Smap singer Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, 36, and actress Yukie Nakama (Gokusen, Trick), 30, will star in a TBS miniseries set in the 1960s called 99-year Love: Japanese-Americans. The drama tells the story of a Japanese family that immigrated to the United States 99 years before the story is set. Kusanagi will play a second-generation Japanese-American—and, with the help of prosthetics, that same character’s father—while Nakama appears as his wife. Seattle Mariners superstar Ichiro Suzuki will make an appearance in archival footage showing him at bat. According to producers, they decided to add a clip of Ichiro “because he is an example of a man that transcends racial stereotypes, to contrast the content of the show.” The series will air in five 2-hour segments starting November 3. “I really hope this show strikes a chord with not only Japanese viewers, but Americans as well,” Kusanagi said. Nakama, meanwhile, says she found great value in the project. “I feel like I’ve really accomplished something landing this part. The story deals with heavy issues, so I feel I must work hard to do justice to the subject matter.”

One hundred Harry Potter fans—or “Potterians,” as they are referred to by the Japanese media—gathered for a special event at Shinjuku Piccadilly movie theater on August 11 to commemorate 100 days remaining until the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In a video message, actor Daniel Radcliffe, 21, who said that about half of his fan mail comes from Japan, told the group: “I’m really honored to be able to participate in the making of one of the greatest fantasy movies of all time.” Part One of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released in Japan on November 19, and the cast are expected to come here to mark the occasion. Part Two will follow next July.

Director Christopher Nolan’s Inception, which hit number one in in Japan, will be released in China in September, the country’s film importer said. According to the AP, China Film Group will give the Warner Bros production one of its coveted 20 annual slots for revenue-sharing imports. Warner Bros decided not to release Nolan’s last blockbuster, The Dark Knight, in China in 2008, citing “cultural sensitivities” to the movie. Studio executives were likely worried that a scene in which Batman captured an ethnic Chinese criminal in Hong Kong would offend local censors.

Actress Miki Nakatani, 34, will once again play the role of an “unfortunate woman” in the upcoming movie Hankyu Densha, which deals with people whose lives intersect on the Hankyu Imazu railway in Hyogo. Nakatani’s character is a 30-something OL whose fiancé is stolen by a younger coworker. The actress played a similar role in the 2006 film Kiraware Matsuko no Issho (Memories of Matsuko)—and her performance swept that year’s awards ceremonies. Filming for Hankyu Densha, which is set to open next summer, will begin in December. The film is to feature real trains from the Hankyu Imazu line, with some scenes to be shot inside specially commissioned carriages with the cooperation of the railway. Rumor has it that the production may also include cameos by the renowned all-female Takarazuka theater troupe, which is based in the area.

The upcoming movie version of Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood will use the Beatles song of the title as its closing theme. According to distributor Asmik Ace, the decision came after long negotiations with Apple Records and Sony Music. Released in 1987, Norwegian Wood has sold over 10 million copies in Japan and has been translated into 36 languages. The film, directed by Vietnamese-born French filmmaker Anh Hung Tran (The Scent of Green Papaya), follows a businessman’s nostalgic recollections of the late ’60s, which are revived when he hears the eponymous song on a flight to Germany. Kenichi Matsuyama (Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac) plays the businessman, while Oscar nominee Rinko Kikuchi (Babel) stars as his best friend’s former lover. The film will be released in Japan on December 11.