Teen actress Mikako Tabe has been named as the heroine in NHK's next morning drama series. "Tsubasa," first announced in April, will be the network's 80th Asadora, and its first set in Saitama.

At the age of 19, Tabe is the first Asadora heroine to be born in the Heisei era (1989-present). She was chosen by audition from a pool of almost 1,600 applicants to play Tsubasa, the daughter of a sweets shop who becomes a host on a community radio station.

Filming will start in mid-October. "Tsubasa" is scheduled to run next year from March 30 to September 26.

23-year-old idol Mariko Okubo has "graduated" from the gravure world. According to Okubo, her latest DVD and photobook are her last, as she has decided to focus on building a career as an actress.

This past January, she took the first steps in starting anew when she moved to a different management agency and changed the way her first name is written.

The next installment of the "Siberian Express" movie series has found its new director: Takashi Shimizu of "Ju-on" fame. The news was revealed at a press conference on Wednesday by actor Kazuaki Nishida, a veteran of the series. With Shimizu now on board, the series will get its first injection of the horror genre, turning it into a "horror comedy."

The project was initially announced last week at a memorial for the original "Siberian Express" director Haruo Mizuno, who passed away last month.

The movie, whose Japanese title is "Siberia Chotokkyu: Shibo Yugi," is not expected to start filming until after Shimizu wraps up a different project being shot this fall.

54-year-old illustrator Hajime Anzai has put together a 4-member punk band called LASTORDERZ, which will make its debut at Summer Sonic next month. Anzai is perhaps best known for his "Soramimist" character on the "Soramimi Hour" segment of TV Asahi's late-night variety show "Tamori Club."

The group consists of two guitarists (one being Anzai), a bassist, and a drummer, with all four members doing vocals as well. The band is said to currently have 11 songs in their repertoire. (Their Summer Sonic profile page is here.)

LASTORDERZ will be the first on stage in the morning at Summer Sonic, which is being held in Makuhari on August 10. In the afternoon on the same day, they will perform again at the World Happiness festival taking place at Shin-Kiba.

Nippon Cinema reports that director Ryuhei Kitamura says he is working on a remake of his action/horror film "Versus" for the U.S. market. Released in 2000, "Versus" was the first film to bring international fame to Kitamura.

The director revealed that he's still polishing the script, and the movie likely won't be made for a few years. However, Kitamura personally stated that "the US Versus will be insane!"