Franco Zeffirelli's Callas Forever may well play in Japan forever, if the film's mostly-female fans have their way. In its 9th week on release, the bio-drama starring Fanny Ardent and Jeremy Irons is still packing them in, with a $49,533 screen average from three urban theatres. Distributor Gaga has released the film in a total of six screens nationwide.

Also going strong is number one Zatoichi ($93,894), which dropped only 4.6% in its second week, and Lucky Ears ($59,581), which debuted at number fifteen on one Tokyo screen.

Chisui Takigawa's comedy features a young waiter in a retirement home restaurant who is asked to arrange a date with one of the female residents - by a ghost. Kankuro Kudo, a much-in-demand actor and screenwriter (Go, Ping Pong), stars as the waiter, together with veteran Kunie Tanaka as the ghost.