"Kaseifu wa Mita!," a long-running drama that is part of TV Asahi's "Doyo Wide Gekijo" (Saturdays 9:00pm), is coming to a close this year. The show has had roughly one episode a year in that time slot since 1983, with all of them starring actress Etsuko Ichihara as a temp housekeeper assigned to upper class households. So far, the 25 single episodes have averaged a 21.5% rating. The drama was also given an 11-episode series in a different time slot in the fall of 1997.

The 26th and final episode on "Doyo Wide Gekijo" will air on July 12. Shiro Sano and Rino Katase have also been cast.

Ichihara, who is now 72 years old, was also the star of another long-lasting drama, "Obasan Deka Sakura Otome no Jikencho." It had 15 episodes between 1994 and its end last September.

Remioromen's next single is being used by Fuji TV as the official theme song of their Olympic Games coverage. The song, a ballad titled "Motto Tooku e," will be released on July 30.

The single's B-side is "Orchestra," which is also tied in to the Olympics. It will be used as a support song by the Japanese branch of Coca-Cola, which is one of the Olympics' sponsors this year.

Remioromen also plans to release a new album by the end of the year.

Music website JaME has recently reported on a few upcoming overseas performances by visual-kei artists.

According to promoter Tainted Reality, Suicide Ali will debut in the U.S. during the November 7-9 weekend at the Pacific Media Expo in Los Angeles. That same weekend, GPKism will also have their U.S. debut at Nekocon 11 in Virginia.

Before that, LM.C will be visiting Los Angeles for their American debut in July, participating in the Battle of the Bands at Anime Expo on July 3. GaGaalinG has already been announced as another participating band. After LM.C's appearance at AX, they are reportedly playing another Los Angeles show on July 5 at Crash Mansion.

Last but not least, Miyavi has announced another appearance in Paris. He already scheduled a July 6 show at the L'Olympia as part of his world tour, but he will also be turning up at the Laforet Harajuku Collection '08 fashion show on July 5, which is part of the Japan Expo.

20-year-old Makoto Ogawa is returning to television after almost two years of being away from show business. She graduated from Morning Musume in August 2006 to pursue language studies overseas, and she is now said to be very skilled in English.

Ogawa made a surprise return during the taping of this Sunday's (June 8) episode of "Haromoni." Reunited with some of her former groupmates, she demonstrated her fluency by speaking mostly in English, joking that she had almost forgotten Japanese. She was studying in Auckland, New Zealand, between December 2006 and this past April. She attended language school five days a week, though she also took dance lessons after classes.

Ogawa reportedly scored 730 out of a possible 990 on the TOEIC, an international test used to measure the English ability of non-native speakers. She also devoted her time to other studies, taking the TECSOL course (which trains people in teaching English to children as a second language) and gaining some qualifications as a barista (someone knowledgeable in coffee drinks).

Like talento Lou Oshiba, Ogawa may soon build a reputation for freely mixing English and Japanese in conversation. She says she is currently aiming to become a popular variety show personality.

The hit Broadway musical "Grease" is being performed in Tokyo later this year, and it was announced on Friday that rising actor Toma Ikuta is playing the lead part of Danny Zuko. His supporting cast includes Sayaka Kanda as his girlfriend Sandy, former Morning Musume member Miki Fujimoto as the Pink Ladies leader Rizzo, and Musical Academy member Tomoyuki Yara as Kenickie.

The production opens at the Aoyama Theatre on October 20 and will finish up in Osaka during November.