Last month, NTV announced a drama project called "The Naminori Restaurant," comprised of a series of 33 short dramas based on songs by Southern All Stars. It has now been revealed that the group's percussionist Hideyuki Nozawa and bassist Kazuyuki Sekiguchi will be appearing in the dramas.

The whole series stars Yo Oizumi as the owner of an unopened restaurant, and the 10-minute episodes depict various people visiting the restaurant. Nozawa plays a formerly famous man who abandoned his home to live on his own. Meanwhile, Sekiguchi's role has apparently not yet been decided.

Others appearing in the drama include Yoshinori Okada, Miho Shiraishi, Riisa Naka, Yuta Hiraoka, Hiroshi Fuse, and Mari Hoshino. The first episode airs during the November 1 episode of "Zoom In!! Saturday," while the rest of the episodes will air at random times up until November 9.

On December 3, ORANGE RANGE is releasing a currently untitled two-disc best album, containing their single B-sides and other songs chosen from their original albums. The CD+DVD release will include all of their music videos since their debut, including the video for their new single "Oshare Bancho" that goes on sale November 12.

38-year-old actor Taishu Kase has been arrested for drug possession. On Saturday night, police searched his Tokyo apartment and found about 3 grams of stimulants and more than 9 grams of marijuana. Police confiscated multiple syringes and a pipe, as well as 25 marijuana plants that Kase had been growing in his closet.

A urine test came up positive for the stimulants. Kase admitted to the charges, claiming that the drugs were only for personal use.

Kase was a regular on the TBS daytime drama "Kippari!" that was in the middle of its second season. After news of Kase's arrest surfaced, production company CBC immediately halted production on the show, and TBS will now be airing reruns of the first season instead.

Kase has made newspaper headlines before. In 1991, a year after his acting debut, he was sued by his former agency over the right to use his stage name, though he eventually won the case in 1993. He married in April 2000, but got divorced in December 2001 after it was discovered that he had fathered an illegitimate child.

GReeeeN's popularity is still on the rise, as evidenced by the fact that their second album "A, Domo. Ohisashiburi Desu." has now shipped a million copies, making it their first work to reach that milestone.

Released in June, the album topped the Oricon charts for two consecutive weeks, outselling artists such as Ayaka, Ketsumeishi, and ELLEGARDEN.

34-year-old singer Hanako Oshima is on her way to parenthood. She announced on a radio show on Sunday that she is expecting her first child in March, and is aiming to take maternity leave starting in mid-December.

Oshima, the daughter of famed singer Kyu Sakamoto, has been married to the head of a Brazilian jujitsu dojo since December 2006.

The official website for the second of the four new "Neon Genesis Evangelion" movies has been updated, revealing the film's official English title and scheduled release date. The movie, called "Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance," is set for early summer 2009.

"Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone," which opened in September 2007, grossed roughly 2 billion yen during its theatrical run.

Five members of AKB48's Team A have announced that they are graduating from the group. At a concert on Sunday, Tomomi Ohe, Hitomi Komatani, Hana Tojima, Rina Nakanishi, and Risa Narita shocked their fans with the news of their departure, saying that their final performances with AKB48 will be on November 23 at NHK Hall.

The five have been part of AKB48 since its formation. Their future plans have not yet been revealed, though Komatani, Tojima, and Nakanishi are signed with agencies other than AKS.