NHK has started filming for "Saka no Ue no Kumo," a drama project that will span the next four years. The story is based on a historical novel by Ryotaro Shiba, set in the Meiji era and dealing with a group of three young men - Akiyama Saneyuki (a naval officer during the Russo-Japanese War), Masaoka Shiki (a poet and author), and Natsume Soseki (a novelist) - who were friends and classmates at the same university.

Masahiro Motoki plays Akiyama, while Teruyuki Kagawa and Yukiyoshi Ozawa play Masaoka and Natsume, respectively. The supporting cast includes Hiroshi Abe as Saneyuki's brother Yoshifuru, and Miho Kanno as Shiki's sister Ritsu.

Filming will take place over a span of three years and includes overseas locations. The series consists of 13 90-minute episodes, which will be aired in three parts. The parts will be broadcast in the fall of 2009, 2010, and 2011.

It appears that 56-year-old actress Kumi Hayase is virtually divorced, it was learned on Friday. She made the revelation during a taping for a new show on satellite channel BS11 hosted by Kensaku Morita, whom she co-starred with in the 1970s drama series "Ore wa Otoko da!"

Hayase entered show business in 1966 and had her big break in "Ore wa Otoko da!" In 1980, she married a Japanese businessman she had met during a trip to the United States. She retired from entertainment 3 years later and moved to San Francisco, where she gave birth to their only daughter.

Hayase returned to Japan in 1991 to put her daughter into elementary school. In 2002, she returned to acting.

When Morita asked about her husband, she replied that they started growing distant while in the U.S. due to her husband's frequent business trips. He returned to the U.S. permanently in 2001, and since then they have lost communication.

With her daughter graduating from college next March, Hayase seems to have come to a decision to formally get a divorce.