US rock/hip hop band Limp Bizkit are looking to recruit a new guitarist to replace former member Wes Borland — and they must be Japanese. Other than that, anyone between the ages of 18 and 35 can apply. The deadline for audition applications is April 11th. Details can be found on the band’s Japanese site.
• They’re calling it “Japan’s Shortest Quiz Show” but it’s actually a 90-second commercial for home applicance maker Sharp. The “show” features a panel of celebrities and is hosted by Lasar Ishii (photo, 47). It’s so similar to a real quiz that it blurs the line between TV show and commercial and has attracted a lot of media attention.
• In a TV first, three TV Asahi “announcers” are to have starring roles in a drama. The late-night omnibus show (April 26th, 02:40am) will feature each of the announcers — Shomohira Sayaka (30), Nomura Masaki (27) and Tatsukado Airi (26) — in a separate story.
• The opening episode of the new “Astroboy – Testuwan Atom” animation series recorded an audience rating of 11.2%, very high for the Saturday 09:30am slot.