TBS is producing a drama special called "Souka, Mou Kimi wa Inai no Ka," adapted from a book by author Saburo Shiroyama, who passed away last year. The story recounts Shiroyama's own experiences during his marriage and after his wife Yoko's death.

Yoko's father had been opposed to their marriage, and the couple faced many hardships during their life together. Yoko was later diagnosed with cancer, resulting in her death in 2000.

Shiroyama's writings on the subject were discovered this past December, almost a year after his death. It was published as a book by Shinchosha in January. The story was very successful, and TBS was just one of nearly twenty companies offering to do an adaptation.

Masakazu Tamura and Sumiko Fuji have been chosen to star as Shiroyama and his wife, while Rei Dan plays their daughter. For the flashback scenes, Kantaro Nakamura and Masami Nagasawa will play the younger versions of the two characters.

TBS has not yet decided on a broadcast date for the drama.

Former EXILE vocalist Shunsuke Kiyokiba has announced that he is going independent. Since leaving EXILE in 2006, he has been building a solo career as part of LDH (the agency managed by EXILE's HIRO), but he decided to establish his own management company, apparently called Kiyokiba Jimusho. He has also terminated his contract with record label Avex.

Kiyokiba has scheduled an 18-show tour starting in Chiba on November 1.

After spending six weeks atop the album charts, Namie Amuro has finally been bumped down to #5 by a bunch of new releases. Leading the way is rival pop queen Ayumi Hamasaki with her singles collection "A COMPLETE ~ALL SINGLES~," the 14th number-one album of her career. It sold an impressive 539,000 copies within its first week, but that's only the fourth-highest opening of 2008, behind the best albums of Amuro, EXILE, and B'z.

American artists Ne-Yo and Metallica ranked #2 and #3, respectively, while Suga Shikao barely outsold Amuro to land at #4. "FUNKAHOLIC" is his 12th consecutive top-ten album starting with his debut, a streak equaled only by the late Yutaka Ozaki among male solo artists. Meanwhile, Onmyo-Za and Aya Kamiki managed to take the #9 and #10 spots.

On the singles chart, Mr.Children stayed at #1 with their "HANABI," which moved an additional 84,000 copies this week. GLAY's latest song came in second at 68,000 copies, followed by new releases from UVERworld, Ai Otsuka, Shoko Nakagawa, Dir en grey, and Kaela Kimura, in that order. Superfly also made the bottom of the top ten list.

Rock band RENTRER EN SOI has announced that they will be breaking up this December, bringing their 7-year history to a close. According to the announcement on their official website, the band felt that it had fully achieved its motif of "return to oneself" (the meaning behind its name), and they decided to take the opportunity to disband.

The band has a mini-album titled "MEGIDDO" due out on October 22. It will be followed by a best album on November 19. The band has several upcoming shows scheduled, but their final concert is set for December 25 in Shibuya.

The identity of the new unit BAReeeeeeeeeeN has finally been revealed. With their song "Ashiato" making waves on USEN and chaku-uta charts, many have been speculating about the group. As widely believed due to the name, the group is indeed related to the popular band GReeeeeN, and the members are still refusing to reveal their faces.

BAReeeeeeeeeeN is actually a collaboration between GReeeeeN and the band BACK-ON. The two groups have a total of 9 members, but joining them as the producer and 10th member (and the 10th 'e') is JIN, the older brother of GReeeeeN leader HIDE.

"Ashiato" will be released as the unit's first single on October 1.