Nintendo Wii outsells PS3 4-to-1 in Japan

GAMES Nintendo’s Wii game console outsold Sony’s PlayStation 3 nearly 4-to-1 in Japan in February as Wii software titles dominated the best seller list, game magazine publisher Enterbrain said. [REUTERS]

TV coverage of stir over Iwate’s ‘nude’ festival worth 5 billion yen

MOVIES/TV TV coverage given to a previously little-known festival in Iwate Prefecture — because of uproar over a poster deemed sexually harassing - was worth as much as 5 billion yen, according to a broadcast research company. [MAINICHI]

Arashi announces nationwide ‘5 dome tour’

MUSIC Pop group Arashi has announced that they are doing a concert tour of the five major domes - Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Fukuoka, and Sapporo. (2) [TOKYOGRAPH]

Director Koichiro Yamashita arrested for punching clerk

CELEBRITIES Director Koichiro Yamashita was arrested Saturday for attacking a convenience store worker late Friday night while drunk, police said. [MAINICHI]

Miss Japan 2008 donates prize money to Paralympic team

CELEBRITIES Miss Japan 2008 Eri Suzuki is donating part of her prize money to physically disabled athletes participating in the Paralympic Games in Beijing this summer. [MAINICHI]

Director Ichikawa, 92, dies of pneumonia

MOVIES/TV Prominent film director Kon Ichikawa died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital early Wednesday. Ichikawa gained fame for films that include “The Burmese Harp” in 1956 and its remake in 1985, and “Fires on the Plain” in 1959. [THE JAPAN TIMES]

‘Mongol’ actor Tadanobu Asano has high hopes for Academy Award

MOVIES/TV Leading Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, whose latest film, “Mongol,” was nominated for an Academy Award in the best foreign language film category, said he hopes the flick will win an Oscar later this month. [MAINICHI]

Kumi Koda apologizes on national TV for ‘rotten amnion fluid’ gaffe

CELEBRITIES Popular singer Kumi Koda apologized Thursday on national TV over joke she cracked during a radio program in which she said, “a mother’s amnion fluid goes rotten after she passes 35.” (2)

Crown Princess Masako criticized over ritzy dining habits

CELEBRITIES First, Crown Princess Masako feasted on classy Mexican fare from a 13-dish special menu in her honor. Then it was roast duck and shark fin soup at a top Chinese eatery. A month later, she enjoyed a sumptuous repast at a French restaurant where the US$300 course featured exquisite black truffles. (3) [MAINICHI]

Horikita, Fujiwara star in drama special about Tokyo bombing

MOVIES/TV NTV is producing a two-night drama special titled “Tokyo Daikushu,” which is a phrase referring to the bombings on Tokyo during World War II. The story will focus on two young pairs and their painful love. [TOKYOGRAPH]

Selfless cop’s story made into children’s book

BOOKS/MANGA The story of a police officer hit and killed by a train last year in Itabashi Ward, Tokyo, while trying to rescue a woman on the train tracks has been turned into an illustrated book. [YOMIURI]

Swindlers pose as victims to gain compensation

BOOKS/MANGA In a brazen and ironic new fraud, swindlers are pretending to be victims to gain “compensation” from a law set up to protect bank depositors. [ASAHI]

Unpublished manuscripts of late novelist Sakunosuke Oda found at bookstore

BOOKS/MANGA Unpublished manuscripts of the late novelist Sakunosuke Oda (1913-47) have been discovered at a bookstore in Tokyo’s Chiyoda-ku. [MAINICHI]

‘Yukan Club’ dominates Drama Grand Prix

MOVIES/TV The fall 2007 winners of the Nikkan Sports Drama Grand Prix were announced Friday, with TV drama “Yukan Club” taking four of the five awards. [TOKYOGRAPH]

Professional singer wins coveted Akutagawa literary award

BOOKS/MANGA Professional singer Mieko Kawakami has been selected as the winner of the 138th Akutagawa Prize, Japan’s most coveted literary award, for her work titled “Chichi to Ran” (Breast and egg), while “light novel” writer Kazuki Sakuraba has won the Naoki Prize. [MAINICHI]

Judoka Kosei Inoue, celebrity Aki Higashihara announce marriage

CELEBRITIES Top judo athlete Kosei Inoue and celebrity Aki Higashihara held a news conference on Tuesday saying they had registered their marriage. [MAINICHI]

Famicom video game ‘Ninja Hattori-kun’ to make comeback on i-mode

GAMES The popular action video game “Ninja Hattori-kun,” which was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System (Famicom) console in 1986 is set to make a comeback 22 years on as an i-mode game. (1) [MAINICHI]

Singer Ayumi Hamasaki deaf in left ear

CELEBRITIES Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki wrote on her fan club website on Friday that she would continue singing despite losing her hearing in her left ear. [XINHUA]

Rescue robot dream featured in textbook

BOOKS/MANGA The story of a 50-year-old Tokyo professor’s efforts to fulfill the dream of a deceased student by developing a rescue robot will appear in a high school English textbook starting next school year. [YOMIURI]

Producer Takeshi Kobayashi divorces wife Akko

CELEBRITIES Takeshi Kobayashi, the music producer behind the popular band Mr. Children, has divorced his wife Akko, his talent agency said on its Web site. [MAINICHI]

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Autumn leaves in Matsudo city, Chiba Prefecture.

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