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South Korean pop singer BoA (17) has been invited to perform at the MTV Asian Awards as a representative of Japan, where she is based and hugely successful, as well as her home country. The double invitation is unprecedented, especially given the long-standing ban in Korea on Japanese pop culture. It has only been in the last couple of years, and more so since the World Cup was co-hosted in 2002, that there has been a thaw in Korea’s stance. BoA has been something of an ambassador between the longtime rivals. She is also considered to have a good chance of being invited to perform at the US MTV Awards. The Asian awards show will be broadcast from Singapore on February 14.

Former TV personality Mukai Aki (39) is the proud mother of baby twin boys. But she may not be recognized as such under Japanese law. Mukai and her husband, former pro wrestler Takada Nobuhiko (41) last weekend announced the names of their boys, Banri and Yuta, born to a surrogate mother in the US (named simply as Cindy) last November. The family recently returned from the US and must register the births at their local city office. The US birth certificates name Mukai as the mother but the new parents said at a press conference that they were unsure how the local bureaucracy would deal with the issue of surrogate birth, not legally recognized in Japan. Having been born in the US, the children are also entitled to American citizenship, a right they might not be granted in Japan.

Singer Hajime Chitose (25) is six months pregnant and married. Hajime, who is from the southern island of Amami Oshima and sings in the unique style of the region, made her name with the 2001 hit Wadatsumi no Ki. She met her husband – named only as TK (27) and also from Amami Oshima – several years ago in his dining-bar in Tokyo. They were rumored to be going out two and a half years ago, but Hajime was soon romantically linked with singer Yamazaki Masayoshi (32). But it seems her heart was with TK and they registered their marriage yesterday. She is said to want to be a full-time mother, meaning she will have to put her blossoming carer on hold.• Meanwhile actress Hirosue Ryoko (23) and her designer husband Okazawa Takahiro (28) are to hold a small wedding ceremony tomorrow at a Tokyo wedding hall. The couple married in December and are expecting a baby in May.

There were no big surprises in the latest NHK survey of viewers’ favorite TV personalities, announced today. At the top of the male rankings for the sixth year running was comedian Akashiya Sanma, who seems to be on TV every night of the week. He hasn’t been out of the Top 10 for 19 years. He was followed by the usual suspects, comedian, actor and movie director Kitano “Beat” Takeshi and all-rounder Tokoro Joji. Other familiar names included musician Fukuyama Masaharu, comedian Tamori, and SMAP. The only new face was young actor Tsumabuki Satoshi.

Funny woman Hisamoto Masami (photo) was at No.1 in the female rankings for the third year in a row. Next were beautiful actresses Matsushima Nanako and Kuroki Hitomi. Kuroki, who looks a lot younger than her age and appears in a host of TV commercials, was up from last year’s No.21 spot. Another new entry was Yoshimoto comedy troupe member Yamada Hanako.

TV personality Becky (19) attended a coming-of-age ceremony at a Kawasaki shrine yesterday, Seijin no Hi, like many young women dressed for the day in a new kimono. The national holiday is the day when those turning 20 attend formal – and in recent years often rowdy – ceremonies to mark their entering adulthood. The feisty variety show regular, who is half-Japanese and half-British, joked that on the eve of her March 6th birthday she plans to have a countdown before downing a beer on the stroke of midnight. She’ll follow this up with a real drinker’s beverage – imojochu, a spirit made from potatoes. She also announced that she would be taking Japanese citizenship. She must make the choice as Japan does not allow dual citizenship.

It was announced yesterday that TV personality and one-time sumo Ozeki (Champion) Konishiki (40) married his girlfriend of two and a half years Iijima Chie (28) on January 7. The Hawaiian-born giant, the largest man ever to enter the sumo ring, retired from the sport in 1997. He was married for almost nine years to former model Shioda Sumika, who he divorced three months after starting his relationship with Iijima in 2000. He is a regular guest on variety programs, in dramas, and on NHK’s “Nihongo de Asobo” educational show. He also recently opened his own restaurant in central Tokyo.

The New Year’s Eve show may have been a relative flop, but NHK’s Kohaku song spectacular can still give a boost to CD sales. Though the show had its lowest TV ratings ever, a full quarter of the Top 100 in the latest Oricon singles chart is taken up by songs performed on the show. And of those, 21 have moved up the chart since the show aired. Recovering the No.1 spot, and up from No.7, is SMAP’s “Sekkai ni Hitosu dake no Hana.” Also moving up, from No.14 to No.3, is another of 2003’s big hits, “Sakura,” the breakthrough single for Moriyama Naotaro (photo, 27).

She’s not really beautiful, but she certainly is striking and you’re sure to have noticed her in one of her magazine or TV commercial appearances. And now, top model Tominaga Ai (21) is set to make her acting debut. She will play a villain in the upcoming movie version of the popular manga and anime “Devilman.” The 178cm tall model says that she is “the only one who could play the part” of the she-devil Sirene.

• Luna Sea vocalist Kawamura Ryuichi (33) yesterday claimed that he was visiting Hawaii alone to attend a friend’s wedding. But the media knew that the unidentified beauty boarding the airplane a few meters behind him was not just another passenger. The pair left Honolulu airport in the same car.

TV personality and former idol singer Hayasaka Yoshie (28) recently married Spell Delphin (36), the president of an Osaka wrestling troupe. It was announced yesterday that the couple tied the knot on Christmas Eve. Delphin is a masked wrestler who made his debut in Holland in 1989. He has tied the management of his troupe to the Osaka-based Yoshimoto talent agency, best known for its stable of comedians.

• Fuji TV presenter Umezu Yaeko (27) is romantically linked with rugby player Uriu Yasuharu (23), who plays for Suntory, one of the country’s top company teams.

Heart-throb actor Takenouchi Yutaka (photo, 33) is romantically involved with Hawaiian beauty Brenda (31). And who can blame him – the stunning Japanese-Korean is a top model, who was scouted as a 17-year old. She regularly graces magazine covers, and is perhaps best remembered as Wacoal’s “Good Up Bra” girl. She has one marriage behind her, having divorced her model husband thre years ago. She and Takenouchi have been friends since he himself was a model in his early 20s. His agency says the pair have no plans for marriage at the moment.

• The jury is back with its verdict on the New Year TV ratings – Kohaku had its worst showing ever. The NHK song spectacle pulled less than 50% for the fourth year running, and was even overtaken momentarily by the all-too-brief Akebono-Bob Sapp fight on TBS (43%). As soon as the fight was over, the ratings were reversed.