The popular NTV talk show “Oshare Kankei” is to come to an end in March after a 10-year run. Hosted by Furutachi Ichiro (50) and co-hosted by Watanabe Marina (34), it has been one of the most popular Sunday night shows for some time. But since taking over the main weeknight news slot on TV Asahi from Kume Hiroshi, Furutachi has been looking to focus more on that. Kume became a regular fixture in many living rooms during his 18 years on “News Station,” and his successor is probably hoping to build the same legacy with the new version, “Houdou Station.”
• A signed photo of Korean heart-throb Bae Yong Joon (32) that had received bids of over ¥300,000 on Yahoo! Japan’s auction site turns out to have been a fake. The actor’s Tokyo management company has warned fans, mostly middle-aged women who he refers to as his “family,” on his official site.• Veteran actress Yoshinaga Sayuri (59) has just wrapped up her 111th movie. In “Kita no Zeronen” (Year One in the North) she plays the wife of Watanabe Ken in an original story set in post-Meiji era Hokkaido.