Announcer Akiko Abe, who resigned from NTV last September, is returning to television as a free caster. She has signed with management agency Oscar Promotion and will resume work in the spring.

Abe married a TBS employee in November 2006. After her resignation, her husband began working in Bangkok, and she moved there with him. She plans to travel back and forth between Thailand and Japan, mainly doing television specials and magazine work.