A press conference was held on Tuesday for the upcoming theatrical production of "Romeo and Juliet," which will be the first starring stage role for KAT-TUN's Tatsuya Ueda. As far as Johnny's artists go, Ueda will be the second to take on the role of Romeo, after Noriyuki Higashiyama did it in 2004.

His Juliet will be played by Ryoko Kobayashi, who recently gained attention for her role in the drama series "Maou." Other cast members include actor Jun Hasegawa and Shoon Yamashita.

Performances will be held at The Globe Tokyo from March 3 to March 29, followed by a run at Osaka's Sankei Hall Breeze from April 2 to April 5.

Masami Nagasawa will star in a movie being released next year, titled "Magare! Spoon." Directed by Katsuyuki Motohiro, the piece is said to be Nagasawa's first time in a situation comedy.

The movie is reworked from a musical piece called "Fuyu no Uri Geller," which was written by popular playwright Makoto Ueda of the theatrical troupe Europe Kikaku. Nagasawa plays a clumsy assistant director of a TV variety show that deals with the paranormal. As it turns out, some of the men around her are hiding their own psychic powers.

Filming is already in progress and is expected to finish at the end of January. Theatrical release is scheduled for next winter.

Kumi Koda has been chosen to sing the theme song of Chi-Ngai Lee's upcoming manga-to-film adaptation "Subaru." The song, titled "faraway," is a slow ballad with lyrics written by Koda herself.

Based on Masahito Soda's manga of the same name, the movie revolves around a young woman training to become a ballerina, played by lead actress Meisa Kuroki. With director Lee and producer Bill Kong hailing from Hong Kong, the film has developed into an international affair. Besides "faraway," the soundtrack features music from a few Korean artists: "Bolero" by TVXQ (who also have a cameo appearance), "Eat You Up" by BoA, and "Sukoshi de Ii Kara" by girl group Tenjo Chiki.

"Subaru" is scheduled to open on March 20 in Japan and other Asian countries. Koda's song will be released as a single on March 4.

Junko Akimoto's "Ai no Mama de," which has been steadily climbing the charts since the end of last year, finally made it to the top this week. With 35,000 copies sold, Akimoto barely managed #1 to become the oldest artist to top the charts, at 61 years and 7 months. The previous record holder was Kazumasa Oda, whose "Kokoro" ranked #1 in August 2007, when he was 59 years and 11 months old.

Aside from Akimoto, the rest of the top ten singles were all new releases, starting with Aqua Timez, SID, AAA, and Mai Satoda. The bottom half consisted of BUCK-TICK, tacica, STRAIGHTENER, monobright, and a Schadaraparr-Kaela Kimura collaboration.

On the album charts, the "Code Geass Complete Best" compilation took #1, selling just over 50,000 copies. Maaya Sakamoto made #3 with her latest. MAY'S and alice nine. also debuted in the top ten, picking up the #6 and #7 spots, respectively.

The winners of the 54th Shogakukan Manga Awards have been revealed. Yu Yabuuchi's "Naisho no Tsubomi" took the children's category, while Shinichi Ishizuka's "Gaku: Minna no Yama" won the general category.

Mitsuru Adachi's "Cross Game" took top honors in the boys' category, and Kanoko Sakurakoji's "Black Bird" won the girls' category.

Actress Miki Maya (44) and ballet dancer Kazuhiro Nishijima (37) are now officially married. The couple turned in their marriage registration on December 22.

Their engagement was first reported last July. They met in 2002 when they co-starred in the play "Stardust in Shanghai," though their romance didn't begin until 2007 when they met again. Nishijima proposed last March.

The pair reportedly plan to hold a wedding ceremony in April at a shrine in Tokyo.