Actress Yui Ichikawa and owarai duo Oklahoma have been chosen as campaign characters for the Japan Racing Association's Hokkaido Series, which runs from June 15 to September 30. They will appear in commercials and at several major sporting events this year.

Ichikawa has apparently never bought a racing ticket before, even though she has been to the tracks many times since she was a child. Her grandfather was an employee at the JRA training center in Miho, Ibaraki, and her mother is a racing fan.

On Thursday, popular singer Chiharu Matsuyama completed his 2,000th concert, at the Kanagawa Kenmin Hall in Yokohama. Matsuyama is the fifth Japanese artist to reach that mark, preceded only by Masashi Sada, Shinji Tanimura, THE ALFEE, and Kosetsu Minami (including performances as part of Kaguyahime).

More than two thousand fans attended the milestone performance. According to some reports, tickets fetched as much as 300,000 yen online.

With Mother's Day approaching, Oricon conducted an internet survey of 2,000 people to see which celebrity best matched their image of the ideal mother. Not surprisingly, popular actress Hitomi Kuroki was the overwhelming favorite, ranking first in all age and gender groups except among the 40-somethings, who preferred a mother more like Kaoru Yachigusa.

Nanako Matsushima was the second most popular choice overall, followed by: Masami Hisamoto, YOU, Kaoru Yachigusa, Sayuri Yoshinaga, Kumiko Okae, Mitsuko Mori, Mitsuko Baisho, and Shinobu Otake.

Fuji TV announcer Kikue Nishiyama is four months pregnant with her first child. She has been married since 1997 to Shunsuke Watanabe, a producer at the same network.

Nishiyama is scheduled to deliver in early November. She will remain on "FNN Super News" until the end of June. Her less strenuous work, such as her narration role on the "Mezamashi TV" segment "Kyou no Wanko," will continue until she takes maternity leave around October.