Hayami Mocomichi (photo, 21), the popular actor with the impossibly small head, has been chosen as the first male “image character” for the Ban deodorant. The brand, from maker Lion, has been around for 44 years and has been promoted by some major female stars, including Sakai Noriko, Amuro Namie and Goto Maki. In the new commercial, Hayami will play the coach of a high school girls’ softball team.
• Sexy singer Arashiro Beni (19) had a good day yesterday. On the same day she released her second album, “Girl 2 Lady” on the Avex label, she sang the national anthem at the Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, where the Japanese national team went on to beat India 6-0 in a qualifier for the Asia Cup. Arashiro said she was especially delighted to have had the honor as she played soccer in junior high school. The Nissan Stadium hosted the World Cup final in 2002.
• Crayon Shinchan, the animated brat that parents love to hate, is to make his first appearance in school textbooks. As the TV Asahi anime heads into its 15th year this April, about 73,000 new junior high school students (most born in the same year as the show) in and around Tokyo will find Shinchan and the Nohara family in their social studies textbooks. The textbooks use the Nohara’s to illustrate a typical modern nuclear family, in contrast to Chibi Maruko-chan and her more traditional family, with three generations living under one roof. “Cray-shin” has several times topped the annual PTA survey of TV shows that parents don’t want their children watching. But the show and its spin-off movies – the 14th will be released in April – have seen continued commercial and critical success, even winning an award from the Ministry of Culture.