Near the end of last year, Oricon conducted a survey of 1,200 men and women, asking them which celebrities they considered as the "face of 2008," based on activity. The #1 man was Yusuke Kamiji, who mainly rose to fame as part of the boy band Shuchishin, while the #1 woman was young actress Aoi Miyazaki, the star of the NHK taiga drama "Atsuhime."

On the men's list, musician DAIGO ranked #2, followed by Olympic medal-winning swimmer Kosuke Kitajima. The rest of the list were Masaharu Fukuyama, golfer Ryo Ishikawa, comedian Sekai no Nabeatsu, Shuchishin (as a group), Masahiro Nakai, Arashi, and Yutaka Mizutani.

The women's list placed comedienne Harumi Edo at #2 and softball pitcher Yukiko Ueno at #3. Suzanne, Maki Horikita, Thelma Aoyama, Yukie Nakama, Namie Amuro, Aya Ueto, and Perfume also made the rankings.