Yakusho Koji (photo, 47), one of Japan’s top actors, is to team up with young heart throb Tsumabuki Satoshi (22) in a WWII spectacular. The ¥1.2-billion movie “Lorelei,” an adaptation of a best-seller by Fukui Harutoshi that tells of a plan to thwart a third atomic bombing of Japan, is scheduled for release in 2005. Yakusho is to play submarine captain while Tsumabuki will take on the role of a young spy. The megaphone is to go to monster movie director Higuchi Shinji.
• TV personality Mukai Aki (39) and former pro wrestler Takada Nobuhiko (41) have finally become parents, thanks to a surrogate mother in the US. The American woman gave birth to twin boys at the end of November, according to a statement from their agency Tuesday. While pregnant in 2000 Mukai discovered that she had uterine cancer and lost her baby. A previous attempt to have a surrogate birth in the US also failed.