Manga are further ahead of the curve than other pop-culture forms when it comes to vanguard social issues. The new TV Tokyo drama "IS" (Mon., 10 p.m.) is based on a manga. IS stands for "inter-sex," which describes a person who is born with "ambiguous" genitalia. Formerly, obstetricians and families decided which gender the child would be, but recently there has been pressure to let the ambiguity stand and let the child decide later.
Haru (Saki Fukuda) is such a child. Haru attends junior high school as a boy, but since the designation on Haru's family register is "girl" Haru has to attend high school as a female, and though Haru's parents are supportive of their child's choices, the choices are becoming more difficult, especially after Haru befriends Miwako.
Former governor of Miyagi Prefecture Shiro Asano started his career as an official with the national agency that administers Hokkaido. His first major job with the agency was handling the demands of Michiko Osanai, a woman with cerebral palsy who wanted the government to approve programs that would make the lives of people with disabilities "more normal."