Pop group Morning Musume are to be the official ‘support group’ for the newly formed Rakuten Golden Eagles baseball team. “The Manpower,” penned by MM and Hello! Project svengali Tsunku (photo, 36), will go on sale on January 19. the song wil be played at Sendai Stadium before games next season to fire up the new team. Rakuten president Mikitani Hiroshi (39) is expected to bring a host of fresh businesses approaches to the often staid pro baseball world.
• Korean heart throb Bae Yong Joon (32) has sent a special gift to each of the middle-aged female fans injured in crowd chaos during his visit to Japan last month.
• Singer Hamasaki Ayumi (26) has become just the third Japanese to have a waxwork lookalike created at Madame Tussaud’s in Hong Kong. The others are the late politician Yoshida Shigeru and sumo yokozuna Chiyonofuji.