NHK's 78th Asadora will be titled "Hitomi." One of its main themes will be the state of foster care in Japan.

The heroine is a 20-year-old from Sapporo who dreams of becoming a successful dancer. Her parents are divorced and her grandmother has passed away. She decides to live with her grandfather in a downtown area of Tokyo so that she can attend dance school. But she also ends up living with three young kids that her grandfather has taken in as foster children.

The script is written by Satoshi Suzuki. Broadcast is scheduled to run between April and September 2008, with filming expected to begin this fall. Auditions for the heroine will end in August.

On Wednesday morning, renowned director Kei Kumai died from a subarachnoid hemorrhage at a Tokyo hospital. He was 76.

Kumai joined the movie studio Nikkatsu in 1954, and he made his directorial debut in 1964 with "Teigin Jiken: Shikeishu." His better-known works include "Sandakan 8" ("Sandakan Hachiban Shokan Bokyo"), "The Sea and Poison" ("Umi to Dokuyaku"), and "The Sea is Watching" ("Umi wa Miteita"). In 1995, he was awarded the Shiju Hosho, a national honor.

During the early hours of May 15, talento Sakura Uehara was stopped by police in Setagaya, Tokyo for driving at 83 km/h, well over the 60 km/h speed limit. It was then discovered that her license had expired. She was required to renew it within a month after her birthday on March 31, but she apparently forgot to.

She publicly apologized through a fax to the media, and has already paid her fine and renewed her license.

Yuko Asano will reprise her role as a detective in a sequel to the popular 2005 mystery series, "Onna Keiji Mizuki." The new series will add two new faces to the main cast: Hironobu Nomura will play the role of a chief, and Masaya Kikawada will appear as a rookie cop.

The drama will air every Thursday at 8:00pm on TV Asahi, starting in July.

Actor and talento Shiro Kishibe suffered the loss of his wife Saori last month. On April 6, she suddenly collapsed in their Yokohama home. While waiting for an ambulance, Kishibe attempted to resuscitate her, but to no avail. She was finally taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead due to heart failure. She was 43.

Saori was Kishibe's second wife. He first met her in 1990 when she was working in a boutique, and they got married in 1994. Since then, she also served as his manager.

Kishibe is said to currently be in a state of shock and unable to speak.

Actress and idol singer Yoko Minamino (also known to fans by the nickname "Nanno") was revealed on Tuesday to be dating commercial planner and creative director Michihiko Yanai. The two met last September through music-related work, and it quickly developed into a serious relationship.

Yanai is known for his many successful ad campaigns, including the "Kikkake wa Fuji Terebi" slogan of Fuji TV and the "No Music, No Life" campaign for Tower Records.

Richard Gere will star in and produce a movie titled "Hachiko: A Dog's Story." It is inspired by the 1987 Japanese film "Hachiko Monogatari," which tells the real-life story of the loyal dog Hachiko, who has been commemorated with a statue at Shibuya Station. In the remake, Gere plays a college professor who takes in an abandoned dog.

The movie will be produced in association with Shochiku, the studio that was responsible for the original film. Production is scheduled to begin in September.