Still fresh off its win for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, Yojiro Takita's "Okuribito" pulled in 320 million yen in box office revenue for the weekend of February 28 and March 1. Since its release in September of last year, this is the first time that the film has been ranked #1 at the box office.

Usually, newer movies are the ones to take the top ranking, so for a movie to take #1 five months after its release is extremely rare.

According to Shochiku, an estimated 300,000 people went to watch the film over the two weekend days. The total revenue for the film since its premiere now exceeds 3.8 billion yen.

The DVD for "Okuribito" will be released in Japan on March 18. Amuse Soft Entertainment reached their goal of orders for 100,000 copies in a month starting from the end of January. In the week after the Academy Awards, the company received orders for an additional 100,000 copies.

Kunio Kato's animated film "Tsumiki no Ie" ("La Maison En Petits Cubes") is experiencing a similar boost after picking up Best Animated Short Film at the Academy Awards. DVDs are currently sold out as Toho rushes to produce and ship additional copies.

It has been decided that popular group Hey! Say! JUMP will serve as support for the 40th Spring National High School Volleyball Tournament, opening on March 20th. This is their second year in a row.

Members Yuto Nakajima, Yuri Chinen, and Ryosuke Yamada will become high school students this April. "We have a stronger sense of affinity than last year," stated Yamada. Chinen added, "Seeing the teams trying their hardest, we want to receive the courage to become high school students."

Hey! Say! JUMP will perform at the opening right after the match-up lottery. They are singing the theme song, titled "Jounetsu JUMP." The single's release date has not yet been decided.

Fuji TV's coverage of the tournament will be hosted by Rio Hirai and Tomoko Honda.

NEWS and Kanjani8 member Ryo Nishikido (24) caused a minor car accident on March 1st in Tokyo's Minato ward. The accident involved two other cars and resulted in one injury.

At around 3:45pm on Sunday, Nishikido was driving on Shuto Expressway 3 around Roppongi. The route ahead of him was congested with traffic, and Nishikido rear-ended a car at the tail end of the traffic. Due to the impact, that car also collided with the vehicle in front of it. Nishikido was not injured, but the passenger of the middle car, a woman in her sixties, suffered a neck injury that is expected to take a week to heal. All three cars also received damage to their bumpers.

According to police, Nishikido was at fault for not watching where he was going. His agency said that he had been careless in taking his eyes off the road and he was unable to brake in time. The police plan to file the case with the prosecutor's office.

Nishikido had been driving because it was his day off. He said that he will completely refrain from driving for now.

Up-and-coming girl band Stereopony has revealed that their third single, "I do it," is a collaboration with singer-songwriter YUI. This is the first time that YUI has created a song for another artist.

The band's vocalist, AIMI, has been heavily influenced by YUI. The group shares the same producer as her, but they were still surprised during a recording session in Okinawa when YUI, who happened to be taking a break there at the time, unexpectedly visited the studio. During that session, "I do it" was born.

The song is being released on April 22. On March 18, it will be made available for download as a chaku-uta.

The 4th Shin Watanabe Award, which recognizes the contributions of entertainment producers, was handed out on Monday. This year, the prize went to producer and Avex president Max Matsuura.

Matsuura founded Avex in 1988, and over the years he has been responsible for many top artists, including Ayumi Hamasaki.

The 23rd Japan Gold Disc Awards were presented on Monday. As the awards are based on sales, EXILE took the title of Artist of the Year for the second time in a row.

Last year, they sold roughly 870,000 copies of their singles and more than 4.2 million copies of their albums. With an additional 9.9 million digital downloads, their estimated sales totaled 19.8 billion yen.

Arashi received the prize of Single of the Year for "truth / Kaze no Mukou e." Shuchishin was named New Artist of the Year.

The complete awards list is available in the forums.