Two weeks ago, Ai Kago announced that she is currently working towards completing her high school education. She has now revealed that she has been enrolled in an international school since this past April. The institution is apparently called Aoyama International Academy and is a branch of a school based in Connecticut.

According to Kago's agency, she will do about two years of correspondence studies, and if she graduates, she will earn the equivalent of an American high school diploma. She has been taking courses online and attending English classes with a foreign teacher. Her courses are conducted entirely in English, which has led Kago to spend about three hours a day preparing for her lessons.

After completing her high school education, Kago will possibly take the university exams and may even decide to enroll in a U.S. school.

The anime franchise "Bubblegum Crisis" may see a live-action film adaptation in a couple years. Animation studio Anime International Company has signed a basic agreement with the Singapore-based Cubix International PTE Ltd., approving that company's film proposal.

Cubix is reportedly setting aside a budget of several billion yen for the movie with a target release date of 2011 for the U.S. and other countries.

The 21st JUNON Superboy Contest concluded on Monday. This year's Grand Prix winner was 17-year-old Tomohiro Ichikawa, a second-year high schooler from Tokyo. The runner-up was Shu Watanabe, also 17 years old.

Past winners of the audition include Teppei Koike, Yuta Hiraoka, and Junpei Mizobata.

On Monday, newspapers reported on some of the more notable additions to the lineup of this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen, such as Yutaka Mizutani (appearing for the first time in his 32-year career), the recently reunited SPEED, and enka newcomer Jero. Those waiting for the complete roster didn't have to wait long, as NHK unveiled the teams on Tuesday.

53 acts will be participating this year, almost evenly split between the teams. 14 of them will be making their Kohaku debuts, including the aforementioned Mizutani and Jero, as well as Mr.Children, Perfume, TVXQ, Shuchishin, Thelma Aoyama, Ikimono Gakari, and GIRL NEXT DOOR.

The complete list can be found in the forums.

Kenji Sakaguchi will be playing the lead in a police drama series titled "Honjitsu mo Hare. Ijou Nashi," set to air on TBS this winter. Sakaguchi stars as a cop assigned to a fictional remote island in the Okinawa prefecture, modeled after the real island of Hateruma.

Nao Matsushita appears as the heroine, the only primary school teacher on the island. Matsushita will also be singing an insert song for the show. Other cast members include Noriko Aoyama and Yoshimasa Kondo.

The drama will run on Sundays at 9:00pm, starting on January 18.

Kou Shibasaki has been given another movie tie-in, this time with the popular "Doraemon" franchise. "Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer" (also known as "Doraemon the Hero 2009") will be opening in Japan on March 7, and Shibasaki is providing the theme song with a ballad called "Taisetsu ni Suru Yo."

This is Shibasaki's first time doing an anime theme song. Coincidentally, the movie is based on the earlier film "Doraemon: The Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer" from 1981, the same year that Shibasaki was born.

"Taisetsu ni Suru Yo" will be released as a single in March.

One of Fuji TV's 50th anniversary projects is a movie called "Amalfi: Megami no 50 Byou," directed by Hiroshi Nishitani. Actor Yuji Oda has been chosen to star in the film, which will be the first in Japanese history to be shot entirely in Italy. In addition, the movie will be filmed at the historic studio Cinecitta.

The story begins in Rome around Christmastime, starting with the abduction of a Japanese girl. Oda plays Kuroda, a diplomat based in the city of Amalfi who learns about the incident and launches an investigation, while happening to fall in love with the girl's mother (Yuki Amami). The movie is described as part suspense, part romance.

Fuji TV's Chihiro Kameyama and Toru Ota are producing. Yuichi Shinpo, who wrote the original novel that served the basis for Oda's 2000 film "Whiteout," is currently finishing the script for "Amalfi." Principal photography starts on December 15 and is expected to last until the end of February. Koichi Sato and Erika Toda have also been cast.

Fuji TV aims to release the film in July 2009.

Maki Horikita and Kenichi Matsuyama have been cast as co-stars in a new movie directed by American filmmaker Hans Canosa ("Conversations with Other Women"). Although the movie is being made primarily for the Japanese market, there are plans to have the film screened in the U.S., and some of the dialogue will be in English.

The movie's working Japanese title is "Nakushita Kioku." It is based on the novel "Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac" by American author Gabrielle Zevin, which tells the story of a girl named Naomi who loses the last four years of her memory after falling down a staircase. While Naomi tries to re-establish her identity, she also has to deal with romance in the form of Yuji (Matsuyama), an older schoolmate.

Filming begins this Wednesday. The movie's Japanese premiere is planned for fall 2009, and a U.S. release will hopefully follow in 2010.