Politics & Diplomacy
Hashimoto to retract sex suggestion for U.S. military
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto aims to retract his remark that U.S. servicemen in Okinawa should use its adult entertainment industry to avoid committing sex offenses.
TV | CHANNEL SURF Apr 24, 2011
Drams focused on the classroom and weight loss; CM of the week: Suntory
Classroom dramas have more to do more with teaching values than with teaching subjects, and “Suzuki Sensei” (“Teacher Suzuki”; TV Tokyo, Mon., 10 p.m.), based on an award-winning manga, is no exception. With his severe glasses and string tie, Suzuki (Hiroki Hasegawa) telegraphs his ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Apr 17, 2011
Middle-aged maternity dramas; CM of the week: Febreze
Middle-aged maternity seems to be a subtheme for the spring TV season. In NHK’s six-part drama series “Madonna Verde” (NHK-G, Tues., 10 p.m.), Ryoko Kuninaka plays Rie, a gynecologist-obstetrician who works at a university hospital. She herself becomes pregnant but later loses the child ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Apr 10, 2011
Perils of modern motherhood and keeping a dog; CM of the week: S.T. Corporation
The perils of modern motherhood are explored in the news drama series “Namae wo Nakushita Megumi” (“The Goddess Who Lost Her Name”; Fuji TV, Tues., 9 p.m.), whose promotional catchphrase is “Welcome to mamatomo hell.” “Mamatomo” is a word that describes women who become ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Apr 3, 2011
Facial gymnastics, interviews with 'average people; CM of the week: Loto6
As further proof that variety-show producers are getting hard up for subject matter, Tuesday sees the premiere of the regular series “Sono Kao ga Mite Mitai” (“I Want to See That Face”; Fuji TV, 10 p.m.), which is hosted by the comedy duo Ameagari ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Mar 27, 2011
'What are the odds?' variety; 'Stand by Me' adaptation; CM of the week: Uniqlo
The purpose behind the occasional variety special “Kekkyoku! Kakuritsu Nano da” (“At last! What’s the Probability”; TV Tokyo, Tues., 7 p.m.) is to figure out the probability of certain occurrences that will supposedly interest viewers but which sound more like they concern people in ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Mar 20, 2011
Earthquake news dominates the channels; CM of the week: Advertising Council Japan
Japan’s commercial television broadcasters and NHK have slowly been returning to regular programming during the last week, but schedules are still dominated by in-depth and up-to-the-minute reports on matters related to the earthquake and tsunami relief effort, as well as to the situation at ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Mar 13, 2011
'Shock Illumination'; baseball played the Drucker way; CM of the week: Hebel Haus
Japan is a land of disasters both man-made and natural, and the theme of the TV Tokyo variety special, “Totsugeki Kaimei Variety: Shiranai to Kowai Sekai” (“Shock Illumination Variety: What You Don’t Know Can Scare You”; Mon., 8 p.m.), is everyday dangers you never ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Mar 6, 2011
Profiles of 'nice people'; Seicho Matsumoto thrille; CM of the week: Softbank
Teruyoshi Uchimura and Kiyotaka Nanbara, better known as the comedy duo Utchan Nanchan, have tended to work separately in recent years, but they make a rare joint appearance as the hosts of the variety special “Konna Ii Hito Mita Koto Nai” (“I’ve Never Seen ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Feb 27, 2011
Nine nights of AKB48 dramas; Tamori's stroll through Tokyo; CM of the week: InterFM
Members of the idol collective AKB48 are now participating in a serial drama that runs nine consecutive nights on Nihon TV. “Sakura Kara no Tegami” (“Letter From a Cherry Tree”; nightly through Mar. 6, 11:58 p.m.) contains 17 intertwined story lines built upon the ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Feb 20, 2011
Secret envoy docudrama; flash mob challenge; CM of the Week: Food Action Nippon
After decades of official denials from the Foreign Ministry, last year it was revealed that the Japanese government made a secret pact with the United States to allow the American military to bring nuclear weapons into Okinawa after the islands were returned to Japan ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Feb 13, 2011
Etsuko Komiya's leisurely walk; Kanpei Hazama's grueling journey; CM of the week: Daihatsu
Announcer Etsuko Komiya occupies a hallowed place in the annals of Japanese broadcasting. In 1985, she became the female sidekick to anchorman Hiroshi Kume when TV Asahi’s groundbreaking nightly news program “News Station” premiered. She was considered as important to the show’s popularity as ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Feb 6, 2011
Focusing on Masayoshi Son and Eiga Mura; CM of the week: My Land
In the earlier half of the previous decade, Japan seemed almost overrun with entrepreneurs heading digital and cyber businesses. Few, however, have succeeded as well as Masayoshi Son, the founder and president of SoftBank, one of Japan’s three leading mobile phone carriers and the ...