Actor Tomohisa Yuge will make his screenwriting debut for a film called "Sakugoe," which he will also star in. Yuge has been writing stories since he was in college, and this one has been several years in the making. He mentions that he also wants to try directing in the future.

"Sakugoe" will also star Yasuhi Nakamura and is directed by Ryuichi Honda. The film is scheduled to open in autumn.

This spring, actor Yuji Oda will star in his first home drama, titled "Joudan Janai!" Oda plays a 40-year-old man who marries a 20-year-old woman (Juri Ueno). But soon after, he finds out that his wife's mother (Shinobu Otake) is a former lover.

The series is scheduled for 11 episodes and will air on TBS on Sundays at 9:00pm.

This year's graduating class at Horikoshi High School included Ai Takabe, Asuka Shibuya, and Ayaka Morita. The three, who are all members of the idol group Bishoujo Club 31, were also members of the same class.

The graduation ceremony was held on Thursday at the Nakano Sun Plaza. Located in Nakano, Tokyo, the school is known for having many graduates who are or were in show business.

The long-running anime series "Chibi Maruko-chan" will be made into a live-action drama series this spring. Based on the original manga by Momoko Sakura, the show has already been adapted into two drama specials which aired last year, starring Ei Morisako as the title character. Morisako will no longer play the role for the new drama series, though she will serve as a special judge during the auditions for the new Maruko-chan.

The program is tentatively titled "Marumaru Zenbu Chibi Maruko-chan" and will occupy an hour-long time slot. The first half will be an episode based on the original work, while the second half will be set aside for variety segments relating to the episodes.

Fuyuki Moto and Yoshie Ichige will return in their roles as Maruko-chan's grandparents, while the rest of the cast has yet to be decided. The show begins on April 19 in the Thursday 7:00pm time slot on Fuji TV.

Masami Nagasawa will make a guest appearance in the upcoming drama special "Mama ga Ryouri wo Tsukuru Riyuu," starring Ryoko Hirosue and Masami Hisamoto. She will play the role of an expert chef. The special airs on March 3 on Fuji TV at 9:00pm.

On Thursday, GUNZE launched its sub-brand SHE'S GUNZE, a limited line of women's innerwear produced by actress Misaki Ito. The products go on sale on February 21.

TV Asahi is holding auditions for the roles of Makiko Esumi's children on an upcoming cooking variety show. Currently untitled, the show will feature a four-person family, with Esumi as the mother and actor/comedian Tomomitsu Yamaguchi as the father. One child will be a daughter who has just started an interest in cooking, while the other will be a mischievous and gluttonous son. Each week, a guest will be brought on the show for cooking and discussion.

The auditions are limited to amateur actors of grade school or middle school age. The exact grades of the characters have not yet been decided, nor has it been determined which one of the two will be older.

Esumi herself has a daughter who will soon be two years old. She is also good at cooking, and says she has liked cooking shows since she was young. She commented that she was thankful for the chance to teach the next generation the importance of food.

The show will air on Sundays at 6:00pm, starting in April.

The latest issue of Josei Seven reported that Kyoko Kano of the Kano Sisters appears to have had approximately 500 million yen worth of items stolen from her by her real sister, Harue Kano.

The Kano Sisters are a pair of idols, Kyoko Kano and Mika Kano, who are not actually sisters. Before they became famous, Kyoko's real sister Harue was also a member, but around ten years ago, she got married and left the group. Harue later became the group's manager.

At the start of this year, Kyoko could no longer get in contact with her sister. When she went to Harue's apartment, she found that Harue had disappeared. Kyoko had also been using the apartment to store many of her possessions, which had disappeared along with her sister. Among the items taken were a 10-carat diamond ring worth 300 million yen, a wristwatch worth 10 million yen, other jewelry, clothing, furniture, and cash.

Kyoko reported the incident to the police earlier this month.

Fuji TV has announced details about a currently-untitled spring drama starring actress Miho Kanno. The story revolves around a seemingly peaceful middle school where one of the female students mysteriously falls to her death, sending the school into chaos. Kanno plays a lawyer named Tamako who faces resistance from the school as she searches for the truth.

Atsushi Ito will take on the role of the student's homeroom teacher, a pure and idealistic young man who had barely arrived at the school before the incident occurred. Meanwhile, Shosuke Tanihara will play Tamako's boyfriend, a lawyer who works at the same office.

The series will be produced by Yoshihiro Suzuki and written by Yuji Sakamoto. It will be broadcast on Thursdays at 10:00pm, starting on April 12.

NHK has announced additional changes to the lineup of its English conversation program, "Eigo de Shabera Night." Earlier this month, NHK revealed that announcer Minoru Aoi will be replacing Kazuya Matsumoto. The network has further revealed that Yumiko Shaku will leave as well, while model Moe Oshikiri and actor Norito Yashima join the crew.

Oshikiri admits that she is still a beginner at English, even though she has been taking conversation classes. This will be a chance for her to redeem herself after two public embarrassments with the language. One was two years ago, when she was unable to communicate in English while in New York on work for the fashion magazine CanCam. The other was last September during an interview with stylist Patricia Field about the Hollywood film "The Devil Wears Prada."

The show currently airs on Friday nights at 11:00pm, but starting in April it will move to Mondays at 11:00pm.

NTV's "Mokuyo Special" is set to return after 13 years. Now named "Mokuspe," the show will continue in the same manner as the original, featuring a special program every Thursday. "Mokuyo Special" had a total of 637 broadcasts during its run from 1973 to 1994. The new show begins on April 12, occupying a two-hour time slot beginning at 7:00pm.

Tsuyoshi Shinjo, who retired from the Nippon Ham Fighters last year, has been announced as the commercial character for Asahi's Honnama Aqua Blue. The commercial, which begins airing on the 16th, will also include images of Major League players Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Matsui.