 2007. Her new tune, whose name has not yet been revealed, will be the next opening theme of the "Soul Eater" anime series. The show currently airs on TV Tokyo.

Actress Nanako Ohkouchi and actor Takayuki Takuma are now proud parents. Ohkouchi gave birth to their first son last Thursday.

The couple has been married since November 2006.

SM Entertainment recently announced that Korean singer BoA will be making her entry into the U.S. market. On Wednesday, a press conference was held in Seoul to reveal more details about the singer's plans. It was announced that BoA's U.S. debut is coming in October, starting with a dance number called "Eat You Up."

BoA showed up at the press conference with her left arm in a cast. According to her agency, she had fallen down the stairs at her company's building on Tuesday.

Television caster Fumie Kusayanagi was found hanged on Tuesday morning at her Tokyo apartment. She was 54. Given that she left a note, the incident is presumed to be a suicide.

Kusayanagi lived with her mother on the 46th floor of a 54-story building. Early on Tuesday morning, her mother woke up and was unable to find her daughter, so she called a security guard to help her search. They eventually found Kusayanagi hanging by her neck from their balcony, dressed in her pajamas. She was taken to the hospital, where she was confirmed to be dead.

Kusayanagi had been ill for a while and underwent surgery in May 2007. She appears to have been worried about her health, but it is not clear if that was a reason for her suicide.

The eldest daughter of the late journalist Taizo Kusayanagi, Fumie was a graduate of Aoyama Gakuin and a former Miss Tokyo. She joined NHK in 1975 and became active in television, radio, and print. She was once married to 9-dan shogi player Kazuo Manabe.

Actor Hiroki Narimiya has been added to the cast of the TBS drama series "Bloody Monday," based on a suspense manga by Ryo Ryumon. The show stars Haruma Miura as a hacker fighting a terrorist organization, and Narimiya will be playing the head of the terrorists.

Narimiya has also been cast in the Fuji TV drama series "Innocent Love," which stars Maki Horikita. In contrast to his role in "Bloody Monday," he portrays a naive man who is unable to open up his heart to the one he loves.

"Bloody Monday" will air Sunday nights, starting on October 11. "Innocent Love" will be broadcast on Monday nights.

R&B artist Thelma Aoyama will be providing the theme song for TV Tokyo's live-action "Cafe Kichijoji de" series, starting on September 29. The song is a cover of the 1988 hit "You're My Only Shinin' Star," originally sung by actress/idol Miho Nakayama.

"You're My Only Shinin' Star" was Nakayama's 12th single and her second to reach #1 on the Oricon charts.

The single for Aoyama's version is scheduled to go on sale later this year.

Sales for Namie Amuro's "BEST FICTION" have been slowing down, but she managed to hang on to the #1 spot this week, selling 55,000 copies compared to Monkey Majik's 50,000 copies of "TIME." This is Amuro's sixth consecutive week atop the charts, a feat last achieved by Dreams Come True's "MAGIC" in 1993-1994 (it ran for 7 weeks). The last female soloist to do it was Saki Kubota with "Yumegatari" in 1979-1980.

Sound Horizon took #3 with a new release, while THE BACK HORN came in at #5.

On the singles chart, Mr.Children picked up another #1 showing with "HANABI," which sold 260,000 copies. TOKIO's new song was far behind in #2 with only 46,000 copies.

The bigger story in the media was the #3 spot, taken by the debut single of GIRL NEXT DOOR, the first group to be fully produced by Avex. The last female-fronted group to make the top 3 with a debut single was Kigurumi two years ago.

Two other new singles made the top ten: one by Quruli at #8, and the other by D at #9.