The popular Korean dance and vocal group Big Bang arrived in Japan at Haneda Airport on Wednesday morning. Hundreds of fans and reporters awaited their arrival.

The five-member group, considered one of the top acts in Korea, will release their first major label single in Japan next month. Titled "MY HEAVEN," the song goes on sale June 24th from Universal Music.

The band has already released three indie label albums in Japan, and last October they drew a total of 20,000 fans to their concert tour. They already plan to follow up the single with a second one on July 8. During the press conference held on Wednesday, they declared their intention to appear at NHK's annual Kohaku Uta Gassen, like fellow Korean group TVXQ did last year.

Idol group Morning Musume is holding an "original promotion video" contest through their official MySpace page. Participants are being asked to submit their own creations for the PV of "3,2,1 BREAKIN' OUT!," which is the B-side of their latest single, "Shouganai Yume Oibito."

Contestants will have free access to the song's audio track and over 80 video clips of Morning Musume, shot against a green screen. The materials can be freely edited to create a complete music video.

Tsunku and Morning Musume members will serve as judges. Because "Shouganai Yume Oibito" is the group's 39th single, the winner of the contest will receive 390,000 yen. Submissions are being accepted until June 19, and the winner is expected to be announced in July when Tsunku and Morning Musume attend Anime Expo in Los Angeles. More details can be found on the MySpace page.

Masami Nagasawa (21) and Jun Kunimura (53) are co-starring in a Fuji TV drama special called "Oyaji no Ichiban Nagai Hi" ("Dad's Longest Day"). The drama is an original story inspired by the 1979 hit song of the same name by Masashi Sada.

The story revolves around the owner of a lantern shop in Asakusa named Eiichiro (Kunimura) and his daughter Chiharu (Nagasawa). Chiharu declares that she wants to marry her boyfriend (Sousuke Takaoka), but Eiichiro is strongly opposed, resulting in a fight between the two. Chiharu's older brother (Atsushi Ito) serves as the narrator, and Sada himself will also have a cameo appearance.

Fuji TV plans to broadcast the special on June 19 at 9:00pm.

Actress Nagiko Tono (29) announced Wednesday on her own blog that she has just gotten married. She and her husband, a 27-year-old salaryman in the food industry, registered their marriage that afternoon.

Tono, who starred in the 1999 NHK Asadora "Suzuran," met the man just last October through a friend's introduction. Despite the speedy marriage, she clarified that she is not pregnant and will continue with her acting career.

It was made known on Tuesday that Kazuya Kamenashi (23) will appear in a guest role in the new TBS drama series "MR.BRAIN" that stars SMAP's Takuya Kimura (36). It will be the first time the two act together in a project.

Kamenashi expressed his happiness about the opportunity. "I'm really happy to be called upon for my senpai's drama. On the set, I'm quite nervous but having fun. I'm grateful towards Kimura-kun." He also explained, "I couldn't have imagined acting together with Kimura-kun. I have to work hard and do my best."

Kimura was also positive. "I was really happy to hear that Kamenashi was coming in. I hope that he enjoys this view of the world." He then added in a compliment, "And above all, Kamenashi looks good in whatever he wears."

The series, which premieres on May 23, features Kimura as a neuroscientist who helps solve cases for the National Police Agency. Kamenashi will appear in the third episode (June 6), playing the role of a young elite doctor of a university hospital where a murder takes place.

Tran Anh Hung's screen adaptation of the Haruki Murakami bestseller "Norwegian Wood" now has a cast. Kenichi Matsuyama (24) has been chosen to play the lead as the college student Toru Watanabe, while Rinko Kikuchi (28) plays his emotionally troubled lover Naoko.

The story's heroine, a lively young woman named Midori, will be played by ViVi fashion model Kiko Mizuhara (18) in her very first acting role. "Norwegian Wood" follows Toru's relationships with these two very different women, as well as his dealing with the death of a friend.

The movie starts shooting next month, though the scheduled release isn't until autumn 2010.

SMAP member Tsuyoshi Kusanagi (34) is set to make his return to show business near the end of this month. Kusanagi was arrested last month for public indecency, after being found naked and drunk in a Tokyo park late at night, but prosecutors chose not to take the matter to court.

Kusanagi's first order of business is a recording on May 28 for the June 1 episode of "SMAP x SMAP." It will be followed by a taping later that night for "Bokura no Ongaku," which will air the next day. On May 29, Kusanagi will make his first actual reappearance on TV, as a guest on the live broadcast of "Waratte Iitomo!"

Fuji TV also revealed that before the incident, Kusanagi had already been tapped to star in the summer drama series "Ninkyo Helper." The show is described as a "nursing comedy," in which Kusanagi plays a gangster who winds up helping tend to the elderly. "Ninkyo Helper" will start in July and air on Thursday nights at 10:00pm.